From wayfinding to transportation hubs to sports stadiums to Quick Service Restaurant drive-thru’s, dazzling, outdoor digital signage is popping up everywhere.

Looking to spice up your drive-thru? 

Consider installing presell digital menu boards. They can help draw attention away from the wait itself. An effective or entertaining marketing message can help reduce the perceived wait time in a drive-thru. Richard Ventura, in his article ‘EDS in Drive-Through Service,’ describes the benefit of digital, “By replacing static menu boards with digital signage, QSRs have the ability to create new marketing opportunities that reinforce brand loyalty and help drive additional sales.” For Quick Service Restaurants, approximately 70% of all business comes through the drive-thru. It is imperative to provide an exceptional customer experience and one that will be remembered after the customer drives away with their meal. People frequent a QSR, not only because they enjoy the delicious food, but because the restaurant delivers what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.  Precisely why Burger King has had much success with its popular slogan, “Have It Your Way®.”

As an integrator, it is often difficult to narrow down a request from an end customer.

It is not uncommon for a customer to say “I want to put an LCD outdoors. Can you please help me find a way to protect it from the elements?” Unfortunately, there is not a “one for all” enclosure solution that will work anywhere and at an affordable price. It is simply not that easy.  

There is a bit of a science to allow an LCD to work outdoors properly, where it is not originally intended to be used. Many companies claim to provide LCD enclosures that can be used outdoors, but many variables cannot be ignored. A number of questions should be posed, by an integrator to the end customer, prior to providing an outdoor LCD enclosure recommendation. 

Looking to deploy LCD enclosures in the great outdoors?

Many factors and characteristics should be considered when making an LCD enclosure decision, including the type of enclosure material (stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), LCD size, wiring, gaskets, locks, and windows. Wait a minute… windows are windows, right? They are just a piece of glass that protects the LCD. Nothing could be farther from the truth! Many different varieties of windows exist with an assortment of different films or coating that can be added. With so many options to choose from, this blog will focus on two of the top window materials used when designing and installing an outdoor LCD enclosure.

There are many exciting and beneficial aspects of utilizing vibrant outdoor digital menu boards in a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) drive-thru lane.

Menu boards are sleek, eye-catching, and persuasive by themselves, but what technologies can be used to make the menu boards even smarter and ultimately increase food and beverage sales? A QSR’s menu board is one of the most important marketing and communication tools the store has in its arsenal, so why not maximize the utility of the digital menus and make them extremely intelligent? As technology continues to advance at fast rates, there are a few new ways to make digital menu boards extra “smart!”

Digital displays capture over 400% more views than static displays.*

Banks and financial institutions are progressively installing digital signage to not only reinvent their brand, but to improve the overall banking experience for their loyal customers. Digital signage is an important element in modern banking and can be used to enhance communication between the customer and the bank’s ever changing message. With more and more customers banking remotely on mobile devices, it is imperative that financial institutions take advantage of the middle ground created between virtual and physical, when visiting the drive-thru lane. 

With dynamic digital menu boards, Quick Service Restaurants have the ability to quickly and efficiently update or change various aspects of the menu.

The entire chain can make a menu change with a click of a button, which saves a great amount of time, especially for large chains like Burger King, Dunkin’ Donuts, KFC, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Arby’s. With over 70% of the overall business accounted for in the drive-thru, why would a QSR not want to take advantage of the benefits of outdoor digital menu boards? They can save a QSR a good deal of money in the long run.

To a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), there are numerous benefits to making the switch to digital menu boards inside and out.

Quickly making changes to the menu, featuring Limited Time Offers (LTOs), and swapping out the day part are some of the more obvious reasons QSRs are making the decision to ‘go digital.’ However, digital boards also offer the flexibility to display the FDA mandated menu labeling nutritional content (deadline is December 1^st, 2016).

All-weather outdoor digital menu boards are the perfect means to engage customers and make ordering ‘fast food’ quicker and easier.

As Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) continue to implement vibrant and easy-to-read outdoor digital menu boards at stores across the country, many significant details must be considered before making the final decision to “go digital.” When researching a partner, QSRs should always inquire about three very important aspects, which may be called upon in the unlikely event of an outage: the warranty, the support system, and the Service Level Agreement (SLA).

When a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) is interested in deploying outdoor digital menu boards, ease of use, reliability, and scalability of the hardware and software solution is essential.

QSR’s are constantly coming up with the next big product, delicious value meals, or the wittiest of branding messages. Digital menus makes it possible to ‘change it up’ on a weekly, daily, or even hourly basis. Although it might seem costly in the beginning, digital menu boards can pay for themselves in the long run. Digital menu boards can reduce costs on exorbitant advertising materials/signage, are designed to be more energy efficient, and will save time/money with swift updates!