Order Ready Displays | Can Fast Food Restaurants Benefit?

Have you ever asked yourself this question about Order Ready Displays, “Can Fast Food Restaurants Benefit?” At RSS, we believe that they can. Keep reading to find out how.

By: Mark Perterson at RSS

What is an Order Ready Display?
My mom taught me to never assume things. So, I won’t assume everyone knows what an Order Ready Display is. Nevertheless, the concept is simple. An Order Ready Display is a digital display that you network to your restaurant’s kitchen management system. You mount it in a customer-facing area where guests wait on their orders and can see their order status. Sometimes the display shows the order number. At other times it shows the customer’s name, which is a nice touch for personalizing the guest experience. The display shows the guest the order status of ‘preparing’ or ‘ready.’ It shows where the order is in the queue and where to pick it up when it is complete.

How can my restaurant benefit from an Order Ready Display?
Order Ready Displays provide two areas of benefit. First, they improve the guest’s experience. Second, they create additional efficiencies in the restaurant’s operation. In both cases, they do what we want any technology to do. They help increase profits because happy diners and efficient operations equal more profit every day.
Here are five specific ways your fast-food restaurant can benefit from an Order Ready Display:

  • Give your guest a sense of being in control when they know where they are in the line
  • Help your guest know when to look for their order when they can’t hear their name called in a loud restaurant
  • Create a quieter restaurant by not shouting customer names when their order is ready
  • Improve operation efficiency by auto-updating the display with the push of a button in the kitchen
  • Help your staff monitor orders and make wise decisions to keep customers happy during busy times

Can an Order Ready Display Improve Guest Experience?
You may doubt that an Order Ready Display can improve your guest’s experience? After all, they still must wait. But there is a psychological factor at play and “unfortunately, the longer they wait, the higher the likelihood of guest atrophy, which can decrease your sales.” – QSR Automations.

An Order Ready Display gives your guest the feeling that things are in progress and their wait is not indefinite. They can see orders moving through the process, which tells them their order is getting closer to being done. If the customer sees several orders ahead of him, there is a better chance that he’ll wait patiently. He knows that there is a reason for his wait. 

And the ability to track his order through the process occupies his mind. Time seems to pass by faster than when he has nothing on which to focus. In turn, he feels like things are moving forward. So, in addition to the operational benefits, Order Ready Displays help fast-food restaurants create better guest experiences and keep guests coming back for more.