Digital Signage: A Powerful Asset for the Restaurant Industry

Restaurants, like other businesses, have benefitted immensely from the surge of modern technology, particularly digital signage. From using tablets to seat guests, to featuring daily fare and specials on LED menu boards, technology has been extremely effective for restaurant operators. Those who have not yet deployed this technology often ask if digital signage will help increase sales and offer a return on its investment. They also want to know if it will increase efficacy and brand recognition.

Utilizing digital signage can enhance your restaurant business in numerous ways.

The answer is Yes – choosing the right digital signage will help raise brand awareness and recognition and has been statistically proven again and again to lift sales over night, but will also restaurant efficiency and modernize the look of the establishment. In fact, consumers have come to expect the immediacy of information delivered in this fashion.

Restaurants looking for the way in which technology can help raise brand awareness and an online presence can look to digital signage for such solutions. We recommend that our restaurant clients invest in an exterior digital display such as an LED sign to help attract business. The LED digital displays are not only great for attracting business, but also for increasing awareness of a restaurant from foot traffic, and traffic from cars on the street.  

Another innovative solution is transparency film, which transforms the window into a digital display with no visual obstruction. This thin transparent film can be applied to any street-facing window transparency – and it can also be made interactive by using a special film that makes any window touch screen capable. This cutting edge technology not only attracts guests walking by, but also encourages them to take pictures and post them on social media.

Making digital signage available tableside not only assists with providing an engaging experience, but also enables featuring promotions directly to customers in-restaurant. This is made possible by supplying a touch screen interactive tablet. Just imagine customers being able access the menu digitally, which would also enable restaurant owners to advertise promotions directly to an engaged audience using the tablets. If installed “in-table,” the customers could dine undisturbed, without the tablet occupying surface space. There is also no need to worry that the tablet wouldn’t be durable; some interactive in-table tablets are made with gorilla glass to prevent them from breaking.

Being able to provide quality service faster not only ensures that satisfied customers will return, but being able to quickly turn tables also means the opportunity to serve more guests and increase profits. This is yet another way digital signage technologies can assist your business.

We recommend that our clients increase efficiency either by using the interactive in-table tablets, or touch screen tablets placed on the table. Either of these technologies can assist guests with ordering food, summoning a server for assistance, or paying the bill right at the table.

Utilizing the tablets or interactive in-table tablets can also assist with overhead costs such as updating menus. Updating menus becomes a quick and simple process for restaurant orders by having the menus digitized and displayed on a tablet or interactive in-table tablet and updated remotely by computer. This allows operators to add content and feature promotions on the menu not only faster and easier, but cheaper as well. Also the cost of labor reduces because there is no need to have someone replacing the old menus with the new ones.

Utilizing digital signage can enhance your restaurant business in numerous ways. By using transparency film or LED displays in front of your business can help raise brand awareness and attract customers. Utilizing touchscreen interactive tablets separately, or in-table can assist with sales by allowing for restaurant owners to program promotions onto the tablets or tables themselves. Finally, integrating the interactive in-table tablets or touch screen tablets assist owners with overhead costs and labor. With these abundant benefits, digital signage technologies are becoming a key ingredient for maintaining a successful restaurant.

Intermedia Touch is a member of the Digital Signage Federation, the only independent, not-for-profit trade organization serving the digital signage industry. The DSF supports and promotes the common business interests of worldwide digital signage, interactive technologies and digital out-of-home network industries. To learn more, go to www.digitalsignagefederation.org