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Digital Menu Boards 101We’ve all heard about the promise of digital menu boards. Here are some things to know when it comes to getting the most from a digital menu-board deployment.

2© 2015 Networld Media Group

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As margins in the already-competitive restaurant industry grow increasingly tighter, operators continue to look for every advantage to set themselves apart. Limited-time offers, expanded menus, community partnerships and rebranding efforts are just some of the tools those operators use to stand out.

One of the most powerful tools restaurants have been deploying in recent years is the digital menu board. Instead of tired-looking static boards that crack and fade over time, digital menu boards allow operators to combine product offerings with full-motion video, easily changing dayparts, updating prices remotely and seamlessly adding or removing menu items.

Boston-based fast casual burrito chain Boloco, which operates 22 locations in the Northeast, has deployed digital menu boards in eight of its locations.

“The ability to change content at a moment’s notice as well as potentially minimizing future costs by not having to replace menu boards on an ongo-ing basis were both factors in our decision,” said Alexandra Dunk, Boloco’s director of marketing. “We have the ability to not only change our perma-nent menu itself, but to also feature content about our limited-time offers or other Boloco happenings.”

We’ve all heard about the promise of digital menu boards. Here are some things to know when it comes to getting the most from a digital menu-board deployment.

Digital Menu Boards 101

By Richard Slawsky Digital Signage Today

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Digital Menu Boards 101

3© 2015 Networld Media Group

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Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits recently opened its 600th location, with that restaurant serving as the first in the chain to deploy digital menu boards.

“As Bojangles’ continues to grow, it is important that we explore the tech-nologies that can help us improve our customer’s experience and afford us the ability to be agile in our marketing efforts both on a local level and across our now 600-store system,” Shad Collins, Bojangles’ vice president of information technology, said in the announcement.

Other operators have had similar experiences, combining digital menu boards with point-of-sale and inventory information to promote high-margin dishes, run short-term specials on overstocked items and seamlessly re-move items that may be out of stock. Those menu boards can be updated from the corporate office or the operator’s living room, ensuring that every store in the system is displaying the proper prices and promotional material.

But maximizing the benefits of digital menu boards takes some planning, and a number of concerns and issues may not be readily apparent to someone whose primary concern is serving quality food and taking care of guests. In this mini-guide, sponsored by Digital Signage Today, we’ll look at some of the factors critical to ensuring operators get the maximum benefit from their investment in a digital menu-board system.

Know your objectiveOne of the first steps operators need to take before investing in a digital menu-board system is to define exactly what it is they hope to accomplish.

All too often, businesses deploy a fancy new technology for technology’s sake alone, without a clear goal in mind. As a result, they don’t have a con-crete way of knowing whether that technology delivers on its promise.

“Rather than looking at digital menu boards in terms of return on invest-ment, operators should look at them in terms of return on objectives,” said Rich Ventura, vice president of business development and solutions at digital menu board supplier NEC Display Solutions.

“Are they just looking at sales uplifts, are they looking at perceived wait times, are they looking at the overall impression of the restaurant?” Ventura said. “Once they establish what those objectives are, they can do a true analysis.”

Surprisingly, some people don’t think those objectives through, said Stefan Menger, vice president of advanced analytics at Exton, Pennsylvania-based digital signage software provider Scala.

“The ability to change content at a moment’s notice as well as potentially minimizing future costs by not having to replace menu boards on an ongoing basis were both factors in our decision.” — Alexandra Dunk, Boloco’s director of marketing.

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“They spend money on a few screens and a content-management system, but end up using digital signage as a poster board,” Menger said.

Overall, though, operators often aren’t willing to part with the investment required to deploy digital menu boards without seeing specific results. Ac-cordingly, providers of content-management systems increasingly are incor-porating analytics into their software platforms, integrating with point-of-sale systems to match content to sales and spot trends as they develop.

For example, Menger recommends that multiunit operators begin measur-ing the impact of a digital menu-board system, by conducting basic tests comparing a restaurant outfitted with digital menu boards with one using static menu boards. The operator simply promotes a particular menu item on the digital menu board over a number of weeks, comparing sales figures with those of the store that uses static menu boards and looking for trends.

Variations on that model include running a variety of promotional content to evaluate the effectiveness of one over the other. Building on that, operators can begin tracking external factors such as weather, day of the week or time of day. For example, noticing that sales of chili rise on gloomy Friday afternoons might be the impetus for an on-the-spot promotion that could significantly increase customer counts.

“Are they just looking at sales uplifts, are they looking at perceived wait times, are they looking at the overall impression of the restaurant?” — Rich Ventura, vice president of business development and solutions at digital menu board supplier NEC Display Solutions.

Taco John’s reports 12% sales increase after menu-board test

Taco John’s is in the process of updating all of its restaurants with new menu boards, both in-store and at the drive-thru. According to a company news release, the test markets recorded a 12-percent increase in EZ Combo Meals sales since the boards were installed.

“Our guests love the new visuals on our drive-thru and interior menu boards,” Renée Middleton, vice president of marketing, said in the release. “It really simplifies the menu, catches their eye and brings more attention to the Taco John’s EZ Combos.”

The new Taco John’s drive-thru menu boards will feature two panels instead of three. The chain has been testing the new designs at its company-owned locations since January 2014.

“Based on the results we’ve seen since the first of the year, I think these menu boards will help our fran-chisees drive additional sales and make the ordering process easier for their guests,” Middleton said.

All Taco John’s restaurants will install the new menu boards. More than 100 locations will make the change in 2014. The remaining restaurants will upgrade throughout 2015 and 2016.

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“Live data feeds allow local and corporate managers to adjust marketing messages in real time to affect customers’ decisions, boost sales figures and reduce waste,” said Jeff Hastings, CEO of Los Gatos, California-based BrightSign in a Digital Signage Today blog. BrightSign specializes in the media players that drive digital signage content.

Digital menu boards give restaurants the ability to change advertising to match inventory levels. Operators can drop a promotion immediately when stock of the promoted item is exhausted. Conversely, restaurants can track stock levels and attractively price items that aren’t moving, shifting the stock before it reaches its sell-by date.

“Quick-service restaurants are leading the way,” Hastings said. “They are ‘selling smarter’ by analyzing their sales data in real time and updating their signage instantly to reflect what they learn.”

Make sure the equipment can handle the kitchenAnyone who has been in a restaurant kitchen during a busy lunch rush knows it’s not the ideal environment for electronic equipment.

Displays, media players and other components need to be hardened to withstand the rigors of a QSR environment. That means having the ability to run continuously in what is likely a hot, humid environment while keeping grease and particulates out of the internal workings.

One of the worst mistakes deployers of digital menu-board systems can make is to try to substitute consumer-grade electronics for commercial-grade devices.

“These displays are ruggedized and designed for 24/7 operation in demand-ing environments, engineered with an ‘always on’ usage model in mind,” said Gene Ornstead, director of product marketing for Brea, California-based dis-play maker ViewSonic Americas. “Components and construction far exceed the flat-screen TVs often thought to have the same durability.”

Displays and media players for kitchen environments need to be able to operate in temperatures of 104°F or even hotter, Ornstead said.

Scala CEO Tom Nix suggests trying to store equipment in a place where it won’t be exposed directly to the kitchen environment.

“We’ve seen people place media players in areas that expose them to some of these potential problems,” Nix said. “The grease buildup happens so fast they begin to have issues very quickly.”

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Mounting also can be a concern. Are the walls able to handle the weight of multiple displays, or will the operator need floor-based mounts? Those questions are best answered by a professional installer willing to take re-sponsibility if a set of displays costing thousands of dollars comes crashing to the floor.

Taking powerIt’s simple, right? Plug something into a socket in the wall and, assuming you’ve paid the electric bill, all you need to do is throw a switch and the device turns on.

Not so fast. The more complicated the electronics, the more likely they are to be susceptible to “dirty” power.

Although there are a number of definitions, in general dirty power is elec-tricity that varies by more than 10 percent from the usual 120 volts. Power spikes, surges, brownouts and power failures can play havoc with expen-sive digital signage equipment.

“Dirty power is one of the biggest concerns I see when putting digital equip-ment inside a restaurant,” NEC’s Ventura said. “Restaurants are notorious for having dirty power, especially older ones that were built before the days where everyone had an electronic POS system.”

Power issues can be exacerbated when digital menu boards are on the same circuit as certain kitchen equipment. Ventura has seen a number of situations where an operator saw menu boards malfunction every time someone turned on the microwave.

Along with keeping digital menu boards on a separate circuit, incorporating heavy-duty surge suppressors is a wise move, especially in areas prone to lightning. Trying to save a few hundred dollars by skimping on surge sup-pressors can put an investment of thousands of dollars at risk.

“In areas like Florida where they see a tremendous amount of lightning, having the digital menu board if not the whole store on some type of anti-surge protection systems is a necessity, so if the building does get hit the system is protected from being destroyed,” Ventura said.

Keep data safe and flowingMurphy’s law holds particularly true when it comes to electronics. If some-thing can go wrong, it generally will, at least at some point.

When it comes to digital menu boards, it’s critical to have a backup plan in case of a problem that causes a board to go dark.

“Dirty power is one of the biggest concerns I see when putting digital equipment inside a restaurant.” — Rich Ventura, vice president of business development and solutions at NEC Display Solutions

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“Operators can ensure continuous use by integrating built-in redundancy into every aspect of the solution,” said Jeff Pinc, director of food services for Newark, New Jersey-based Panasonic System Communications Company of North America.

“Digital-menu-board solutions should include a system that performs a health check consistently, at least every two seconds,” Pinc said. “A dark menu board will affect a restaurant’s bottom line and potentially harm the brand in the eyes of a customer.”

In addition to planning for redundancy, it’s a good idea to avoid depending on wireless delivery of content. That way, a temporary Internet outage won’t affect operations.

“The best solution is to ensure your signs will have local delivery of content, meaning the media player is local in the establishment driving the menu

Two Chicago fast casuals install digital menu boards

Market Thyme and Market Creations, two fast casu-als based in Chicago, have completed digital upgrade projects that included an installation of dynamic digital menu boards across all locations, according to a com-pany news release.

As one of the fastest-growing segments in the foodser-vice industry, fast casuals appeal to young profession-als who are digitally connected and gravitate toward a contemporary lifestyle, said Jeffrey Chang, managing director at Market Creations.

“With this digital upgrade to our locations, we hope to provide an enjoyable dining experience by creating an atmosphere that stimulates our guests through sight, sound and of course taste,” he said.

The centerpiece of this project was Mvix digital signage screens, menu boards and dynamic video displays installed across all locations in Chicago and Cleve-land. The use of large-panel digital screens to display content such as menu information in place of traditional

paper menus and signboards enables dynamic content updates, keeping the menu information fresh and rel-evant with ever-changing food items being served.

“We manually change them daily for our specials for that particular day,” Chang said. “It enhances the ‘professional’ image of our restaurants.”

Featuring a wide cuisine variety from panini to sushi, the dynamic menu-board systems are managed remotely from the corporate office located in downtown Chicago.

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boards,” ViewSonic’s Ornstead said. “If content is to be downloaded from a centralized location, it is best to allow this function to happen overnight into each store location, allowing the last playlist to remain stable until the new menu content is complete and locally available in each store location. The trend is to have the streaming done by ‘the cloud’ and let local media play-ers store and play the content locally.”

Operators also need to be prepared for the inevitable display or media-player outage, so if one unit has a problem another one can take up the slack.

“If I have four menu boards, I should have a content-redundancy plan so that if I have four menu boards and one goes out I can squeeze all of my content onto three boards, or if two boards go down I can squeeze all of my content onto the other two, and so forth,” Ventura said.

“You could even have the last bit of redundancy which is having printed menus that can be laid out on the countertop,” Ventura said. “Truthfully, though, if you lose power to your menu boards, odds are you’ve lost power to the whole building, so your ovens and POS are down anyway.”

Protecting the networkIt seems as if nearly every day brings another data breach, in which customers’ credit-card information is captured by hackers. The last thing a restaurant operator wants is the name of his or her business leading off the evening news as part of a hacking story.

Credit-card issuers are becoming increasingly unforgiving when it comes to data breaches caused by poor network security, levying fines for non-compliance with Payment Card Industry standards. In addition, banks can increase transaction fees or even terminate an operator’s ability to accept credit cards altogether.

For a restaurant or retail environment, PCI standards dictate that a network used to transmit the credit-card information of customers be separate from networks used to provide things such as remote access to a digital menu-board system or Wi-Fi hotspots.

“The hard part of that is that restaurants tend to only put one network in their building, so it’s really important that your loss-prevention people and your point-of-sale vendor are all talking with the software provider you’re working with to make sure that’s not going to be an issue,” Ventura said. “You should not run into an issue with PCI compliance, but it is always important to make sure.”

“The trend is to have the streaming done by ‘the cloud’ and let local media players store and play the content locally.” — Gene Ornstead, director of product marketing for display maker ViewSonic Americas

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Other areas worthy of additional attention are interactive ordering systems that combine touchscreens or self-order kiosks that allow customers to place an order and pay at the screen itself.

“For establishments entertaining the idea of interactive data ordering, PCI data security needs to be included in the POS software solution,” Ornstead said.

Content is still kingObviously, the effectiveness of a digital menu-board system depends largely on the content displayed on that system.

When digital menu boards began to appear in restaurants, deployers tend-ed to fill them with as much animation and full-motion video as possible. But as with anything, just because it can be done doesn’t necessarily mean that it should be done. Today, the overwhelming view of industry experts is to keep it simple.

UK defense contractor deploys menu boards in on-post dining facilities

Sodexo Defence Partners, a worldwide supplier of facilities-management services to armed forces, has implemented a Signagelive-powered digital-menu-board solution in two new restaurant facilities in Merville Barracks, Colchester, in the U.K., according to an announcement from Signagelive. The new solution helps ensure compliance with pay-as-you-dine, or PAYD, services implemented by the military.

PAYD services offer soldiers a number of different meal op-tions, ranging from a staple menu (comprising a balanced meal to provide soldiers with a predetermined caloric intake) to commercial menus, comparable to high street casual din-ing offering to create a broad range of food choices.

The newly installed digital menu boards have not only helped resolve compliance issues, they have also improved the visual appearance and aesthetics of the dining facilities, the company said. In addition, digital signage has helped streamline menu-management processes by removing the need for printed menus, which are costly and time-consum-ing to maintain.

The on-screen menu display is split, with the left-hand side showcasing imagery of the dish items and seasonal promotional offers, while the right-hand side displays the menu specific to that counter, the day of the week and the time of day. Using Signagelive’s intuitive menu-man-agement software, Digital Messaging Company is able to ensure the correct menu items and pricing informa-tion are displayed on the different screens. Menus also are scheduled to update dynamically, saving significant time and enabling Sodexo to focus on delivering its own core services.

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Typical menu-board deployments often consist of two or three boards displaying menu items and prices, with an additional board displaying promotional content. Although it may be tempting to populate the promo board with an abundance of full-motion images, a single, subtle shot of a fresh-off-the-grill sandwich with steam wafting up from the bun or images of a glass of iced tea with condensation dripping down the side may be a better approach.

“The thing to remember with all restaurant brands but particularly with QSRs is that two of the factors on which they are rated are accuracy and speed,” Ventura said. “If I have a lot happening on a digital menu board it may look cool, but if it slows down the process of ordering a hamburger and ends up distracting the customer, that’s a problem.”

Operators should be smart with their screens and the content they run, Ventura said.

“You don’t necessarily have to be 100 percent digital,” he said. “While that may sound strange coming from someone who earns a living selling screens, what you do have to be is 100 percent right in the way you use the menu board. The content you display has to be impactful and meaningful.”

Instead of trying to maximize the power and flexibility of digital menu boards by trying to make them as flashy as possible, operators may be better served by leveraging the ability to quickly and easily change content to match the situation. Rather than gearing the boards to the traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner dayparts, operators can segment the day into as many parts as they choose, incorporating analytics to increase the effec-tiveness of that content.

During a busy lunch when people have a limited amount of time to eat, for example, the boards can be used to promote items that the kitchen can prepare quickly and easily. Early afternoon might be a time to promote sal-ads and other better-for-you items, while after-school hours may be a good time for snacks and high-energy foods. Higher-margin or more expensive items can be promoted during the dinner rush, while side items may be more appropriate for the late evening.

In addition, vivid colors and high-quality images are particularly important when it comes to menu-board content, Ornstead said. Menu boards serve as another branding tool for operators, so keeping content consistent with other branding efforts is critical.

“Whether it is color images and graphics or short video clips, the content needs to be customer-engaging — ensuring the customers become enticed.” — Gene Ornstead, director of product marketing for display maker ViewSonic Americas.

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“Whether it is color images and graphics or short video clips, the content needs to be customer-engaging — ensuring the customers become enticed,” Ornstead said. “This will drive the sale of hero products and promotional items but has also shown to lower perceived waiting times for customers.”

The bottom lineAlthough the advantages of a digital menu-board system are easy to see, an investment in such a system is likely to run into the thousands of dollars. From an operator’s standpoint, the main concern is likely to be how quickly that investment pays for itself.

While every situation is different, industry research indicates that even a simple digital menu board with well-thought-out content can result in a sales uplift of as much as 5 percent. While that may not sound like a lot, for a QSR doing $500,000 in revenue a digital menu-board system can mean an additional $25,000 per year in revenue, not accounting for the indirect benefits of brand building and eliminating the costs associated with printing static menu boards every time prices or menu items change.

At those levels, a digital menu-board system generally can pay for itself in about a year, Panasonic’s Pinc said.

Texas Dairy Queen franchisee credits digital menu boards for record sales

In its first month of business, the new Euless, Texas, Dairy Queen restaurant broke nearly every sales record in franchise and corporate history, including the record for most sales on opening day, the record for most sales on any day and the records for most sales in one week and one month.

The Texas Dairy Queen Operators’ Council, a cooperative group of Texas Dairy Queen franchisees, is responsible for Texas DQ marketing/advertising and the Texas Country Foods system for nearly 600 DQ restaurants in the state of Texas. Michael Clarke is the franchise owner/operator of the Euless restaurant and owner of Lickety Split Food Services LLC.

Clarke attributes part of the restaurant’s success to its new interior digital menu boards, supplied by WAND Corp. The Euless restaurant is the first in Texas to feature interior digital menu boards, with six screens.

After the restaurant’s record-breaking first month, TDQOC is working with other operators with plans to transition more of its stores from static menus to WAND digital menu boards.

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“Additionally, upselling items based on promotional events or high inventory is another benefit of digital signage that can help increase sales and reduce waste and, in turn, increase the overall bottom line,” Pinc said.

Costs of displays, media players and content-management systems are coming down as well. The growth of cloud-based content management has significantly reduced and simplified the hardware needed to operate a digital menu board.

In the past, every digital sign or display would require a full computer to drive it, Ornstead said. Today, cloud-based services with simple solid-state media players and lower-cost displays have significantly lowered the cost of deployment for businesses. This approach also provides business owners instant scalability and built-in security managed by professionals.

“The cost of printing one static backlit board can be as high as $500,” Orn-stead said. “This is close to half the cost of one digital display and media player solution that can be changed as many times per day as the business owner chooses.”

In addition, the price of outdoor boards is declining even as their reliability increases, meaning those boards are likely to be as much a fixture of the drive-thru as they are becoming a fixture inside the restaurant.

Ultimately, digital menu boards are part of an overall transition to an in-creasingly omnichannel world, where menu boards are just one component of a digital toolbox helping operators create a deeper engagement with customers. Those who don’t participate risk being left behind.

NEC Display Solutions innovates, produces and delivers display products and complete digital signage solutions for a wide range of vertical businesses, specialists and lifestyle applications. The company is wholly owned by NEC Corporation, one of the world’s leading providers of Internet, broadband-network and enterprise business solutions, employing more than 150,000 people.

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