A sign of the times: Restaurants are moving to digital signage
One could argue that Americans have more dining choices than ever before. The menu for dining experiences spans the culinary spectrum, from fast food to gastronomic feast. The question restaurateurs must answer is: How do I get diners to choose my restaurant and keep coming back?
In a recent article, the industry publication Restaurant Dive cites investing in the dining experience is one of six trends that could turn tables. And Toast reports that 77 percent of millennials say that restaurant technology improves the dining experience.
Both of which may help explain why 54 percent of restaurants planned to deploy digital signage to more locations in 2019.
Information & Entertainment
Modern Restaurant Management states that the two primary reasons restaurants turn to digital signage are information and entertainment.
Information can take the form of digital menu boards, individual wait time status, dining specials, wines to pair with your meal, health trends, and more.
Digital menu boards alone can improve sales. QSR reports that restaurants show a 15 percent increase in customers after installing a digital menu board. Prime Burgers increased sales by 50 percent by replacing stationery signs with digital ones. That’s not surprising. Nearly three out of every four customers say that an easy-to-read menu is a top priority when dining.
Digital entertainment options could be large screen TVs or monitors for major broadcasts, music curated specially for a restaurant’s clientele and, especially in the age of Instragrammable and Snapchatable moments, stunning backdrops for patron photos and rotating social feeds.
Extend your brand
These days people rely more and more on restaurant websites and online reviews when making their dining choices. Like websites, digital walls or displays allow restaurants to extend their brand by featuring carousels of favorite dishes, reminding customers what brought them to the establishment in the first place.
Here are a few ways a brand can benefit from bright screens that display dynamic content:
- Dynamic menus motivate purchases with vibrant images
- Eco-friendly displays reduce printing costs
- Advertising brings in additional revenue
- Entertaining information or videos engage customers while waiting
- Reviews or upcoming event information promotes return visits
Digital displays can also feature live Tweets, photos, or reviews. Free desserts or gift cards could be offered live for the best post. The point is that digital walls don’t have to be a static image. They can help make your venue come alive. And help keep your customers coming back.
PlayNetwork: Your connection to digital
PlayNetwork is renowned for helping brands engage customers through creativity and technology. In the retail and restaurant space that takes the form of digital signage and displays, curated music reflecting brand and customers’ tastes and values, video and motion graphics, audio-visual systems, and more.
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