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Top Trends in Digital Menu Boards & Digital Drive Thru

The future of the restaurant industry is digital. With the increasing prevalence of technology in our daily lives, it’s no surprise that the restaurant industry is evolving to keep pace. Digital menu boards and digital drive thrus have become prominent features of quick-service restaurants (QSRs), fast-casual establishments, and even upscale eateries. By offering improved efficiency, customer engagement, and data collection capabilities, these digital tools are changing the way restaurants operate.  So, if you’ve ever wondered about the latest in restaurant digital menus or digital drive-thru trends, then this one’s for you.

Say Hello to Your Personal Menu

Ever wanted a “Digital Menu Board” that knows your tastes? Thanks to AI, it’s not a distant dream anymore. Both restaurant digital menus and digital drive-thrus are getting smarter, analyzing data like your past orders and local food trends to recommend mouth-watering items you’ll love. Now that’s a personalized food journey!

Welcome Back!

One of the incredibly powerful concepts particularly related to Digital Drive Thru is to use LPR (License Plate Recognition) cameras to capture car specific orders and use that information to provide a more personalized experience on future visits.

It’s Always the Right Time for the Right Food

The trend of day-parting in digital menu boards ensures you get relevant options throughout the day. Your breakfast, lunch, and dinner times just got more exciting with these intelligent restaurant digital menus. At the end-of-the-day a menu is a marketing tool. Why would you want to waste your valuable marketing space with items that are irrelevant to the time of day.

The early days of day-parting

Remember going into a fast food restaurant and seeing menus with a hand crank to change the menus from breakfast to lunch?  These were the first examples of day-parting. Now with digital menu boards and digital drive thru, you can have unlimited day-parts and have them change automatically. The power of this can not be understated.

Digital menus are getting smarter with Dynamic Pricing

With the advent of digital menu boards, say goodbye to static pricing. Restaurants are now adjusting their prices based on time of day or supply and demand – all to keep you and their business running smoothly. With the significant fluctuation in cost of materials, the ability to have your menus dynamically adjust is valuable to ongoing success.

Integrating Digital Drive-Thrus with Online Orders

As online food ordering becomes a norm, restaurant digital menus and digital drive-thrus are upping their game. Orders placed online appear on the digital board in real-time, ensuring they’ve got your order right and ready when you drive up to collect. Adapting your technology to how consumers are interacting with their technology can be a great way to provide higher quality service.

Efficiency Reimagined at Digital Drive-Thrus

The digital drive-thru isn’t just about ordering food anymore. With features like real-time order confirmation screens, drive-thrus are optimizing service like never before. Plus, the addition of predictive tech suggests what you might like based on trends and history. Speedy and smart, just how we like it! Efficiency can also be achieved through smart menu marketing choices and keeping the menu limited to the current business opportunity or environment.

Efficiency in Practice!

One of the real-world use cases of this that we have seen is to limit menu items during specifically busy times of the day. Sometimes being able to see the whole menu will just slow down the process. By limiting the menu during busy periods you can serve more customers and increase revenues.

Eco-Friendly Dining with Digital Menu Boards

Finally, let’s not forget how going digital is doing wonders for Mother Earth. Switching to digital menu boards and drive-thrus means fewer paper menus and less waste. Here’s a big cheer for green dining! Take a look at our article that covers this topic in greater detail.

So there you have it, the future of dining with digital menu boards and drive-thrus! This is not just about serving you food; it’s about serving you experiences, one personalized meal at a time. Keep these trends on your radar, because the future of restaurant digital menus and drive-thrus is exciting and it’s here to stay. Also… It is important to know that the cost of digital menu boards and the cost of digital drive thru have continued to go down as the components become more readily available. If you haven’t considered making the move to digital, there is no better time than now.