Ordering a burger at a McDonald's from a cashier continues to become a thing of the past.

Back in 2018, during a quarterly earnings call, McDonald’s CEO at the time, Steve Easterbrook, announced, "an aggressive plan and one of the most significant transformations in our history." Easterbrook was referring to the roll-out of McDonald's ‘Experience of the Future’ technology, which had already reached nearly 1,000 U.S. locations. By introducing kiosks in 1,000 more restaurants every quarter, McDonald’s made self-service a mainstay of the QSR experience.

Go to a McDonald's today, and you’ll see how they succeeded. But what’s spurring this aggressive push towards self-service kiosks? While McDonald’s doesn’t report kiosk-specific revenue, when one of their franchisees first experimented with self-service technology and discovered that kiosk users spent about one dollar more per order. This translated to a 30% increase in the average check size — a substantial boost for a high-volume operation like McDonald's.

Other QSRs and entertainment chains report similar gains. Cinemark’s self-service concessions led to increased food and drink sales, while Chili’s observed a 20% rise in dessert sales with tablet ordering.

Benefits of Kiosks

Beyond sales increases, self-service technology offers other transformative benefits that help redefine operations in the QSR industry. For example:

• Increased Service Capacity: Kiosks can handle more guests at any moment, occupying less space than a traditional point-of-sale (POS) terminal with a cashier.
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• Remote Ordering Options: Mobile apps can act as kiosks in users' hands, allowing customers to order at their own pace, even from their vehicles.
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• Enhanced Customer Support with Chatbots: Chatbots can address customer questions or issues, providing a seamless experience alongside kiosk technology.
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• Data Analytics and Operational Insights: A remote monitoring and management (RMM) platform) designed to manage connected products like kiosks not only collects data but offers analytics to optimize performance and minimize downtime.

These tools show that brands like McDonald’s aim not to replace workers but to make their roles more effective, augmenting human efforts with self-service options. This hybrid approach ensures that customers with complex orders or special assistance needs can still interact with employees. Well-trained staff remain a vital part of this kiosk-driven model.

Implementing Kiosks for Maximum Efficiency and Accessibility

For kiosks to perform optimally in a QSR, placement and accessibility are key:

1. Strategic Placement: Positioning kiosks where customers naturally gravitate—ideally near entrances—helps streamline the ordering process, guiding customers to order as soon as they enter rather than heading straight for a cashier.
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2. ADA Compliance: Kiosks must be ADA-compliant, accommodating all types of customers. Lawsuits have been filed over non-compliant devices, underscoring the importance of inclusive design. In any case, an employee should always be available to assist those who may need help using the kiosks.

As more orders are likely to be entered through kiosks in the coming years, McDonald’s pioneering approach makes clear that the role of human cashiers will likely evolve, enhanced by these self-service technologies.

Automating Kiosk Device Management With RMM to Increase Uptime

With self-service kiosks becoming central to QSR operations, maintaining their uptime is crucial. Here’s where remote monitoring and management (RMM) solutions, like Canopy, come into play.
RMM software offers several automation features to keep kiosks operational and minimize downtime, including:

• Automated Diagnostics and Remote Reboots: These allow support teams to address common issues like system freezes and software crashes without dispatching a technician.
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• ‍Smart Alerts and Data Analytics: Customizable alerts notify support teams of potential issues before they disrupt service, while analytics provide insights into usage patterns and performance.
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• Automated Self-Healing: This advanced feature triggers remote actions to correct minor problems — like restarting services or adjusting configurations — before they impact the customer experience.
  Automating these tasks helps QSRs ensure that kiosks are up and running, ready to serve customers and drive sales. This proactive approach reduces manual interventions, saving operational costs while improving customer satisfaction by minimizing downtime.

How Will You Maximize Kiosk Uptime?

Incorporating self-service kiosks into quick-service restaurants (QSRs) like McDonald's continues to change customer interactions at modern fast-food restaurants. But to achieve the upside of self-service technologies, restaurants like McDonald's must implement robust remote monitoring and management solutions to ensure kiosks remain functional and responsive.

Do you want to know how one of the fastest growing QSRs — Chick-fil-A — approaches edge computing? 

Check out A Smarter Restaurant: 5 Learnings from Chick-fil-A’s Approach to Restaurant Monitoring and Management.