We have seen restaurant owners hesitate and shy away from going digital. They think of upfront costs, installation and software management. In reality, these are just one-time expenses. Digital signs can serve a restaurant for years to come if the content is correct. Once managers switch to digital signage, they realize the convenience of it.
What Are the Advantages of Digital Signage for Restaurant Business?
- Managers can control these remotely. You can check the contents of your restaurant menu board from the backend of the CMS system.
- You can change the content from your laptop or mobile. You can upload new content via a private server.
- You can use WordPress or other popular CMS systems for storing and related data.
- They are great for frequent menu changes, new offers and declaring happy hours.
- They are a one-time investment only. You can customize them as per your requirement.
Customers love narrowcasting since it gives them the chance to interact with a business. Interactive two-way signage systems are not becoming popular in the restaurant business. These allow users to input their orders and verify payment details via secure payment gateways.
Explore More Options by Going Digital
In addition to that, the restaurants that use digital signage can explore a creative realm otherwise closed to fixed, traditional designs. From including images in the menu to pictures of chefs in action, your restaurant can dress up in the latest bits of digital media advertising. While your patrons wait in line, they can see the history of your establishment. Offer them a slice of the insider’s experience via LED screening. You can talk about crafting your menu, finding fresh produce for your items and the nutrient content in your food. Sure, calligraphic boards have their charm. However, they are also labor intensive to maintain and update.
Transform the Atmosphere of Your Restaurant
You can change your indoor ambiance with smart placement of digital signage LED displays. Imagine a warm fireplace inside the dining room while it is snowing outside. Even without a real fireplace, you can create the ambiance with the help of high definition LED screens. The cozy environment provides an added impetus for increasing sales. The full motion video and high definition images make sure you can recreate almost any environment you want. Even a seafood restaurant can now give their patrons a tour of the sea while they enjoy fresh oysters, squids, and fish. The fluid motion of videos in bright colors decreases the perception of wait time. It improves customer experience, thereby boosting ratings and reviews.
It Is the Science in Advertising
Digital signage is ideal for creating a hunger in people's minds and then in their bellies. Recurring pictures of delicious food items and videos of the same have a positive impact on the restaurant patrons. However, posting the image of burger and fries will not work at a post restaurant that specializes in French gourmet food. You need to take into account the demographics of your establishment before crafting the contents of your slideshow.
There are hundreds of appetizing fonts for you to choose from. Certain food industries and types of restaurants love certain colors. Most dessert parlors love powder blue, baby pink, and white colors. Most popular restaurants love green, red, black and orange in their menus. Logos also vary similarly. Narrowcasting supports every kind of logo style, logo sizes, fonts, and colors. You can dress up your restaurant by simply switching colors on your LED screen without even redoing your upholstery or wallpapers. Digital screens are a fantastic option of interior décor. They are bright, colorful and clear.
Consider the Light And Color First
If you are thinking of getting a digital signage arrangement for your restaurant, consider the ambient lighting first. Digital signs can offer various levels of varying brightness and light across different product lines. If you are thinking of placing it right outside your restaurant, go for a high brightness display. It will counteract direct sunlight and keep the items visible. Indoor digital signs need not be as bright. However, you need specific indoor brightness levels that will not counteract the effect of indoor lighting from the light panels.
How to Calculate ROI?
Relating ROI to digital signage is very difficult. Multiple factors between the two govern their relationships. Just like any other forms of the ad, the revenue from digital signage is not straightforward. If your kitchen starts getting more orders of the chef’s special ravioli, was it the chef, the new menu or was it digital signs? There is no definite way of telling how digital signage can work for a brand. However, you should always run a pilot test before you launch a new digital menu.
Manage Your Expenses Better
As a restaurant owner or a manager, you need to handle daily expenses. You must already know how much it costs to create and print new menus for each table. Each menu change demands extensive proofreading and editing to make sure there are no spelling errors. You can say goodbye to all woes with digital signage. It is quite easy to manage digital signs. Most of the times, you will have a software managing the content on-screen. You will have a CMS to store and organize your data. You can have backend access to data editing and management. Changing and updating new data hardly takes a couple of minutes if you have a dedicated hosting and server system.
Digital menu boards help in customer retention. You can reach out to a broader base of the audience with the help of video, HD images, dedicated display and 24 by seven hosting options. Digital signage is an investment for your restaurant business and not just another expense.
Andrew Thompson is an SEO analytics professional. He works as an independent blogger and data analytics consultant.
