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2022 saw QSRs’ continued embrace of digitalization. Part of this was due to lingering pandemic issues, such as the labor shortage; part was due to the realization that tech- and data-centric paradigms are here to stay. As we get ready for the second quarter of 2023, what tech trends should QSR leaders keep on the radar? Read our latest article to find out. 

As we explored in an earlier case study, there’s an assumption that only large-value offers will do the trick. But as the results demonstrated, that’s not necessarily true. Correctly segmenting customers and matching them with targeted offers – as we did with these two restaurant chains – will answer both cases. And it’ll do it with less overhead.

Self-service kiosks have become a familiar sight in quick-service restaurants. They’re a customer favorite, thanks to their efficiency and ability to mitigate the pain of a long line during the lunch rush. However, it’s a mistake to assume that all kiosks simply arrive with an ideal customer experience out of the box. On the contrary; it’s a well-documented occurrence that customers will get frustrated with a kiosk and abandon their order if they can’t understand the navigation,  menu, interface, or payment system. You can avoid this and provide your customers with a good kiosk experience by applying the laws of UX (User Experience) to kiosk interface design.

If you’re using the same in-store menu for your delivery operations, you’re probably cutting into your profits. You need to have a menu optimized for delivery that ensures you’re maximizing returns on your delivery offering. Read our latest post on how you can craft a menu perfect for delivery.

It’s 6 pm on a Saturday night. What’s the state of your restaurant’s kitchen?

If you offer order delivery, your workers are probably busy. Maybe a little too busy – nobody likes that slammed feeling. On the flip side, customers who place a delivery request during peak order times don’t like a long wait for their food. How can you meet customer expectations without pushing your kitchen and delivery staff beyond their limits?

How about order throttling?

From any standpoint – environmental, business, or aligning with current restaurant trends – reducing food waste makes sense. And, with the right tech tools, it can be easier than QSR operators realize. In this article, we’ll explain how digital ordering platforms can help restaurants operate more efficiently and thus reduce the amount of food waste they create.

Join us at our upcoming innovation session at RLC 2023, where Tillster's Chief Marketing Officer, Hope Neiman, will share our latest consumer research study.

At the session, you'll learn what customers want post-COVID from digital and multi-channel experiences. You'll also discover what the future QSR and fast-casual landscape look like. From mobile apps to kiosks, we'll examine how consumers want to engage with your brand. You'll gain insights into what they love and what makes them say "eh".

Loyalty programs are arguably the lifeline of a restaurant brand. Unfortunately, many QSR chains haven’t fully capitalized on them. In this article, we’ll examine why restaurant loyalty programs are important, why they often underperform, and what companies can do to fix the problem.

In a QSR setting, menus are doubly important; they’re the primary way we communicate with the customer about our offers. In this article, we’ll look at the importance of your menus. Then we’ll delve into how you can make smarter menu decisions – not just with the physical menu board design, but with what items you sell – using data analytics.

KIosks are only as good as their placement. In this article, we will cover the strategies you can adopt to know the perfect place for your kiosks to ensure you get the highest returns on your investment.

It’s one thing to have kiosks, it’s entirely another to make sure the program delivers. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurant kiosks were already busily collecting guest orders and sending them to the kitchen. During the pandemic, however, kiosks’ contact-free service became highly valued by customers. And now, kiosks’ lower operating costs and greater efficiency have made them popular with QSR guests and operators alike.

Restaurant kiosk programs – which deliver and run customized kiosks to restaurant locations for a monthly fee – have also helped ease the ongoing labor shortage and mitigate rising costs. Such programs allow a restaurant to operate with fewer counterpersons while still managing large amounts of guest orders.

And yet, despite their value, kiosks face resistance and challenges to their adoption. In this article, we’ll examine six common deployment challenges and what restaurant operators can do to overcome them.

Restaurant menus change with health trends, customer tastes, food availability, the season, etc. Here’s how you can use customer data to adjust your menu offerings.

Although you may have an overall idea of what items are popular and what are not, using data to fine-tune your menu can help you avoid food waste, reduce wait times, recommend menu options to guests, and increase your customers’ satisfaction and engagement. But – like so many other things in the modern business world – it all starts with data.

Fortunately, you probably have the data you need, especially if you use an app or website that supports online ordering. Let’s break the process of creating data-driven menu changes into steps and see how we can use this information to shape menu decisions.

You might think that a restaurant has little in common with a streaming video platform. But you can learn at least three valuable lessons from Netflix.

Some months ago, Tillster CMO Hope Neiman spoke at a webinar about how restaurants need personalization – and how they could take a lesson from Netflix in adaptability, customer understanding, and getting real value from their data. Here are some of the ideas shared in the webinar.

Personalization may seem like it’s the domain of e-commerce, but the restaurant industry can benefit from it as well.

In this article, we’ll discuss why personalization is important and how it can be done in the restaurant world. Then we’ll explore how specific kinds of personalization can boost your restaurant’s revenue.

As a restaurant owner or operator, you know that understanding your customers is crucial to providing them with a great dining experience and building customer loyalty. A Customer Data Platform (CDP) can help you do just that. It offers a comprehensive solution for collecting, storing and managing customer data from a wide range of sources and systems, which allows you to have a complete view of the customer journey and understand your customers better, all leading to higher revenue for your brand.

Learn how two enterprise restaurant brands were able to increase sales while lowering costs with a tailored loyalty solution from Tillster.

Register for our upcoming webinar on December 20 where Tillster's Chief Marketing Office will share her insights on how prioritizing personalization can lead to higher revenue for your restaurant brand in 2023.

Hear from Tillster VP of data science and analytics, Farzana Noorzay, as she unpacks why many enterprise brands continue to struggle to own their customers and how a customer data platform (CDP) can help alleviate many troubles related to data and help you craft personalized experiences that will drive higher profits for your restaurant.

Does your restaurant technology have you in a state of doubt? Do you feel you aren’t seeing the returns you hoped for from your investments? Are you constantly second-guessing yourself on what tech is right for you?

We get it. There are many obstacles standing in your way from realizing bigger ROI and more operational efficiency from your tech. But it doesn’t have to be this way.