Beyond Technology: The Experience Podcast

QSRs (quick-service restaurants) have a significant market share across restaurant options. It’s quick, low-cost, and convenient. However, they too had to pivot due to the pandemic, and technology was essential. To discuss the latest trends in QSR technology, Beyond Technology host Tyler Kern spoke with John Owen, President, and Chloé Bisiaux, Head of Drive-Thru Products, at Acrelec. 

QSRs were in a relatively good place to adjust to the pandemic. Owen said, “The pandemic accelerated trends already in place like mobile ordering and curbside pickup. QSRs had to prioritize the value of off-premises dining, considering new ways to get food to customers.”

QSR technology enabled these enhanced channels to meet customers where they are. Bisiaux spoke about new technology in the drive-thru that identifies and tracks customers. “It provides identification and tracking of the customer to improve engagement and loyalty.”

Regarding what’s next in online ordering and delivery, Owen described a new concept of consumer-driven selections. “The consumer will have more control to decide which third-party delivery service to use, and they’ll have to bid on this from customer to customer.”

The pandemic did expose some pain points of QSRs. Bisiaux explained how operators have to streamline the traffic and flow of users. “With most operations being drive-thru, higher volume requires optimization with things like order confirmation displays.”

For the future, the industry will continue to embrace technology, as consumer behavior is driving more contactless and digital interaction. Owen added, “I think that we’re going to continue to see increased use of automation and digitizing the consumer experience.”

QSRs (quick-service restaurants) have a significant market share across restaurant options. It’s quick, low-cost, and convenient. However, they too had to pivot due to the pandemic, and technology was essential. To discuss the latest trends in QSR technology, Beyond Technology host Tyler Kern spoke with John Owen, President, and Chloé Bisiaux, Head of Drive-Thru Products, at Acrelec. 

QSRs were in a relatively good place to adjust to the pandemic. Owen said, “The pandemic accelerated trends already in place like mobile ordering and curbside pickup. QSRs had to prioritize the value of off-premises dining, considering new ways to get food to customers.”

QSR technology enabled these enhanced channels to meet customers where they are. Bisiaux spoke about new technology in the drive-thru that identifies and tracks customers. “It provides identification and tracking of the customer to improve engagement and loyalty.”

Regarding what’s next in online ordering and delivery, Owen described a new concept of consumer-driven selections. “The consumer will have more control to decide which third-party delivery service to use, and they’ll have to bid on this from customer to customer.”

The pandemic did expose some pain points of QSRs. Bisiaux explained how operators have to streamline the traffic and flow of users. “With most operations being drive-thru, higher volume requires optimization with things like order confirmation displays.”

For the future, the industry will continue to embrace technology, as consumer behavior is driving more contactless and digital interaction. Owen added, “I think that we’re going to continue to see increased use of automation and digitizing the consumer experience.”

Self-checkout solutions are gaining validation for their mass deployment across retail, QSR and hospitality verticals. As industries change and adapt, so too SCO processes, technology, and offerings. Beyond Technology reached out to Craig Bevan, VP Sales Commercial Director for Acrelec Group, for his perspective on the self-checkout & self-service kiosk landscape.

“To the purist, a kiosk is something you’ll find in a fast-food restaurant,” Bevan said. “A self-checkout, you’ll see in a more traditional retail environment where typically it’s a smaller screen, and you scan and pay for your products. But, you know, there’s been a lot of changes, and those two technologies are merging.”

Some of the changes in technology that impact self-checkout and self-service kiosks are touchless experiences, which evolved out of increasing customer demand during the pandemic.

What Bevan enjoys about working for a company like Acrelec is that they deliver solutions for both SCO and self-service kiosks so they can create combined innovations utilizing the best of both worlds.

Different customer behaviors have also created a shift, and a need, for self-service kiosks and checkout options to be expected choices in stores. The growth of online shopping facilitated this expectation. If customers can order something online, then the store journey must be as easy for customers.

“Nowadays, when customers come into stores, they want those self-checkouts to reflect the brand,” Bevan said. “They want to walk in and have it be visually appealing.” The aesthetics and design of these devices must be part of the overall shopping experience.

The pandemic made the drive-through an essential part of keeping quick service restaurants open during lockdowns. Additionally, the past twenty months shined a spotlight on the importance of state-of-the-art drive-through technology solutions to create a process as efficient and profitable as possible. What is the next gen drive-through? Beyond Technology discovered the answers when Host James Kent chatted with Chloe Bisiaux, head of drive-through products at Acrelec.

“During COVID, there were changes in what was happening in drive-throughs, and they had to improve in operations, how they work, but also improve the customization to the customer and personalization,” Bisiaux said.

Acrelec created a next-generation product suite to solve the issues of needing customizable options while still reducing wait times.

“In the last few years, we’ve built up this drive-through ecosystem,” Bisiaux said. “What it brings is four products. The first one is called Drive ID. This is for customer identification in the drive-through. As the customer comes through the drive-thru, they can check in on their app, and they are being able to be identified as they are placing their order.”

The next innovation is with outdoor digital menu boards and Acrelec’s Creative Studio. “This allows us to unveil any marketing campaign, the menus, but also having the order view showing to the customer exactly what they are ordering when they are ordering,” Bisiaux said. This customizable approach allows operator control to shift menus based on time of day and peak-volume traffic.

Acrelec’s audio solution streamlines the traditional drive-through speaker ordering process with targeted noise cancellation, making it easy to understand a customer’s order for improved accuracy.

The final piece of the drive-through puzzle is QTimer 2.0, which is integrated into the entire system. “It is timing from the time the car is spending at each point of the drive-through,” Bisiaux said. “Additionally, it has analytics and reports on how long is the full customer journey.”

The pandemic made the drive-through an essential part of keeping quick service restaurants open during lockdowns. Additionally, the past twenty months shined a spotlight on the importance of state-of-the-art drive-through technology solutions to create a process as efficient and profitable as possible. What is the next gen drive-through? Beyond Technology discovered the answers when Host James Kent chatted with Chloe Bisiaux, head of drive-through products at Acrelec.

“During COVID, there were changes in what was happening in drive-throughs, and they had to improve in operations, how they work, but also improve the customization to the customer and personalization,” Bisiaux said.

Acrelec created a next-generation product suite to solve the issues of needing customizable options while still reducing wait times.

“In the last few years, we’ve built up this drive-through ecosystem,” Bisiaux said. “What it brings is four products. The first one is called Drive ID. This is for customer identification in the drive-through. As the customer comes through the drive-thru, they can check in on their app, and they are being able to be identified as they are placing their order.”

The next innovation is with outdoor digital menu boards and Acrelec’s Creative Studio. “This allows us to unveil any marketing campaign, the menus, but also having the order view showing to the customer exactly what they are ordering when they are ordering,” Bisiaux said. This customizable approach allows operator control to shift menus based on time of day and peak-volume traffic.

Acrelec’s audio solution streamlines the traditional drive-through speaker ordering process with targeted noise cancellation, making it easy to understand a customer’s order for improved accuracy.

The final piece of the drive-through puzzle is QTimer 2.0, which is integrated into the entire system. “It is timing from the time the car is spending at each point of the drive-through,” Bisiaux said. “Additionally, it has analytics and reports on how long is the full customer journey.”

Self-checkout solutions are gaining validation for their mass deployment across retail, QSR and hospitality verticals. As industries change and adapt, so too SCO processes, technology, and offerings. Beyond Technology reached out to Craig Bevan, VP Sales Commercial Director for Acrelec Group, for his perspective on the self-checkout & self-service kiosk landscape.

“To the purist, a kiosk is something you’ll find in a fast-food restaurant,” Bevan said. “A self-checkout, you’ll see in a more traditional retail environment where typically it’s a smaller screen, and you scan and pay for your products. But, you know, there’s been a lot of changes, and those two technologies are merging.”

Some of the changes in technology that impact self-checkout and self-service kiosks are touchless experiences, which evolved out of increasing customer demand during the pandemic.

What Bevan enjoys about working for a company like Acrelec is that they deliver solutions for both SCO and self-service kiosks so they can create combined innovations utilizing the best of both worlds.

Different customer behaviors have also created a shift, and a need, for self-service kiosks and checkout options to be expected choices in stores. The growth of online shopping facilitated this expectation. If customers can order something online, then the store journey must be as easy for customers.

“Nowadays, when customers come into stores, they want those self-checkouts to reflect the brand,” Bevan said. “They want to walk in and have it be visually appealing.” The aesthetics and design of these devices must be part of the overall shopping experience.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted every corner of the foodservice industry, and this was especially true for drive-thru and QSR operations that had yet to digitize their drive-thru operations.

With in-person dining off-limits for the better part of a year in many parts of the world, brands quickly shifted to prioritizing their drive-thrus. This spurred acceleration of digitization and adoption of innovative solutions that can bring new speed and accuracy to drive-thru service.

To explore in greater depth how the pandemic accelerated the digitization of operations in QSR brands, particularly in Europe, and saw many brands take their first steps on this journey, Beyond Technology host Hilary Kennedy chatted with Acrelec’s Peter McManus, VP, Global Account Management.

McManus, who has managed many a large account for Acrelec and saw the shift from a focus on in-person dining to drive-thru service happen in real time during the pandemic, was uniquely suited to offer his front-line insights.

“Certainly, there has been a range of reactions [to the pandemic],” McManus said. “One of the things that we’re certainly seeing is new thinking around new store designs. … Many [QSR] operators have reimagined what their stores should look like.”

That means catering to online and mobile ordering, special lanes to fulfill those orders, a new focus on drive-thru success, and more.

To survive in today’s challenging retail environment, businesses need to get creative. BOPIS, or buy online pick up in-store, offers are no longer a differentiator in the retail space; they are a necessity.
How are retailers making their BOPIS services stand out as more and more in the industry turn to this option to stay ahead? Craig Bloomfield, Global Development Director of Pickup Solutions for Acrelec, provided his insights.

At this stage of the game, Bloomfield said it’s more about how a retailer offers click and collect, not should a retailer offer click & collect.

“It’s become a huge part of everyday consumer lifestyles. People crave the convenience that collecting from a store brings,” Bloomfield said. “It’s now about how easy you make it for customers and how simple it is for them to use.”

No matter the location or region a business is located, a partnership is the cornerstone of success. Markku Nopanen, Managing Director for Acrelec Nordics & Baltics, understands the importance of forging long-lasting relationships.