Today, consumers have almost unlimited access to fast food options, whether they prefer to order at the restaurant, at the drive through, online, or through any of their favorite delivery apps. And they aren’t just looking for quick, convenient service – they’re looking for value.
To stand out in the quick service industry, businesses need software that enables them to put their customers first. They should be able to offer different menus – like breakfast, lunch, special value items, meal deals and limited time promotions. And they should be able to personalize the guest experience by offering them relevant loyalty rewards and tailored menu items.
A single restaurant management system that offers diverse functionality, such as recipe management to track ingredients and minimize waste, eCommerce integration for online orders, self-service ordering, kitchen management, and more, can help fast food restaurants deliver the speed and personalization guests expect. Many are already relying on LS Central for restaurants to manage their business, as it unites all operations on a single platform, allowing them to pivot quickly to new trends and easily expand to meet the growing needs of their guests.
Let’s explore how LS Central has been helping quick service restaurants around the world create a better, more streamlined customer experience.
Faster ordering capabilities
Allowing guests to order what they want, exactly how they want it, is crucial for any fast-food business. Italian pasta chain startup, miscusi, prepares thousands of fresh pasta dishes each day across its 16 restaurants, so ensuring customers can order conveniently, and in their preferred way, is their top priority. “We just want to be sure we’re delivering the best possible experience to our customers, regardless of the costs of technology or complexity,” says Marco Garoglio, Chief Technology Officer at miscusi.
With LS Central to support their business, miscusi is now able to offer numerous self-service ordering options, including kiosks, QR codes, and pay at the table technology. Customers can order their favorite pasta dish and pay for it at the speed they desire, which has also helped them accept more orders and deliver them faster.
“Anytime there is an order coming from self-service, it appears in our system immediately, so it’s a streamlined process,” says Garoglio.
Since digitizing the ordering experience in their restaurants, miscusi has increased their digital sales by 90%.
Streamlined kitchen preparation
An efficient kitchen is the foundation of any good fast-food restaurant operation. But many restaurant businesses still use handwritten and printed tickets to process orders, leaving too much room for error. Physical tickets make it easier for staff to misunderstand or even misplace an order, leaving guests unsatisfied with the service. To combat this challenge, restaurant businesses need a software solution that offers functionality for Kitchen Display Systems (KDS) to streamline operations in the kitchen and reduce the risk of mistakes.
KFC Greece, is operated by Food Plus, a leading F&B company responsible for the development of well-known fast-food chain KFC for the local market in Greece. They needed a solution that would enable them to speed up order preparation, especially during their peak hours.
“After we evaluated local solutions, we realized all the advantages and technological benefits offered by Business Central and LS Central,” says Giannis Bisdas, IT Manager at Food Plus.
By utilizing the KDS module in LS Central, KFC Greece has been able to significantly improve communication between their front-of-house and back-of-house. The KDS communicates all orders – whether they were submitted via the POS or any of their self-service kiosks – clearly, and in real-time. This ensures that staff in the kitchen know exactly what menu items to prepare, when, and in which order, to fulfill customer requests in a timely, and efficient manner.
Improved customer loyalty
With so much competition on the market, one of the challenges many quick service restaurants face is retaining customer loyalty.
MOS Burger is an international fast-food restaurant chain from Japan. They were facing challenges with their customers complaining about wait times, but their previous solution made it impossible for them to track the time between when a customer placed and order, when it was prepared in the kitchen, and when they got it delivered to them.
“Having a system which is not flexible enough would cause delays and we would lose business opportunities” says Surasak Jintananarumit, CEO at MOS Burger Thailand.
Thanks to the powerful capabilities offered by LS Central, MOS Burger can now understand their production time per menu, per order, allowing them to identify which menus take too long to prepare, and take necessary action. Because of this visibility, the company has successfully cut down on wait times and improved customer satisfaction. “Following our improvements, we now get a lot of repeated purchases and increased loyalty from our customers,” says Jintananarumit.
Simplified employee training
As an industry with some of the highest employee turnover rates, it can be disastrous for fast-food businesses to have to spend a long time training new employees, only for them to leave a short time after. That’s why it’s important to have restaurant software that can train staff members quickly and efficiently, so they can be ready to take orders and assist customers as soon as possible.
This was one of the requirements that franchising company One PM had for the renowned sandwich and coffee shop brand, Pret a Manger, in their Kuwait and Saudi Arabia locations as their previous solution offered limited functionality for the Point of Sale (POS).
“LS Central is a very strong product offering with a variety of features and modern functionalities, and extensive integration possibilities," says Anil Anthony, Senior Manager Operations at One PM Franchising.
Since implementing LS Central, Pret a Manger has been able to simplify navigation of the system and reduce employee training times, helping them speed up many of their processes. “The software's user-friendly interface has made training new employees easier, ensuring a smooth transition for all team members,” says Anthony.
Achieve operational success in your QSR restaurant
If you manage or operate a quick service restaurant, you know that the restaurant management system you select to run your business will define your operations for years to come. So why use many separate systems that don’t communicate or give you the flexibility you need to deliver great customer service, when you can use one system to manage it all on the same platform? Contact our experts to find out what other benefits LS Central can offer for businesses like yours!
