Whether you you love or hate the newly initiated healthcare bill,
one thing is for certain - things are changing and not only for doctors,
hospitals, and insurance companies. What the media has dubbed as 'Obamacare' includes a major change
for restaurants that will create a ripple effect into our world of Digital Signage.
Title IV of the
new law states that 'Restaurants which are part of a chain with 20 or more
locations doing business under the same name must disclose calories on the
menu board and in written form.' People in the restaurant and digital signage
industries have been paying close attention to the new menu label law. Now that
it's passed, many restaurants are rushing for a solution to comply with the new
regulations. Herein lies the opportunity for both
digital signage and the restaurant industries.
In order to comply
with the law, restaurants must display the caloric intake of each item on their
menu boards. As new products are added or the amount of
calories for items change, restaurants will be forced to
update their menu boards. These changes carry a big price tag, considering all that needs to happen— designing, printing, shipping, and installing new
signage several times each year can be very costly. By installing
digital menu boards, restaurants can easily
lighten the workload and expense of managing their menu boards and still comply with the new law.
Not only does
digital signage make managing menu boards easier and more cost efficient, but
restaurants can use this opportunity to really improve their menu board
strategy. QSR
Magazine recently published an excellent article on the strategy
behind a menu board. When I was reading this article, it occurred to
me that most of the strategies discussed could probably be automated if a
digital menu board was integrated with the restaurant's
POS system. For example: If the center of a menu board is considered the 'hot
spot', then restaurants could automatically move items into the 'hot spot'
based on sales numbers or other pre-defined indicators from their POS system.
By leveraging the data in their POS system and displaying it on a digital menu
board, restaurants turn their old, static menu board into their best sales rep;
the Smart Board.
Some restaurants
are worried about people choosing not to eat at their establishment
based on the caloric intake displayed on the board, so another big concern is actually getting people in the door of the
restaurant and keeping them there. This is another big
opportunity for restaurants to benefit from digital signage, but this time, on the outside
of the store. In this article,
a Cleveland based Dairy Queen has seen sales rise 10-15 percent above their regional average and the owner gives most of the credit to the newly installed outdoor digital billboard. The
screen allows him to keep in touch with the community, change promotions based
on the weather, and saves him a ton of time and money.
The benefits are clear and the time is right for more restaurants to make their move to
digital menu boards. I think the movement has already begun, but we'll start to
see more pop up as restaurant owners look past the initial cost and look
forward to the long term benefits. What do you think? Will 'Obamacare' affect
the digital signage industry? What is the best move for restaurants as they
work to comply with the new laws?
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