Enter your email address below.
5 min read...
Most entrepreneurs starting a fast-food business have at some point looked into using a self-order kiosk. Today, a self-order kiosk or similar solution has become indispensable in a fast-service restaurant. With a self-order kiosk, you add a sales channel and ensure your customers are always served. A self-order kiosk ensures that queues at the registers become shorter, and customers ultimately receive their food and drinks faster. As an entrepreneur, this is a highly efficient and productive way of working.
Since we increasingly receive the question whether we can explain the difference between our self-order kiosk (Kiosk) and the one from McDonald’s, we provide a concise summary of the biggest differences in this article.
When McDonald’s started adding kiosks to their restaurants in 2014, an enormous increase in revenue was observed. Many restaurant owners saw how beneficial this system is for the revenue of their restaurants. Partly due to this introduction by McDonald’s, smaller fast-food/fast-service restaurants started looking into similar solutions. Below, we explain the differences and similarities.
At the McDonald’s self-order kiosk, it’s very easy to build your own menu. You choose which burger you want, then you get the option to add fries or a salad, and finally you decide whether you’d like to add a drink. This is also the case with the Onesix Kiosk. A customer selects a product or a meal deal, and can very easily add products or menu items. A burger meal with mayo and sambal? It’s simply a matter of combining products and recommending additional options.
The menu is fully dynamic, allowing every product to be combined with another. Fortunately, we’ve already seen some unusual combinations, so nothing surprises us anymore.
After placing an order at the McDonald’s self-order kiosk, the customer can click the payment button and then complete the transaction with a debit card or mobile phone. This is also the case with the Onesix Kiosk. The customer can add various products to their assembled menu and then pay via the payment terminal attached to the Kiosk. The advantage is that no queue can form at your restaurant’s counter. Easy, right!
As entrepreneurs can imagine, the investments and option prices for a McDonald’s self-order kiosk are extremely high. The investment for a single self-order kiosk can range between 15,000 and 20,000 euros, depending on the number of additional options. For smaller fast-food restaurants, the payback period is simply too far on the horizon to use this solution in their business.
The investment required to try the benefits of the Onesix self-order kiosk is 0 euros. Onesix offers every entrepreneur the opportunity to test a self-order kiosk for 30 days free of charge, without making any upfront investment. If the entrepreneur is satisfied after the 30-day trial period, the investment comes to 2,690 euros (for a Kiosk Pro). That’s the big difference.
McDonald’s has been using the same ordering system for about 7 years now and has added few new hardware features in the meantime. The McDonald’s self-order kiosk is very recognizable. The McDonald’s kiosks are usually placed in one fixed location in the restaurant, just in front of the register.
Several Onesix Kiosks, on the other hand, are the only ones on the market that are easily portable. Want to temporarily move the Kiosk because the weather is great outside and lots of customers are sitting on the terrace? This is all very easy to do. Additionally, there are also various Onesix Kiosks that, just like the McDonald’s self-order kiosk, are placed in a fixed position and are not portable.
The McDonald’s self-order kiosk has a 32” screen, allowing you to order on a large and clear display. The Onesix Kiosk is available with two different screen sizes: 20” and 32”. The Kiosks with a 32” screen offer, just like McDonald’s, a large and clear display. The Kiosks with a 20” screen are somewhat smaller but still clear and large enough for many hospitality businesses. These 20” screens are naturally more affordable as well.
Additionally, the Onesix Kiosks are equipped with the latest screen technology, ensuring excellent speed and responsiveness. There is virtually no delay when touching the screen. With McDonald’s self-order kiosks, you may have noticed that there is sometimes a delay or that the screen stutters. McDonald’s was one of the first chains to introduce self-order kiosks. As a result, many screens in McDonald’s locations are now outdated and don’t use the latest technologies. This means the responsiveness of many McDonald’s self-order kiosks is not optimal.
McDonald’s was one of the first major chains to demonstrate how valuable a self-order kiosk can be. Their kiosks have proven how important user-friendly software and smart upselling are for revenue. Today, Onesix offers nearly the same capabilities, combined with the latest technology and a much lower investment. This way, smaller hospitality businesses can also benefit from the advantages of a Kiosk, without spending tens of thousands of euros.
Daan is Head of Marketing at Onesix. This news site offers relevant articles for people working in or interested in hospitality, retail and amusement parks.
