Qu has officially announced the introduction of significant kiosk upgrades, geared towards helping restaurants navigate amid rising economic pressures.
To understand the significance of such an effort, we must take into account one study conducted by Qu where it was discovered that nearly 62% of restaurant brands now use or plan to adopt kiosk technology, up from 43% a year ago, including 80% of QSRs and more than half of fast casual brands.
Having said so, the report also discovered some big hurdles along the way. These hurdles include cost, workflow disruptions, and difficulty integrating with existing systems.
Qu’s latest kiosk enhancements arrive on the scene to directly address these very barriers, thus improving adoption, staff efficiency, and profitability without major technology overhauls or costly new hardware.
More on the same would reveal how brands using Qu’s Flex POS terminals can activate kiosk mode without buying extra equipment. Such a mechanism, like you can guess, makes it possible for restaurants to expand kiosk use gradually, match adoption to demand, and minimize upfront spending.
“We’ve seen strong performance at the kiosk, so the next step is implementing intelligent upsell prompts,” said Steve Smyth, director of restaurant technology at Taco John’s. “It’s about guiding guests toward items they’ll enjoy, in a way that feels natural and helpful.”
Talk about the stated upgrades on a slightly deeper level, we begin from Qu’s promise of providing multi-select cross-sells to suggest relevant add-ons in a way that feels helpful rather than pushy.
Next up, we have loyalty prompts coming into play to encourage account log-ins or signups before ordering, linking transactions to rewards, and prompting premium add-ons that increase check size.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the availability of multi-brand loyalty support, which makes it possible for guests to choose brands they want to earn rewards with at multi-brand locations, creating more perceived value, repeat visits, and higher spend over time.
Then, there is the introduction of a dynamic screensaver mode, capable of rotating video, animations, and seasonal content to draw guests in. Almost like an extension of that, we have animated pages and branded menu banners to guide navigation, while simultaneously reinforcing brand identity.
Joining that would be ADA screen reader support which activates as soon as headphones are plugged in.
Qu has also conceived visual adjustments like dyslexia-friendly fonts, large cursors, and high-contrast modes, along with support for 50+ languages.
The company further took this opportunity to introduce Qu Flex, which would be a hybrid POS/Kiosk, bearing an ability to switch between cashier- and guest-facing modes in seconds.
Hold on, we still have a couple of bits left to unpack, considering we haven’t yet touched upon new cashier-facing displays that enable team members to assist with kiosk orders without interrupting service.
Rounding up highlights would be the prospect of instant updates to menu, pricing, 86s, loyalty, and cross-sell settings across all channels, without middleware or duplicate entry.
Among other things, it ought to be acknowledged how these upgrades have already displayed impressive results during the initial deployment.
For instance, they enabled Taco John’s kiosk orders to average 19% higher than counter service. Furthermore, WOWorks reported its kiosk tickets averaged $3 more than in-person orders after deploying the given enhancements.
Not just that, a multi-brand fast-casual operator also witnessed upsell prompts lift average checks up to 22%.
Founded in 2012, Qu’s rise up the ranks stems from its industry-leading, cloud-native Unified Commerce Platform, which combines ordering, operations and guest engagement functions to deliver the real-time data required for driving loyal, repeat guests.
The company’s excellence in what it does can also be understood once you consider it is currently backed by various leading restaurant entrepreneurs and investors, including Cota Capital, Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), Bobby Cox Companies, and NRD Capital.
“These features allow operators to assign staff where they’re needed most — whether on the make line, greeting guests, or managing the drive-thru,” said Brian Crum, VP of product at Qu. “By reducing time spent on repetitive screen tasks, employees can focus on the faster-paced, hands-on parts of the job that require coordination, attention, and a human touch. This flexibility also opens opportunities to hire from a broader talent pool.”
