case study
QUICK FACTS:
International fast food chain
Wendy’s wanted to stay ahead
of the competition in the digital
signage revolution.
QUICK FACTS: After numerous false starts, Wendy’s selected
Scala for digital menu boards that display content tailored to
local tastes, and can be altered either in-house or remotely.
Five years ago, the then CEO of Wendy’s
International issued a directive that
“when the QSR (Quick-Service Restaurant)
industry went all digital, we needed to be
ready with a fully scalable, operational,
supportable solution for the entire
brand,” remembers Nick DeCarlo,
Director, Restaurant Solutions at Wendy’s.
Today, Wendy’s has approximately 2,500
media players running digital menu
boards powered by Scala software in
many of its nearly 6,500 North American
corporate and franchise restaurants.
Process and results
The third largest QSR chain in the world,
Wendy’s restaurants have different
menus and pricing mechanisms to be
displayed on digital menu boards. This
required them to find an application
program interface (API) that could scale
with the business. Scala’s platform is
flexible and easy to customise, either by
individual store managers right on-site or
by calling Scala support.
Putting control of dynamic content
in the restaurant managers’ hands is
huge because there are no set dates
for knowing when content will need to
change. Sometimes it’s simply when
they run out of a product. Another key
benefit to working with Scala has been
Scala Designer, which enables Wendy’s
information technology team to easily
upload custom designed and optimised
content to individual restaurants – all with
a small footprint. “Our slogan is ‘quality
is our recipe’ and we want that to apply
to everything we do,” DeCarlo said, and
that means offering the highest-quality
solution they could to show their food in
the best possible light.
Future work
Now that the hard work of finding
hardware and software that meets
their needs is behind them, “it’s time
for the fun stuff,” DeCarlo said. This
means experimenting with digital menu
boards at drive-through windows, which
comprises 65% of Wendy’s business
and has been test marketed in Boston,
Columbus and Phoenix. In some
instances, like Phoenix, the weather
proved to be a challenge both technically
and financially.
More successful test programs
have been queuing menu boards via
Twitter, which was especially popular
with teenagers. Wendy’s is also looking
into using Scala software for mobile app
integration as well as limited time offers
and feature items. n
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