Kiosk Solutions Feb-Mar 2018 | Page 25

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 KIOSK solutions 25