Choosing up a sub at your favourite sandwich store ought to at all times put you in temper. Paying together with your bank card or utilizing your reward factors ought to be quick and simple.

Such had been among the many targets of Jersey Mike’s Subs when it invested $175 million in a nationwide retrofit for its 2,500-plus shops over a latest 18-month interval.

Scott Scherer(Picture: Jersey Mike’s Subs)

“We’re a know-how firm in addition to a restaurant firm,” Scott Scherer, CIO of the Manasquan, New Jersey-based firm, stated throughout a telephone interview.

Deal with innovation

Particular consideration was given to the fee reader, a crucial touchpoint for any restaurant. A standard fee machine oftentimes requires the shopper to maneuver to a customer-facing terminal with a 3.5-inch display screen to finish their transaction.

“We began out of the gate with a completely built-in system,” Scherer stated. “However you needed to stroll to a customer-facing terminal with a 3.5-inch display screen to finish the transaction.

“It is okay for fee; it is not supreme for speaking with the shopper or selling something or exhibiting them what’s on their ticket. We determined to maneuver to a pill resolution. Utilizing an built-in card reader for the bank card piece and the remaining was dealt with with a pill.”

Jersey Mike’s Subs developed a 10-inch-wide customer-facing pill that permits the visitor to overview their order, pay, join loyalty rewards and look at advertising messages. Friends can see a name to motion by way of a QR code to grow to be a “MyMike’s” rewards loyalty membership member or an invite to take part in a neighborhood fundraiser.

Positioned reverse the attended POS terminal, the pill resembles a self-order kiosk that permits the visitor to finish their transaction with the help of an affiliate if wanted.

All-in-one resolution

Different eating places additionally provide a customer-facing pill together with a standard card reader, Scherer stated, however most power the visitor to maneuver from the desk to the fee reader.

“It is complicated as a result of there is a display screen that you just’re working with on the pill and then you definitely transfer to a distinct display screen and full the fee, so we took all of that away and went with a standalone card reader that attaches to a pill so all of the interplay is thru the pill, apart from inserting or tapping the cardboard,” he stated.

Jersey Mike’s Subs developed the software program independently utilizing Elo Contact Options {hardware}.

“We spent an incredible period of time getting it good,” Scherer stated with regard to the circulate of the pill interplay.

Worker buy-in

The corporate’s workers have welcomed the pill because it makes their jobs simpler and permits them to give attention to interacting with prospects.

“The convenience of use from a buyer’s perspective reduces any of the coaching that the crew has to do with the shopper,” Scherer stated. “It is very intuitive.

“We would like the interplay between the shopper and the worker however we do not need the interplay of speaking the shopper by way of a irritating process. We might quite be speaking to them about their day, their children and about their meals. Not about, ‘Oh, stick the cardboard over there, oh, hit that display screen, no, not that button, this button.'”

The pill invitations the shopper to enroll in loyalty rewards. Picture: Jersey Mike’s Subs.

Focus: loyalty rewards

One of many key advantages up to now has been making it simpler for patrons to enroll in loyalty rewards. Near half (45%) of the corporate’s orders embrace loyalty rewards.

“We have now a really profitable loyalty program,” Scherer stated. “The pill simply introduces the loyalty program, complementing the encouragement from the staff.”

The brand new system additionally elevated faucet transactions from 8% to 67%, making fee 5 occasions quicker. Firm analysis discovered faucet transactions take about one second in comparison with 5 seconds when a buyer inserts a bank card.

The power to record orders on the bigger pill additionally improved order accuracy because the display screen offers prospects visibility into what’s being rung up.

For all of those causes, franchisees, like prospects, have welcomed the know-how. “Something that may enhance velocity of service is what they’re asking for,” Scherer stated.

Jersey Mike’s Subs does provide a self-order kiosk in a single retailer serving a university viewers, which is a non-traditional location for the corporate.

“It is primarily an internet and supply retailer the place a big majority of the orders are available by way of the app…the subs are made behind the scenes,” Scherer stated. “On this specific retailer, the kitchen is behind the counter.”

Scherer would not see self-order kiosks taking part in an enormous function, given the corporate’s tradition.

“It is not likely our tradition, it is not likely our model,” he stated. “We invite individuals to come back to the shop for the expertise of seeing their sub recent sliced or recent grilled and the interplay between the crew. We do not need to be that comfort retailer prep store the place you stroll in, you punch right into a kiosk and then you definitely stroll and then you definitely decide up your meals.”

Focus: buyer engagement

“We would like that have, we need to share our lives with our prospects, we need to have interaction with our buyer, and the purchasers that are available actually take pleasure in that,” he stated. “The purchasers that do not need to have that interplay can use our app or our web site and place the orders that means. It is about our tradition. Till we discover a approach to marry the bantering and the tradition into the kiosk, it is not likely our model.”

Going ahead, the group continues to concentrate to know-how. It’s at the moment testing a cloud-based POS system to switch the unique one.

“We’re at all times in search of methods to make use of know-how to enhance the shopper expertise, so, as an example, how may AI enhance the ordering course of?” Scherer requested. “AI is getting significantly better but it surely nonetheless would not compete with human contact. As know-how will get higher we might get there.”

The corporate doesn’t launch numbers on its know-how funding.