Long wait times and long lines can make restaurants unbearable. To address these challenges, some restaurants use self-service food ordering kiosks. While working on one of our recent projects, Can Tho, we gained invaluable knowledge about how to build a self-ordering kiosk system.
If you’re a restaurant owner looking into automating ordering and payments through a self-service ordering kiosk, you’re in the right place.
Read on to discover the technology stack behind touchscreen ordering kiosks, the milestones of developing one, how they work, and when to choose custom development over off-the-shelf solutions.
The story of Can Tho, or how to create value with your restaurant self-ordering kiosk
The story of the Can Tho kiosk began when Damien Toulouse, the owner of Can Tho, a Vietnamese restaurant in Brussels, started thinking about how to reduce the long lines in his restaurant. As he was looking for a solution, he noticed how McDonald’s implemented self-service food ordering kiosks and thought that maybe such kiosks could be a solution for his problem too.
To build a self-ordering kiosk, Damien and his team started with defining their customers’ needs and the core value of their service.
Steelkiwi advice: To build a product, first start with defining your core value and target customers. You need to understand their pains and needs and how you can address them with your solution. Everything else ― UX strategy, UI design, and functionality ― should be built based on your core value.
To visualize and systematize your core value proposition, you can benefit from a value proposition canvas. It consists of two parts: a value proposition map and a customer profile, each consisting of three building blocks. Begin with the customer profile and then move to the value proposition part.
| CUSTOMER PROFILE | VALUE PROPOSITION |
|---|---|
| Customer jobs: What tasks are customers trying to complete? What needs are they trying to address? What problems do they want to solve? | Product(s) and service(s): What product(s) or service(s) do you offer your customers to accomplish these tasks? |
| Pains: What annoys customers while doing these jobs? | Pain relievers: How can your product(s) alleviate your customers’ pain points? |
| Gains: What are the positive outcomes and benefits your customers expect and require? | Gain creators: What are the positive outcomes and benefits that your product creates for your customer? |
Below is an example of Can Tho’s value proposition canvas:
| CUSTOMER PROFILE | VALUE PROPOSITION |
|---|---|
Customer jobs:
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Products:
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Pains:
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Pain relievers:
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Gains:
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Gain creators:
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Key takeaways about how to build a self-service ordering kiosk
At Steelkiwi, we believe there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to automating business operations. With custom development, you’re free to decide on features and a design and align them to your business needs. In addition, custom apps are highly secure against cyber attacks, are easier to maintain and upgrade, and are scalable so they can grow together with your business. As for Can Tho, development from scratch was a necessity since the idea required flexibility and customization in terms of design and functionality.
There’s nothing more valuable than real-world lessons.
#1 Be clear on your core value and target audience.
#2 Every decision you make on UI/UX design, features, and a payment terminal should be guided by your core value and target customers.
#3 Test your app idea and gather real-world feedback.
If you have any questions on how to build self-service technology or want to start building your own self-ordering kiosk with Steelkiwi, don’t hesitate to contact our sales representatives. You’re also welcome to check out our portfolio of business process automation software that we’ve built so far.
Read more at Steelkiwi Blog =)
