How a Quick-Service Restaurant Chain Increased Sales with Digital Screens

Objective:
Streamline content management, speed up updates, and reduce service times without increasing staffing.

Business challenge:
As the chain grew, maintaining consistent standards became increasingly difficult. Restaurant appearances varied, while menu and promotion management remained fragmented and slow.
During its expansion, a major quick-service restaurant chain faced a challenge common across the industry. Its locations operated in different formats: food courts, standalone restaurants, and drive-throughs. Menus changed frequently, and promotions were launched centrally by the head office, but updates reached individual locations with delays. The restaurants also looked inconsistent: some already had digital screens, while others still used printed menus.

The company wanted to bring order to content management and speed up service without hiring additional staff. It approached us, and we started with the key customer touchpoints: digital menu boards and checkout screens.
The project rolled out in stages, beginning with a pilot in several cities before expanding across the entire chain.

The foundation of the solution was integrating digital menu boards with point-of-sale systems. Any changes made in the POS system are automatically reflected on the screens.

When an item becomes unavailable, it disappears from the menu. When a price changes, the update appears simultaneously at all selected locations. This virtually eliminated errors and reduced update times from weeks to minutes.

We also configured schedules and playlists. Breakfast menus switch to daytime menus and then evening menus without staff involvement. The system also supports content priorities: a new promotion can override the regular schedule.

Next, we introduced trigger-based content changes. Screens now respond to both external and internal conditions. On hot days, for example, cold drinks and ice cream appear more frequently. When the kitchen is busy, the system highlights items that take less time to prepare. In the evening, combo meal promotions take priority.

We redesigned the menus around customer behavior, adding short food videos and making key items and combos more prominent.
We also enabled synchronized content across multiple screens, creating what is sometimes called a “swimming fish” effect. Coordinated movement of menu elements catches customers’ attention, even in busy food courts.

Screens in the checkout area formed a separate part of the project. Their main purpose is to encourage impulse purchases. While customers wait in line, they see offers for desserts, drinks, and small additions to their orders. Content updates just as quickly as it does on the menu boards, allowing promotions to launch within minutes.

During the pilot, this area delivered the strongest results: sales of impulse items increased by 15–25%, and the screens paid for themselves in less than a year.

For the IT team, centralized management was the key benefit. All screens, regardless of city or restaurant format, are controlled from a single location. The system monitors device status, enables fast content updates, and eliminates the need for manual intervention at individual restaurants. Both the number of incidents and the team’s workload decreased.
The marketing team gained a tool it could use in real time. A/B testing offers, launching promotions, and adjusting content priorities all became much faster.

The sales team, in turn, saw improvements in operational performance. Waiting times fell by approximately one-third, while restaurants served more customers without expanding their premises or increasing staffing.

After rolling out the solution across the chain, the company recorded several sustained improvements:

• Average order value increased through upselling and combo offers.
• Impulse purchases of desserts and drinks grew by 25%.
• Menu update times fell from several weeks to just a few minutes.
• Spending on printed materials was eliminated.
• Peak-hour queues became shorter, and service became faster.

The company also highlighted a shift in brand perception. Restaurants gained a more modern, consistent appearance, while the information on their screens remained up to date.