Self-service ordering kiosks have become a staple of fast food restaurants in the 2020s. With the obvious downside being that they replace human labor, the upside is that they greatly speed up the ordering experience. Now, Arby’s is following suit, adding ordering kiosks to some of its stores. But only some.
Here’s the catch: the tech-advanced ordering kiosks will only be available in Arby’s locations inside Love’s Travel Shops, a chain of truck stops located all across the United States. According to Restaurant Dive, they’re already in service at all of the company’s 112 Arby’s Locations.
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“This technology doesn’t just improve the guest experience – it transforms our operations,” Love’s VP of Food Service, Joe Cotton, said in a press release, going on to mention how the streamlining will improve speed of service as well as customer satisfaction. It makes sense in this case—when you’re on the road ordering food at a rest stop, you want to be in and out as quickly as possible. The kiosks are all ADA compliant, and customers can order in either English or Spanish.
For Love’s frequenters, the kiosks also integrate with the Love’s Connect app as well as their My Love’s Reward program, allowing customers to order ahead from their phones as well as earn loyalty points on their Arby’s purchases. “The kiosks…reinforc[e] Love’s commitment to putting the guest experience first,” the company’s Director of Food Service, Nick Bouse, said.
Funnily enough, Arby’s actually first deployed a touchscreen ordering system in 1991—way before it was cool. The trial at a Minneapolis franchise was documented in an article from Quirk’s Media. “When you’re doing your own ordering and someone is running the food, it seems like it’s all going much faster,” an Arby’s exec told the outlet at the time. “The biggest issue with employees is to get them responsive to customers…The personal contact with the customer is very important.”