OAKDALE Minn. Wendy’s franchisee FourCrown Inc. has installed multimedia and event-centered messaging capabilities to suggestively sell products storewide, officials said. The company recently augmented the in-restaurant digital menu and presale marketing boards at its Woodbury, Minn., unit with similar devices in the drive-thru. —Multiunit
“For us, during the summer, if there is a streak of really warm weather, we can put on our Frosty products [images], and that ice cream really looks great,” said FourCrown’s Dan Opitz, discussing the flexibility afforded by digital menu and marketing board technology, which permits a change of imagery and message with a few computer key strokes. “We have the ability to put up a video of a product that can get you to think, on impulse, ‘Maybe I need this.’” —Multiunit
Opitz, who is vice president of 59-unit, Oakdale-based FourCrown, said his company has been using digital menu and marketing boards in selected restaurants for about two years. The operator appreciates the technology’s ability to easily update menu product and pricing information, and, if desired, swap out entire menu presentations or portions by daypart, he indicated. —Multiunit
In addition to the fully digital Woodbury restaurant, Opitz said FourCrown has four other locations with interior or outdoor boards. —Multiunit
FourCrown uses the technology of Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Wand Corp., a point-of-sale system manufacturer and services provider that branched into digital menu and marketing board systems, supporting several Wendy’s franchisees, among others. Wand uses LG LCD displays indoors and Samsung sunlight-rated models outdoors, and provides content creation and management services. Its menu and marketing boards work in conjunction with its POS systems—even sharing content with guest order confirmation screens on the back of POS registers—but they also can support other POS brands. —Multiunit
Given the cold winters and warm summers in Minnesota, FourCrown has been awaiting the refinement of climate-controlled cases for outdoor digital menu and marketing boards. When a 46-inch Wand outdoor presale board with heating and cooling capabilities came through a winter-months test in good shape, Opitz said FourCrown took the plunge about three months ago and went to a full digital presentation outdoors at the Woodbury location. —Multiunit
Officials at Wand said pricing for the company’s technology can vary depending on a number of factors, but, in general, a system with four menu panels and a presale marketing board should run about $20,000 per location. That investment covers hardware, installation and initial content creation, but excludes monthly per-restaurant fees for maintenance and help desk services, they said. —Multiunit
Quantifying the effectiveness of digital menu and marketing boards in upselling products can be difficult, but Wand and some other vendors have indicated that featured items have, in some cases, seen from two to five times higher sales than normal. —Multiunit
FourCrown’s Opitz said the technology is “a major investment” and remarked, “We’re still learning at this point what it can do for you.” —Multiunit
“Anyone walking into a store that has [these boards] and who has not seen them before will have a great experience,” he continued. “But at the same time, I’m not going to tell everyone that [when] you put these things in you see a big boost in sales.” —Multiunit
Opitz said of FourCrown and digital and menu and marketing boards, “Our plan is to continue ahead with them.” —Multiunit