Panda Express Flips a Coin, Adds Dispenser

Crane Payment Solutions announced the completion of an extensive roll out of the Telequip T-Flex Coin Dispenser to Panda Express and Hibachi-San. Over a year ago, Crane Payment Solutions was awarded the opportunity to deliver over 2,600 T-Flex Coin Dispensers to Panda Express fast-casual restaurants across the nation. The roll out began in April of 2009, and was completed in January of 2010 on time, within budget, and problem-free.

Panda Express decided to implement Coin Dispensers to improve its speed of service to customers and eliminate the bottleneck at the front counter registers. And that has been accomplished—and more. “Speed of service in our busiest locations has improved by 20 percent, and that allows us to service additional guests during peak hours. This gives us extra time to focus on providing our guests with fantastic food and service,” says Bryan Lim, director of development and integration. “In fact, we were so pleased with the results we saw at Panda Express, we decided to expand the roll out program to include our 40 Hibachi-San locations.”

With a rugged design that integrates seamlessly into any business environment, the T-Flex Coin Dispenser accelerates speed of service, reduces customer lines, and improves the accuracy of cash transactions. In addition, it improves cashier productivity, cash management efficiencies, and customer satisfaction.

The T-Flex Coin Dispenser requires the cashier to ring in the customer’s order on the point-of-sale system in order to execute the transaction and dispense the correct change. It streamlines the cash management process, allowing faster shift changeovers and less coin replenishment throughout the day. “We are pleased to provide our associates with an additional tool that can help them provide better service to our guests,” says Calvin Lee, director of operations improvement.

“Telequip has been a great supplier for over a year,” Lim says. “We began by testing the product in our lab and then placed it in six field pilot stores for 90 days. We then made the decision to expand to a full-scale roll out. Our enterprise-wide roll out went very smoothly. Telequip’s successful effort to drop ship two units directly to each of our 1,300 locations on a pre-determined schedule was unprecedented.”

“Telequip worked very closely with the Panda Restaurant Group to time each delivery to coincide with the arrival of their implementation team,” says Kurt Gallo, general manager of Crane Payment Solutions. “Timing was critical. We are glad to confirm that the T-Flex Coin Dispensers make such a positive difference in their restaurants.”