After order accuracy, 74 percent of consumers said an easy-to-read menuboard was important to them. The percentage of those satisfied with the boards they saw is lagging somewhat (70 percent) but the industry is responding.
Of the 16 chains QSR surveyed, 14 report having made changes to their menuboards over the past year. Changes include using more visual representations, repositioning featured items, standardizing value meal positioning and numbering systemwide, expanding combo offerings, and redesigning from the ground up. With only 45 percent of respondents reporting that they know what they want before reaching the menuboard, the potential is obvious.
After seeing the chain ranked low several years in the QSR Consumer Drive-Thru Performance Study, Dairy Queen COO Chuck Chapman says his chain decided to target its menuboards in an effort to improve. With cooperative input from the home office, franchisees, and branding consultancy Tesser, Dairy Queen redesigned its boards away from a text-driven model to a picture and numbers model. Rollout began in May and some 25 percent of stores feature the new boards. Chapman says sales of à la carte items have decreased and sales of combos, specialty beverages, and DQ’s royal treat line—all more profitable items—have increased. More important, the new images on the boards have “let people know we’re in the food business,” Chapman says.
Bojangles’ will complete its new menuboard rollout to company stores this month and has the support of a majority of franchisees as well. Designed and manufactured by the Howard Menu Board Company and SynQ Solutions, Senior Vice President of Marketing Randy Poindexter says the new boards improve readability, improve brand perception and consistency across the system, use visuals to drive purchases, provide more merchandising opportunities, eliminate menu slats and digit carriers, and feature easy-to-change panels and improved hardware.
To prove how important the menuboard is, 44 percent of consumer respondents say they are influenced by specials on the menuboard.
A lot of the feeling that comes from a good drive-thru experience depends on what Noah Griggs, executive vice president of training for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, calls the “X Factor”—courtesy. Just under accuracy and an easy-to-read menuboard, 71 percent of respondents said customer service is important to them, while 63 percent said they were satisfied with their experience. But there is still room for improvement.