Fast-Food Giants Scale Up Digital Order Kiosks to Save on Labor Costs, But the Consumer Ends Up Paying for it

While this might seem like a good thing, it comes with its limitations. One of which is that customers are likely to spend more money when using a digital order kiosk as opposed to with a cashier.

In January 2014, the average hourly earnings of a fast-food employee was $12.31. However, as of January 2024, the average hourly earnings were $20.13, as per the US Bureau Of Labor Statistics. 

One benefit is it saves fast food giants on paying employees wages, according to Business Insider. The kiosks prevent the need for cashiers, which means restaurants can either higher fewer people or put the employees in other areas, such as the kitchen or drive-thru. 

Yahoo! News reported that Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti has reported a 10% increase in sales from digital order kiosks as opposed to cashiers. 

Ordering from a digital kiosk gives customers time to look at all of the different options, try something new, and see what offers the restaurant might have on.

For example, if a customer were to order a burger, the kiosk might encourage them to add fries or a drink to the order. They can also encourage them to change from a small or regular-sized meal to a large meal, therefore costing the customer more money but increasing profits for fast food giants. 

Food Service And Hospitality reports that digital orders went from 5% to 15% in 2020 to grow by 30% in 2021. 

Business Insider reported that during a trial with digital order kiosks, the company found most customers were using the kiosk as opposed to a cashier, and as such they plan on rolling them out at more restaurants and becoming fully digital. 

Many studies have been done on this, with Future Ordering reporting that as digital order kiosks help with upselling, this alone can increase a restaurant’s revenue by 35%. 

Statistics published on Fresh KDS show that 64% of customers prefer a digital ordering option, even when eating in a restaurant. 

Many of these generations grew up outside of the digital age and it is affecting how they use restaurants. The Telegraph reports that it is even causing older generations to feel excluded to the point they no longer use restaurants with digital ordering. 

With fast food giants wanting to increase the number of digital kiosks to save on labor costs, it appears the customer will be the one to pay for these, mostly while being completely oblivious to it.