Why restaurant self-serve kiosks may actually lead to customers ordering less food

When restaurant customers order from a self-service kiosk while a line forms behind them, they feel rushed, causing them to buy less and stick with familiar items instead of looking for something new, according to a recent study published by us.

We’ve found that companies can reduce this pressure and increase satisfaction by revamping their system so that a single line of waiting customers leads to multiple kiosks. This way, customers feel less rushed because they are not the only ones holding up the line.

We are food and beverage marketing experts researching self-service technology. In recent years, many restaurants have adopted automated technology to streamline the menu ordering process and address staff shortages. Ultimately, this gives customers more control over their order, but an unintended consequence of this seems to be that it also makes them feel more responsible for keeping the line moving behind them. leading to rush orders.

To understand what’s going on, we conducted three experiments in which we asked hundreds of participants to imagine standing in line at a restaurant in a variety of scenarios. I’ve found that most people actually feel pressured to order quickly when there’s a line behind them. This resulted in quicker decisions and lower overheads.

But we’ve also found that retailers can mitigate this in one of two ways: by creating a single line that serves multiple kiosks, or by displaying a pop-up message on the kiosk interface stating that the business takes the entire responsibility for any service delay during menu orders.

Our research reveals the social dynamics at play in do-it-yourself ordering, and we believe it offers valuable implications for designing a more efficient and customer-friendly self-service process. It also alerts restaurant owners to the potential unintended consequences of moving to automated technology.