BLOGA Note from Dave PerrillOctober 27, 2016Thank you for your interest in WAND! I’m glad you are here and want to learn more about our company. We credit our success at WAND to one simple thing – outstanding people. We build everything around our organization to retain, attract, and develop outstanding talent. We seek people that are a fit with our...Read more...How Will Digital Menu Boards Save You Money?October 19, 2016Aside from creating a more visually appealing experience for your diners and increasing your revenue when used properly, digital menu boards can also save you money. What follows are some tips on how to capitalize on the best savings when using digital menus in your restaurant. As a restaurant operator, all investments should be carefully...Read more...Less Really is More: In Favor of Smaller MenusOctober 6, 2016In a world where it seems like you might reach more customers by having so much variety you appeal to everyone, it might seem shocking to consider that a smaller menu can actually work in your favor. Research, however, shows that it’s a great time to consider tightening up your menu and keeping offerings in...Read more...3 Ways Restaurant Operators Should be Using Digital Menu BoardsAugust 9, 2016Digital menu boards are used among restaurant operators as a tool to improve customer experience, drive sales lift, and increase operational efficiency. When used properly, these are both a valuable sales tool and a competitive differentiator. Here are three key ways restaurant operators should be using digital menus. 1. Improve Customer Experience Dining out isn’t...Read more...How to Make People Buy After You’ve Got Them Inside Your RestaurantJuly 13, 2016As a restaurant operator you make a ton of decisions on a daily basis. One of those decisions is how to influence what people are buying when they visit your restaurants. Many operators overlook ways they can increase customer loyalty, promote key products and incite last minute sales…right in their own restaurant. While you are...Read more...5 Creative Design Tips for Digital MenusJune 15, 2016Designing artwork for digital menus is a unique challenge. Unlike static/cardboard menus, you have the option to use rich media, animations, motion graphics and takeovers. The capabilities are practically endless! Because it’s a different kind of medium it requires a different type of creative design style. At WAND we’ve created thousands of digital menus and...Read more...Digital Signage Versus Digital MenusMay 19, 2016At WAND we get asked the question constantly; what’s the difference between digital signage and digital menus? After all, when everything is said and done the bottom line is you have a digital menu on a screen so what does it matter if it’s from a digital signage company versus a digital menu company? Oh…where...Read more...Self-Service Restaurant Kiosks and the Millennial GenerationApril 13, 2016Self-service restaurant kiosks are booming in the limited service restaurant industry, especially among the millennial generation. There are many reasons why, but before we jump in to them I want to share a quick story. One of our WAND Rock Stars was recently at a restaurant chain standing in a long line waiting to order and...Read more...WAND Digital is Getting a Makeover! Here’s What to ExpectApril 8, 2016It’s makeover time! Well, WAND Digital style, anyway. 🙂 Our developers have been furiously working on updating the design of our Total Restaurant Management (TRM) software, and in a few weeks you’ll see some big changes when you log into TRM. Here are a few of the new things you’ll see: Login. The login page...Read more...What is Your Mobile Payments Strategy?March 16, 2016Mobile payments are booming, especially for restaurants. It’s right up there with tablets in terms of being a smoking hot topic in the restaurant POS industry. The majority of consumers want to be able to order food right from their mobile device and pick it up (or, even better, have it delivered) quickly. With that...Read more...Is a Tablet POS Right for Your QSR Restaurants?February 17, 2016The restaurant point of sale industry is wildly changing, with emerging tablet POS technologies at the forefront. With its elegant, user friendly interface, lower cost of hardware and simple set-up, many restaurants are considering making the switch to a tablet POS. But, as we all know, making the switch to your restaurant POS system is...Read more...Creating a Digital Menu Board Content Strategy and Marketing CalendarJanuary 19, 2016A Digital Menu Board content strategy and defined marketing calendar is key to success. One of the biggest mistakes we see clients make is they don’t have a clear content strategy and they are unsure how often they are going to change out promotional offers, LTOs and update menu items. As you plan your Digital...Read more...Six Common Digital Menu Boards MistakesJanuary 12, 2016Digital menu boards are still a relatively new technology and many limited service restaurants have yet to install them. However, for those restaurants that have made the switch from static to digital menus, we’ve noticed there are several common mistakes that are often made when deploying them for the first time. The mistakes are minor...Read more...12 Ways to Boost Restaurant SalesDecember 9, 2015Tis the season…to get a boost in restaurant sales! The holidays are upon us, and one thing we count on at this time of year is that people are going to eat a lot of food! Since they are going to be out shopping and visiting relatives, and doing all the Holiday things they do,...Read more...9 Ways You Should be Using Your Restaurant POS System to Prevent TheftDecember 2, 2015A restaurant POS system is crucial to a restaurant’s financial success; it processes hundreds (sometimes thousands) of transactions daily. Unfortunately, among all those transactions it becomes too easy for employees to become thieves and steal from restaurant operators. Here are nine ways you should be using your restaurant POS system to prevent theft: 1. Use conversational...Read more...WAND Software Team Update: Continually ImprovingNovember 30, 2015A special guest blog by Erik Hanson, VP of Software Development at WAND Corporation It has been quite a year for the WAND Software team and since it is the time of year where many people look back and examine how things are different now than they were a year ago, I thought now would be a great...Read more...How to Use Mobile and Contactless Payments to Increase QSR and Fast Casual Restaurant SalesNovember 11, 2015Mobile and contactless payments are definitely the cool new kid on the block when it comes to restaurant technology. Apple Pay, Google Wallet, Pay Pal, Samsung Pay…let’s face it, it feels pretty awesome to pay for something just by swiping your watch or phone through the air. Not to mention how awesome it is to...Read more...10 Ways to Increase Sales with Digital Menu BoardsNovember 4, 2015As you know, one of the most powerful tools in your restaurant are your menu boards. Customers spend valuable minutes looking over these boards searching for their perfect meal or dessert. A great menu board can make or break your business which is why so many restaurants have made the switch from static to dynamic digital boards. Digital menus...Read more...WAND CORPORATION: A Day In The Life in Software DevelopmentOctober 29, 2015A special guest blog by Erik Hanson, VP of Software Development at WAND Corporation One of the most common questions that I get asked during the interview process is “What does the typical day look like?” I struggle to answer that question, because while we definitely have a routine, each day is a bit different,...Read more...5 Ways You Should be Future Proofing Your Restaurant POS System TodayOctober 28, 2015The restaurant POS system of today doesn’t look anything like the restaurant POS system of tomorrow. Advancements in technology and new customer behavior means POS systems are rapidly changing and we all have to keep up. Here are some things restaurants should be doing today to future proof their POS systems so they will be...Read more...4 Reasons Your Restaurant POS is Slowing Down Your Speed-of-ServiceOctober 21, 2015When it comes to restaurant POS systems, speed is the name of the game. The faster you can process orders accurately, the more money you can make. When looking for a new POS, a user-friendly interface is a feature that potential buyers consistently place at the top of their list of requirements. . A user-friendly...Read more...Awesome Section 179 and Year End Spending Ideas for RestaurantsOctober 21, 2015When we think of end of year spending we typically think of the hustle and bustle of the holidays and the multitude of trips to the mall to find the perfect gifts for the special people in our lives. But there is another kind of spending this time of year; businesses making end of year purchases...Read more...Updated FDA Menu Labeling Requirements for RestaurantsOctober 14, 2015...Read more...Ensuring Digital Menu Board Uptime – Tips for SuccessOctober 7, 2015Ensuring Digital Menu Board uptime is one of the most important aspects of this unique medium. Your menus are tools to drive revenue, and as such, they need to be up and running with the appropriate content on the screen, at all times the restaurant is open. This blog post is written to help better...Read more...What exactly is Total Restaurant Management (TRM)?September 30, 2015At WAND we throw around the term Total Restaurant Management (or TRM for short) quite a bit. Since we’re totally focused on restaurants we often have to remind ourselves that not everyone speaks in terms of TRM. So we thought it’d be good to take a moment and share exactly what Total Restaurant Management is,...Read more...Digital Menu Boards – Just Starting Out, or Going All Out?September 30, 2015Getting Digital Menu Boards installed is an exciting thing for restaurant concepts. They look awesome, you can swap out LTOs and test menu items faster and you save money by not having to print and hang static menu boards. There are two approaches when it comes to installing digital menus and it all comes down...Read more...3 Menu Psychology Tips for QSR and Fast Casual ConceptsSeptember 23, 2015Menu psychology can make a big difference in how much money QSR and Fast Casual restaurant operators make. At WAND we are constantly looking at restaurant menus and we’ve learned quite a bit about how to create smart, money-making menus. Here are a few simple menu psychology tips to make sure you’re using them to...Read more...Five Reasons Your QSR Restaurant isn’t Attracting MillennialsSeptember 16, 2015If you work in the QSR restaurant industry, you know how fierce the competition is, especially for millennials. This buying segment is large, hungry and very brand loyal. Unfortunately, they can also be difficult to attract. The most fundamental thing you can do to attract millennials is offer high quality food and great customer service....Read more...Why TV Screens Don’t Work As Digital MenusSeptember 9, 2015One of the most common questions we get about digital menus is whether or not someone can simply purchase a TV, plug in a jump drive and run a menu off Power Point or some easy to use application. Three steps and voila! Sigh. If only it were that easy. Skipping over the jump drive...Read more...Is the FDA Menu Labeling Requirement Going to Hurt my Restaurant Sales?September 2, 2015One of the questions we are frequently getting from customers is how the FDA menu labeling requirement mandating caloric counts on restaurant menus will hurt their sales. It’s a tricky question, but here’s our answer. Because the FDA caloric bill has not yet gone into effect for compliance nationally, research is relatively sparse in this...Read more...7 Awesome Things You Can Do With Outdoor Digital Menu BoardsAugust 26, 2015 With the recent influx of outdoor digital technologies into the market, we thought you needed to know just what a great opportunity outdoor Digital Menu Boards present. Outdoor digital menus are something we know well, having been working with them for more than a decade now, and with the launch of two new WAND...Read more...5 Quick Tips to Help You Prepare for Outdoor Digital MenusAugust 12, 2015If you haven’t heard in some of our earlier blog posts affordable outdoor digital menus for QSR and Fast Casual are here to stay. As hardware prices continue to come down, systems become more modular, and installations get easier, more and more brands are adopting outdoor digital menu systems to help increase revenue in the...Read more...Three Awesome Ways to Use a Video Wall in a RestaurantAugust 5, 2015Video walls are cool. I usually spot them at places like the mall or airports, and when I do, I can’t help but stop and be mesmerized by them. The really exciting thing is that with recent technological advancements, video walls now cost far less than they used to, can now be used pretty much...Read more...Frequently Asked Questions about Restaurant EMV ReadersJuly 29, 2015We’ve been getting a ton of the same questions around EMV readers from many WAND QSR and Fast Casual restaurant operators so we thought it’d be good to use this post to answer them. Here we go! 1-What’s the timeline? When do I need EMV readers in my stores? Will the deadline be pushed back?...Read more...Marketing Agencies: Tips for Creating Digital Menu BoardsJuly 20, 2015Many restaurants are making the switch from using static menu boards to creating Digital Menu Boards to increase sales. As they are doing this they may be engaging their agency of record to create and manage their digital menu board content. If you’re an agency who finds yourself in this situation, congratulations! Digital Menu Boards are a powerful...Read more...Why You Should Wait to Upgrade to Windows 10July 20, 2015**Update (2/23/2016): Beginning February 1st, Microsoft began marking Windows 10 as a “Recommended” update for all Windows 7 and 8 users. Prior to February, Windows 10 was marked as an “Optional” update which meant that the upgrade was not automatically downloaded unless users specifically requested the upgrade. However, now Windows 7 and 8 users may...Read more...QSR and Fast Casual Labor Scheduling Tips to Manage Restaurant Labor CostsJuly 15, 2015One of the biggest challenges of managing a QSR of Fast Casual restaurant labor costs is scheduling. You’re dealing with a lot of employees with different scheduling requirements and you need to balance coverage with peak times so you’re not wasting money on labor or understaffed when you need your crew the most. Here are...Read more...How to Lower Your Food Costs to Better Manage Your Restaurant ProfitabilityJuly 8, 2015As a restaurant operator you know one of your biggest challenges is managing your food costs and increase your restaurant profitability. Today I want to share a few tips for using your restaurant back office software to lower your food costs and better manage your profitability. 1. Know your food costs. It all starts here....Read more...Four Major Project Management Tasks for Installing Digital Menu BoardsJune 26, 2015Digital Menu Boards are one part marketing, one part IT and one part operations – a powerful combination. As such, they require strong project management to get up and running. Whether you’re installing digital menu boards yourself for the first time or you’re working with a company specializing in them it’s important to understand the...Read more...Four Options for When Stuff (Restaurant Technology Hardware) BreaksJune 17, 2015It’s a topic no one wants to discuss, but the reality is sometimes stuff breaks. With Digital Menu Boards the thing that usually breaks is the restaurant technology hardware (screens, players, cabling). There exists some confusion amongst customers of what options you have when stuff breaks. Let’s hope it never happens to you, but in case...Read more...Marketing Agencies: What to Look for in a Digital Menu Boards PartnerJune 15, 2015One of the fastest growing mediums at QSR and Fast Casual restaurants is Digital Menu Boards. As a result, many concepts are reaching out to their agency of record to help find a Digital Menu Boards partner that is right for their brand. If you find yourself in this situation and as you look for...Read more...Digital Menu Boards Content Management: The Unexpected ElementJune 10, 2015As restaurant operators make the switch from static to Digital Menu Boards there is an unexpected element they quickly discover. They find out that it’s not just about screens and players (in fact, that’s the easy part) but it’s the Digital Menu Boards content management system that truly drives success. With static boards it’s a relatively...Read more...Four EMV Liability Shift Myths DebunkedJune 8, 2015The EMV liability shift has been one of the hottest restaurant POS topics of 2015. With the looming shift on October 1st, 2015 many retailers are now taking steps to install EMV readers in their restaurants. As a restaurant POS provider we’ve closely followed this topic as we’ve prepared our own products for this shift....Read more...EMV Liability Shift Info for QSR OperatorsJune 3, 2015Recent headlines about data breaches and credit card fraud have only reinforced what has been a troubling fact for a long time: traditional credit card transactions contain vital personal data that are targets for theft. In the United States alone, the cost of credit card fraud will top an estimated $10 billion in 2015. One...Read more...5 Restaurant POS Mistakes to AvoidJune 2, 2015Restaurant POS mistakes can make or break your business. Whether you’re a 20-location Fast Casual concept or a 200-location QSR concept, if you’re in the restaurant industry you’ve got a Point-of-Sale (POS) system all your restaurants use. We’ve made an extensive study of how restaurant POS systems are used and have observed thousands of transactions taking across...Read more...How Many Digital Menu Boards do you Really Need?June 1, 2015One of the most frequently asked questions we get at WAND is how many Digital Menu Boards does my restaurant need? Here’s a general guideline we give clients for QSR restaurants: A stand-alone QSR restaurant with one to three registers (lanes), should have a minimum of two paired boards. For a store with heavier traffic...Read more...Three Ways to Maximize Your Digital Creative Services InvestmentMay 27, 2015As the use of Digital Menu Boards continue to rise many companies are trying to adjust their digital creative services investment to maximize this channel, and integrate it into their multi-channel marketing strategies. The shift from static to Digital Menu Boards means you can change out LTOs faster, run more promotions, incorporate video walls, react to...Read more...7 Awesome WAND TRM HacksMay 26, 2015Earlier this year we rolled out our updated interface in WAND TRM for Digital Menu Boards. As customers are still getting familiar with the new look and feel we thought we’d share some useful tricks to be more efficient in the system. Here are seven WAND TRM hacks to try out: 1. Use overlays to avoid making additional...Read more...10 Things Restaurant Marketing Agencies Should Know About Digital Menu BoardsMay 20, 2015Digital Menu Boards are one of the hottest opportunities in the QSR and Fast Casual restaurant space. If you are one of the many restaurant marketing agencies working with these types of restaurants they are definitely a medium you’ll want to know in and out. The reason? They help brands better compete for critical foot traffic and...Read more...The Secret to Decreasing the Burden of PCI Compliance in Your RestaurantsMay 18, 2015As you know compliance in the payment card industry (PCI compliance) is becoming a much greater challenge for restaurants. With recent security breaches at many national brands it’s critical to your brand’s reputation (and bottom line) to stay PCI compliant. The good news is we’ve figured out the secret to decreasing the burden of PCI...Read more...5 Things You Need to Know about WAND TRM ReportingMay 13, 20151. What it Is WAND’s TRM Reporting provides WAND’s NextGen Point of Sale customers relevant, meaningful data in near real time. With your web browser you have access to 100+ reports that allow you to view your business from a big picture perspective and quickly drill down to issues at specific sites. Or you can use the...Read more...Four Hidden Costs of an Aging Restaurant POS SystemMay 6, 2015A restaurant POS system is at the heart of a QSR or Fast Casual restaurant and can make a huge difference in how profitable a company is. Unfortunately, a restaurant POS system, like any technology, have a shelf life. Many organizations debate for months (sometimes years) whether the time is right to upgrade to a new system. While...Read more...5 Reasons Outdoor Digital Menu Boards Win!April 30, 2015The other day, my daughter and I drove into the drive-thru at a very popular restaurant. Our mission: to get my kid her favorite egg sandwich. As we were sitting in the car at the menu boards waiting to order, two uniformed crew members ran out of the back door of the restaurant and began...Read more...QSR and Fast Casual Restaurant POS Training TipsApril 28, 2015So you’ve purchased an awesome new restaurant POS system and are super psyched to roll it out. You’ve got the install scheduled and restaurant managers notified. You’re ready to go and then you realize “how are we going to train everyone in on the new system???” Most likely you’ve gone through a new POS rollout...Read more...Don’t Let Your Biggest Loser Be Your Restaurant POS SystemApril 25, 2015The point of sale (POS) system is at the heart of every restaurant and is the one piece of technology most restaurants literally can’t live without. These days, not just any POS system will do. Restaurants in the Fast Casual/QSR arena need POS systems built for speed of service, security, and enhanced guest experiences to remain...Read more...6 Steps for Managing Digital Menu Board Content across Multiple LocationsApril 22, 2015One of the biggest pain points we hear from customers is that it can be incredibly challenging to manage digital menu board content across multiple restaurant locations. This is especially difficult for corporate executives or franchise operators who travel frequently and need to change menu content when they’re on the go. At WAND we want to...Read more...4 Cool Things Restaurant Franchisees Can Do With Digital Menu BoardsApril 16, 2015Digital Menu Boards are one of the hottest trends in the QSR and Fast Casual restaurant industry which is why many corporations are investing in them to give their restaurant franchisees an edge over the competition. Most franchisers have a pretty good idea for what menu boards can do for them but there are some...Read more...4 Benefits from Mobile Contactless PaymentsApril 9, 2015Mobile contactless payments are on the rise across the country. The 2014 National Restaurant Association Technology Innovations Consumer Study pointed out that 35% of QSR and 20% of Fast Casual restaurants currently offer mobile payments. This new, fast-growing transaction method has already been proven in studies to improve loyalty and frequency among QSR and Fast...Read more...5 Mobile Payments Stats for QSR and Fast Casual Restaurant OperatorsApril 2, 2015The adoption of mobile payments and use of smartphones and tablets to view menus and order food continues to rapidly grow. More and more consumers continue to rely on this technology and as a result, restaurant operators must move fast to keep up with the times. Looking through the 2014 National Restaurant Association Technology Innovations...Read more...3 Contactless Payment Technology Tips for RestaurantsMarch 25, 2015At the risk of sounding obvious, there’s a lot of change happening in the Restaurant Point of Sale (POS) landscape. One of the most exciting changes is contactless payment technology. Contactless payment technology lets consumers make payments by waving or tapping a smartphone or other object. It’s a much faster and secure way to pay....Read more...4 Things You Can Do in WAND Digital Without Calling the Help DeskMarch 17, 2015This week we’re talking about some cool things any WAND Corporation partner can quickly and easily do to impact the content on your WAND Digital Menu Boards, with little or no training, and without calling WAND for help. Some folks still don’t know that many updates in WAND Digital can be made on the fly, and...Read more...Preparing for the FDA Menu Labeling: Part Five of FiveMarch 12, 2015Over the past few years, many QSR and Fast Casual concepts have made the switch to Digital Menu Boards in preparation for the upcoming FDA menu labeling requirements. In some states it’s actually already been a requirement for them to meet this mandate. One of the first questions we get from customers who have made...Read more...Preparing for the FDA Restaurant Menu Labeling: Part Four of FiveMarch 5, 2015With the countdown to the FDA restaurant menu labeling requirements deadline approaching (nine months to go from the date of this post) many restaurants are going to have to start moving (if they haven’ already) to get their menus updated with calorie count info. My team here has outlined a Six Steps to Success plan we’ve...Read more...Preparing for the FDA Caloric Menu Labeling: Part Three of FiveFebruary 26, 2015As we’ve been working through updating our customers’ Digital Menu Boards for the upcoming FDA caloric menu labeling requirements deadline, there’s something really awesome I’ve noticed: lots of restaurants are making the caloric count requirement work for them by creating some truly fantastic promotions in their restaurants. I thought I’d share a few calorie count promotional ideas...Read more...Preparing for the FDA Caloric Menu Labeling: Part Two of FiveFebruary 19, 2015As QSR/Fast Casuals prepare to roll out the FDA caloric menu labeling requirements there are a number of questions that have arisen on how to actually display the calorie counts on menus. In part two of my blog series on this topic I’d like to explore a few of the finer details a bit further...Read more...Preparing for the FDA Menu Labeling Requirement: Part One of FiveFebruary 12, 2015Given our love of menu boards and the impact the FDA ruling has on them, I thought it prudent to start a blog series sharing some advice on how to best prepare. Today’s post is my first of five on this topic. Here are some key facts on the new FDA menu labeling requirement and what...Read more...What Qualities Does it Take to be a WAND Rock Star? It All Comes Down to ValuesFebruary 5, 2015Recently my leadership team had our annual planning retreat. As part of this retreat we always re-iterate WAND Rock Stars core values. It got me thinking about values and the incredibly strong role they play not only in shaping growing companies like ours, but how critical they are in the Quick Service and Fast Casual...Read more...The QSR Industry Digital Revolution: My PerspectiveJanuary 29, 2015I was recently reading this article from QSR Magazine on the QSR industry digital revolution and, given this is a world I live and breathe every day; I had several thoughts about it I’d like to share. It’s here to stay. There’s a lot of great info in the article but the bottom line is clear, digital...Read more... Search for: CONTRIBUTORS
