Are you considering adding kitchen video but aren’t quite sure how? Or maybe you’re tired of losing tickets or the cost of paper is outrageous. Whatever the case is, today we’re going to discuss all the benefits of kitchen video, why you should install it, and some of the pitfalls to watch out for.

What is kitchen video?

Kitchen Video in general is a video screen to display what your kitchen staff is making. This has been utilized for years in the fast food industry.

Who should consider adding kitchen video?

Know what it is that you are trying to accomplish by setting clear goals and objectives. Knowing what the goals are and the why you are doing things will help you to make this decision. Are you trying to reduce labor costs? Increase sales? Build a better brand by defining what your success looks like within your brand. Where you are going and why do you want to get there? Being clear in your contracts and understanding what your successfulness looks like with technology will help your franchisees grow your brand.

Now that you have a clearer definition of your brand and your goals, does kitchen video match your messaging, brand, and customer experience goals? If it does, implementing this technology can drastically enhance your efficiency in the kitchen, training costs and create long term cost savings to boot. Kitchen video costs significantly less than paper, while also being a more eco-friendly option.

Education is the First Step

Communicate and allow your franchisees to give you feedback – build a forum where they can get their questions answered. Give autonomy to your franchisees and let them control a subset of their product offering. Embracing the differences across the nation when it comes to product, and enable technology to have options available for them that they can easily manage and use.

Which path will you choose?

Make sure to demo the products that you are interested in. Outline notes on each product – ask tough questions. Remember, sales people are sales people, they may try to sell you more than you’re asking for. You don’t have to eat the elephant all in one bite – outline your exact needs and make sure those needs are being met. If you know what you want to achieve, you can implement those goals in a multi step process.

You can always start with a small investment, choose one or two 30-60 day software trials and run them in your office, home office, your own kitchen. Test those systems, educate your staff, and use their opinions to help solidify the solution you need.

Getting the project off the ground

Start slow or start small and grow from there, transitioning from printers to kitchen video is not difficult. It can be super easy, super simple steps with a 2-3 difficulty level. Nothing is going to make a project more difficult or even kill a project then trying to upload and implement it all at the same time, trying to do things related to different schedules, different areas, adding in time management, different menus, etc. Start slow, start small, start with expo and add additional technology later. Your brand and guest experience will be better off for it.

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