QSR POS - Focus on Healthy Nutrition
Today’s QSR customer has evolved. This is clear in the diverse offerings on the menus of the most popular fast food restaurants that are famous for their burgers and fries. Although the burger and fry customer still exists, QSR’s have adapted menus to satisfy today’s more health-conscious consumer. It has been proven that a steady diet of burgers and fries will shorten one’s life significantly and cause a multitude of health problems along the way. Hence, the recent success and growth of QSR’s like Subway, Qdoba and Panera just to name a few.
Independent QSR owners and operators are recognizing the trend. Therefore, some of the most successful start-up QSR’s are focused on providing healthy choices in addition to the traditional fare. Others are focused completely on providing healthy nutrition and carrying a “healthy and fit” theme throughout the entire menu as well as the branding and marketing efforts. Our generation is certainly more aware of our intake of calories, sugar, fat, etc. and how that intake effects the body. Our children’s generation will most likely push the envelope even further. With this strong movement focused around a healthy lifestyle in place, QSR POS (point-of-sale) providers must address the issue and provide technology that supports the needs of the independent QSR.
From a POS design, delivery and support perspective, the onus on the solution provider goes beyond pleasing the QSR customer. The POS provider must deliver solutions that please the customer’s customer. Otherwise, the solution provider and the QSR operator fall short of the ultimate goal of consumer satisfaction. With the consumer shifting toward a focus on a healthy lifestyle, the QSR operator must provide menu selections and information that support that lifestyle. QSR POS solution providers can assist in the following ways:
- By designing robust methods of tracking and calculating nutritional information in the QSR POS system
- By communicating the information to the consumer via the POS system
- By extending the information to the consumer via additional channels like online ordering components with nutritional calculators
Many QSR operators have deemed it sufficient to communicate nutritional information to the consumer via in-store materials such as placards, menu boards, placemats, tabletop displays, etc. Others list nutritional information on their websites. Many provide both methods of awareness. However, despite the movement toward healthy living, today’s consumer is also typically in a hurry. Hence, the success and growth of today’s QSR market. Therefore, the consumer will rarely take the time to research the nutritional information of a meal provided by a QSR by looking for the information and performing manual calculations. QSR POS systems can calculate the nutritional information and display it in a user-friendly format on receipts as well as web ordering applications. This makes life simpler for both the QSR operator and the consumer to actively participate in the healthy lifestyle movement that is here to stay.
For more information on POS system selection for your QSR, download our free checklist of items to consider today.