How Forward-Thinking Companies are Driving Innovation in Quick Self-Serve Vending

Summary

• Consumer demand for unattended vending purchases has accelerated in recent years
• Advanced vending technology has made quick self-serve kiosks viable for many new businesses
• Contactless payments make it fast and easy to process unattended payments of all types

It’s no secret that business growth depends on finding new customers and encouraging existing customers to come back more often, but there’s many different ways that companies can do this, such as adding new products, establishing new locations, or serving existing customers in different ways. For many businesses, new developments in self-serve kiosks and vending payments are allowing them to achieve all three at once.

Vending machines are virtually everywhere, but most people tend to think of them as fairly basic in terms of the types of products you can get from one. Common vending products include such things as packaged snack foods, cold or hot beverages, as well as small consumer items like batteries, tissues, or personal hygiene products. However, the reality of the world of vending technology is that there is now almost no limit to what can be sold through an unattended sales system. Everything from high-value consumer electronics to freshly prepared gourmet hot foods can now be paid for and delivered right from an automated self-service kiosk 24/7/365. In fact, the evolution of vending technology has enabled some businesses to significantly disrupt traditional industries with unique and innovative unattended payment solutions.

The growth of quick self-serve vending businesses has only been further accelerated by the effects of the global pandemic, as in-store shopping was dramatically restricted as health and safety of the community took precedence over all other considerations. Businesses who typically relied on the in-store experience quickly had to adapt their approaches to reduce physical contact points wherever they could, such as incorporating curbside pickups, ecommerce order processing, direct-to-door delivery, and unattended self-ordering kiosks. For businesses that had already implemented these types of systems prior to the onset of the pandemic, their early adoption rapidly paid big dividends as customer demand surged and these alternate service methods quickly showed their beneficial impacts on the bottom line.

With surging demand for unattended vending solutions, and with technology able to deliver an increasingly diverse array of products through automated quick self-serve systems, some companies have truly demonstrated what success using these methods can look like in the real world. Let’s take a look at three examples of innovation at work for successful unattended self-serve vending businesses.

Unattended QSR Kiosks from Pizza Forno Deliver Hot and Fresh Pizza in Minutes, Any Time

When you think of the kinds of foods and drinks you can typically get from a vending machine, you’ll probably conjure up images of things like candy bars, pretzels, cans of soda, and hot coffee. Well, when you walk up to a Pizza Forno unattended vending system, you’ll quickly discover a whole new world of what automated food service can be. These standalone pizza kitchens are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, delivering piping hot, fresh artisan pizzas in just three minutes. There’s not a delivery service on earth that can beat that timing.

All Pizza Forno pizzas are made with premium gourmet ingredients for a taste experience that is sure to keep you coming back time and time again. Their state-of-the-art oven is always ready to bake your choice of pizza to perfection, or if you prefer to bake your pizza at home, you can even select their ‘cold pizza’ option and skip the bake time altogether. Pizza Forno’s unattended Quick Self-service Restaurant (QSR) vending systems are all about quality and taste, but also convenience. These unattended self-service kiosks feature the latest in contactless payment technology from MONEXgroup, allowing for customers to pay with all types of contactless methods including tap-to-pay debit and credit cards, as well as digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

These autonomous pizza kitchens have changed the game by cutting out the ‘waiting’ aspect of hot and fresh pizza, and by bringing gourmet pizza flavours to underserved communities that are craving something out of the ordinary, and customers just can’t get enough of the Pizza Forno experience.

Ghost Kitchens Brings Multiple Popular Restaurant Brands Under One Roof

What do you do if you’re craving the taste of a restaurant that just doesn’t have a location anywhere near you? Even a third-party delivery service like Uber Eats or Skip the Dishes will only drive so far, so unless you’ve got the time and enough gas in your car, you’re probably out of luck. This is the kind of problem that Ghost Kitchens is looking to eliminate with its innovative approach to food ordering, preparation and delivery. In partnership with dozens of popular nationwide restaurant chains and food brands, Ghost Kitchens brings their authentic menus to local communities where these businesses don’t have an existing physical location, but the demand is there.

Ghost Kitchens partnerships with these brands means they have access to all the necessary ingredients and step-by-step recipe instructions to prepare all your favourite menu items exactly as intended, right down to the smallest detail, and then delivers them fast right to your door. It’s a unique solution to a common problem in the restaurant industry, where customers are eager to buy food from specific brands and chains, but establishing a full-scale physical operation is not feasible. Under the Ghost Kitchens model, a single family can order food from multiple different restaurant chains, have all their items prepared fresh simultaneously, and get them all delivered at once in a single consolidated order. Some have compared this model to the type of convenience and selection you might find at the best shopping mall food courts, but with the added advantages of single-source ordering and direct-to-home delivery.

Ordering from multiple different restaurant menus at one time to create a single delivery order requires a specially-configured payment solution. Online ordering portals allow customers to select the individual menu items they want from each of the different franchises carried under the Ghost Kitchens banner, and then pay all at once with a single convenient payment using credit cards, debit cards, or digital wallets of all types. MONEXgroup offers a wide variety of online payment solutions that are ideal for businesses like Ghost Kitchens, such as virtual payment terminals that are accessible from all types of mobile devices, or full-featured ecommerce systems that can be integrated directly with existing websites.

Unattended Vending Systems and Alternative Business Models Offer Growth Opportunities Through Innovation

As you can see, these businesses have clearly shown that opportunities abound for companies who are willing to invest in the right systems and explore different ways of doing things. Incorporating self-serve kiosk technology with your unattended vending solution could be the growth avenue that you’ve been waiting for, and MONEXgroup can help you achieve the success you need with flexible and powerful payment processing tools of all kinds. Whether you’re in need of an unattended tap-to-pay terminal that can stand up to the worst weather conditions and still work perfectly, or an intuitive online ecommerce payment portal that can be accessed from any smartphone, tablet, or computer, we’ve got it. Plus, our team of expert payment processing professionals have the valuable knowledge and insight your business can leverage to make the implementation of your new payment system a tremendous success, all backed by industry-leading technical service and customer support available 24/7.

Find out more about how your business can take advantage of innovative unattended vending systems and cutting-edge payment processing solutions from MONEXgroup. Get a quote today!

Author: Layal Scheirich, Head of Sales at MONEXgroup
Bio: With 18 years of experience in payment processing and merchant services, Layal has seen in-store POS technology evolve from its humble beginnings to contactless, unattended, mobile and online alternatives. Today, Layal is an inspiration to the MONEXgroup’s team and a go-to source of information related to payment processing. She is enthusiastic to share her knowledge with audiences interested in cutting-edge technologies available today, such as unattended payment for self-serve kiosks, e-commerce online payment gateways, virtual terminals, and contactless and mobile payment solutions.
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Contact Info: insights@monexgroup.com