Taco Bell Ordering Kiosks

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Alpha8472
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Taco Bell Ordering Kiosks

Post by Alpha8472 »

I finally saw the new Taco Bell ordering kiosks at a Taco Bell. They look like very large tablet computers with a credit card reader next to them. Taco Bell said that it would haven them in all of their restaurants by the end of 2019.

It looked very similar to the Taco Bell app on mobile phones.

No one was using them even though the lines were long and the employees were too busy to work the cash registers. The kiosks did not take cash.

I think that Taco Bell already skimps on having someone cashier. This just makes people use the kiosk out of frustration from the long wait of having no cashier show up for 10 minutes.
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Re: Taco Bell Ordering Kiosks

Post by Brian Lutz »

At least at the times my wife and I go there none of the local Taco Bells seem particularly busy, so waiting for a cashier is rarely an issue. That said, I can't imagine KFC will be far behind. The number of combination Taco Bell/KFC locations means the software will need to support KFC out of the box anyway. It seems like most KFCs here are even less busy than the Taco Bells are, so they're probably a lower priority.
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Re: Taco Bell Ordering Kiosks

Post by babs »

Brian Lutz wrote: December 14th, 2018, 2:12 pm At least at the times my wife and I go there none of the local Taco Bells seem particularly busy, so waiting for a cashier is rarely an issue. That said, I can't imagine KFC will be far behind. The number of combination Taco Bell/KFC locations means the software will need to support KFC out of the box anyway. It seems like most KFCs here are even less busy than the Taco Bells are, so they're probably a lower priority.
Have you been to a KFC in Europe? They are much busier than in the USA with a menu more like Chick-fila. The chicken buckets are on a side menu and I never saw anyone order those. I don't know why they don't revamp their menus in the USA and stop PR stunts like the chicken scented fireplace logs.

I was in NYC last week and stopped by a Taco Bell Cantina that had a stand of multiple ordering kiosks. They were laid out in a manner so that you assumed you had to order there. It seemed to work well in that location.
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Re: Taco Bell Ordering Kiosks

Post by cjd »

Yeah, I actually just noticed these tonight. I didn't use them and I didn't see anyone else using them either.

It can be a wait at Taco Bell at times for a cashier, but not always.

I have noticed most restaurants have at least two cashier stations (McDonald's might have 3) but it's been a really long time since I've seen any of them have two open at once.

Generally, I don't have a problem with this, except at McDonald's. They seem to be quite understaffed, especially at night. They'll have a long line yet only one register open. I've walked out a few times because between that and the drive thru, I knew it would probably be at least a half hour before my food was ready, so why go through the hassle for preservative enhanced, fake food? I figure they must be more lax about customer wait times at night, because their "free meal if not ready in X amount of time", only applies during the day. It's not unheard of to wait 20 minutes in the drive thru at night. The double lines don't really help much, since all go through the same pay/pickup windows.

I used to like KFC, but the last few times I was not very impressed with the place. It just kind of felt sloppy as far as the employees and way the place looked. Last time I went I got fried chicken and it had a really odd taste to it, a totally off, chemically taste. I haven't been back and it was probably two years ago now.

I didn't notice any number tents at the Taco Bell kiosks. I'm guessing they don't use them. McDonald's has them, but aside from when they first installed the kiosks, I rarely see them actually bring the food to the table. They just call your number out loud, which is NOT what the instructions on the kiosk say they will do. So if you're sitting around the corner, waiting for your order to show up, it never does. This has happened to me twice at one McDonald's. The other, I was the only one eating there and they eventually realized it was mine and brought it over. I've learned to either stand near the counter or listen closely for my order.
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