Acrelec has spent more than 20 years learning that difference. Founded in France in 2004 by former McDonald’s employees, Acrelec has grown to more than 112,000 kiosk solutions installed in over 100 markets. Today, we are a global leader in self-order kiosk installations according to RBR Data Services, part of Datos Insights. We work with nearly 200 global brands, including QSR leaders such as McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King and Wendy’s.
Here is what that experience teaches.
Hardware must survive the real world
A restaurant kiosk is used by thousands of people a week, in kitchens full of grease and steam, by guests in a hurry, sometimes in a lobby that is open around the clock. Screens get dropped, scanners get knocked and floors get mopped. We design and build our own hardware in our own factories, because durability, serviceability and component lifecycle cannot be bolted on afterwards.
Integration decides whether a kiosk helps or hinders
A kiosk that cannot talk properly to the POS, the kitchen display, the promotions engine, the loyalty system and the payment provider creates work rather than removing it. In large estates, those back-end systems differ by country, franchisee and sometimes site. Deep, tested integrations are slow to build and impossible to fake. They are the difference between a pilot and a rollout.
Uptime is a commercial promise
When a kiosk goes down at lunch, the queue is the operator’s problem, not the vendor’s. That is why enterprise customers ask about service-level agreements, remote monitoring, field service coverage and spare-parts logistics before they ask about features. A support model has to be in place in every market where the kiosk estate operates.
Menu logic and upsell have to work at scale
Real menus are complicated. They have modifiers, meal bundles, daypart changes, regional pricing, allergen information and limited-time offers. Upselling that feels natural at one counter can become a mess across 5,000 locations. Getting menu logic and merchandising right at scale requires the expertise to deliver a consistent brand experience while adapting recommendations, promotions and menu logic to each location. Without that foundation, even the most sophisticated recommendation engine can struggle to drive meaningful results.
Localization is more than translation
Language, currency, tax rules, payment habits, accessibility standards, hardware requirements (e.g. fiscal printers) and even customer expectations vary by market. A platform deployed in over 100 markets has already encountered and addressed most of these challenges.
This is not only for the largest chains
It would be easy to read this as a story for global giants. It is not. Mid-sized operators with 50 or 500 sites face the same pressures: labor, speed, order accuracy and the cost of getting a technology decision wrong. They benefit from the same hard-won engineering, the same integrations and the same operational know-how, without having to learn those lessons themselves as UK-based chain BIMS has done.
The kiosk is one part of the journey
Perhaps the biggest lesson is that the kiosk is not the product. It is one touchpoint within the broader digital guest journey. From the moment a customer discovers an offer to the moment their order is fulfilled, every interaction shapes the experience.
At Acrelec, we help restaurants optimize that journey across channels through three connected pillars: Engage, Order and Operate.
Engage customers with digital menu boards and other digital touchpoints that promote special offers, showcase new menu launches and encourage upsell opportunities.
Order through intuitive self-ordering channels, including kiosks and drive-thru, powered by intelligent recommendation capabilities that create a frictionless guest experience, increase basket size and generate the data needed to drive smarter menu, merchandising and operational decisions.
Operate with solutions that help restaurant teams deliver fast, accurate and efficient service. From order verification that ensures orders are prepared and handed out correctly to operational tools such as Table Service, Acrelec helps restaurants improve accuracy, efficiency and service quality at every step of fulfillment.
When these capabilities work together, restaurants can deliver a more consistent experience for guests while improving business performance. A platform built around payments naturally focuses on the transaction. A platform built for restaurant operations supports the entire customer journey, with the kiosk serving as one important part of a much larger ecosystem.
A better question to ask
The question for operators is not “which kiosk has the best screen?” It is “which partner has proved it can run the entire ordering experience, in my markets, at my scale, when things go wrong?” After more than 112,000 kiosk installations and 165,000 total solution deployments worldwide, we think the answer is found in the experience, not the launch video.
Learn more about Acrelec solutions for QSR operators, including kiosks, digital signage and operational solutions, or contact us to start a conversation about how we can help enhance the customer experience and improve profitability in your restaurants.