Case Study

Case Study: Cameo™ Printers Expedite Fast Food Processing

Challenge: Fast food restaurant needs to shorten wait times, eliminate long lines.

Solution: A portable ordering system to improve service for customers.

Product: Zebra mobile receipt printer combined with a touch screen.

A leading fast food chain is utilizing point-of-sale transaction processing to eliminate long lines of hungry customers and to increase revenue during peak business hours.

With the mobile system, orders are processed more quickly so the line moves faster and customers are served more quickly. In addition, the system has resulted in increased revenue. In the past, if customers saw long lines, they were discouraged from waiting and would leave the restaurant without making a purchase.

Now, line processing time is reduced with the new point-of-sale transaction processing system.

The system is simple. During peak business hours, "roving" employees move down the line to take customer orders from people before they reach the payment counter.

A Zebra® Cameo™ mobile receipt printer and a handheld touch screen computer interface with the host system via short range radio frequency (SRRF) data communication. An order is entered into the system on the touch screen terminal. The roving order taker can also communicate with another employee behind the counter to provide details of the order or to relay customer-specific requests. Once the order is entered, a receipt is printed on the mobile printer and given to the customer. The receipt includes order details and price. When the customer reaches the cashier, he or she has already had time to prepare a form of payment. Simultaneously, the kitchen will have started the order, and often the customer's order is ready by the time payment has been completed.

The Cameo printer was selected for several reasons.Weighing just 1 pound (.45 kg), it's light, sleek, and durable enough to carry anywhere without obstructing the user. It easily clips to the operator's belt. Its "clamshell" design provides quick and easy paper loading and its 3 inches-per-second (76.2 mm/sec) print speed allows it to print receipts almost twice as fast as leading competitive models.

In addition, the Cameo is available with an optional bi-directional, dual-track magnetic card reader (MCR) and/or an optional smart card reader that enables a roving order taker to process credit or debit card payments on the spot. The customer can then proceed directly to the pickup counter, where the order will be waiting.