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NEXTEP brings self-order kiosks to Chicago cafe

In a recent case study by food technology provider Nextep Systems, the company outlined the challenged it faced in working with SAVOR…Chicago to accommodate a large number of guests on a budget at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center.

September 18, 2014

In a recent case study by food technology provider NEXTEP SYSTEMS, the company outlined the challenged it faced in working with food retailer SAVOR…Chicago to accommodate a large number of guests on a budget at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center.

To address the issue, SAVOR…Chicago opened the 23rd Street Café & Market inside the convention center and called on NEXTEP to provide a streamlined self-service operation. SAVOR purchased NEXTEP's self-service kiosks to cut down congestion and wait times inside the cafe.

"Whether you're at a supermarket or department store, you see more and more self-checkout kiosks," said Erik Stukenberg, SAVOR…Chicago's restaurant and concession director for McCormick Place, in the study. "People obviously want that quick satisfaction without having to rely on somebody else, and the ability to be more effective with staffing was a big component as well. When you have conventions that range anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 people, it's critical to provide food service in an expeditious manner."

NEXTEP installed four self-checkout kiosks with cashless payment options for the cafe and four self-order kiosks for SAVOR's hot food line. The kiosks feature English and Spanish order options.  

"We developed NEXTEP POS specifically for fast casual and QSR restaurants," said NEXTEP president Tommy Woycik in the study. "It was designed to be easy to learn and to flow right through the order process while seamlessly integrating to other components, such as kiosks, order management and menu boards."

"Without the kiosks, by using two cashiers we would really only be able to take an order once every two or three minutes as customers go through each cashier," Stukenberg said. "Now we have the potential of taking six or seven orders in that same amount of time. Multiply that over an entire lunch period and it really adds up."

They system allowed the café to cross-train employees to help where needed, the company said.

"We learned pretty quickly that we can actually produce at a faster rate than we were anticipating," Stukenberg said. "That has been the biggest benefit."