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All In One

PRODUCT: Self-Ordering Kiosks * MANUFACTURER: Pye

All In One

An idle machine or vacant seat at a gaming table means lost opportunity for casinos. A player stepping away to retrieve a bite to eat may still be spending money at the in-house eatery, but they could be plunking down even more if they stepped away briefly, if at all, and kept playing.

That’s where kiosks, the technology that has transformed the restaurant industry, factor in. The self-service solutions represent opportunities for casinos to become more efficient and more profitable.

Pye, a leading kiosk developer with units in use worldwide, sees the positive impact of self-ordering kiosks as a sure bet for gaming venues. Here’s how:

Augmenting the workforce: Amid a historic labor shortage, kiosks increasingly are being brought on board. The shallow labor pool has left business owners little choice but to devise new strategies to close the labor gap. They aren’t using self-ordering kiosks to replace workers. In a lot of cases, these are their workers.

Restaurants rely on the technology to facilitate almost everything with a food order, except making it. Because users can perform tasks on their own, there is not as much need for workers standing around to provide guidance, and can be repositioned to focus on other tasks.

Eliminating lines and wait times: Self-ordering kiosks can be used to enable customers to order and pay on demand, keeping patrons from having to congregate with others in front of a bank of registers. Units allow diners sitting at tables to place orders through the devices, which connect wirelessly to the restaurant’s point-of-sale system and kitchen displays, sending requests directly to cooks. They don’t have to wait for a server, who may be tied up with other tables or duties.

Positioning strategically: Kiosks come in all shapes and sizes. With wireless connectivity, they can be positioned near busy spots around the gaming floor and on tabletops where players can simply lean over, place orders, pay electronically and stay focused on their games. Servers can deliver orders to the units from which it was ordered, again causing minimal disruption.

Blending aesthetics: Pye’s Crème model, featuring curved screens and multi-colored LED lights, blends seamlessly with other machines and equipment positioned on the gaming floor. Their design and striking high-definition visuals successfully attract users and foster high consumer engagement.

For more information, visit mypyepos.com.

Frank Legato is editor of Global Gaming Business magazine. He has been writing on gaming topics since 1984, when he launched and served as editor of Casino Gaming magazine. Legato, a nationally recognized expert on slot machines, has served as editor and reporter for a variety of gaming publications, including Public Gaming, IGWB, Casino Journal, Casino Player, Strictly Slots and Atlantic City Insider. He has an B.A. in journalism and an M.A. in communications from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. He is the author of the books, How To Win Millions Playing Slot Machines... Or Lose Trying, and Atlantic City: In Living Color.