Fayetteville, AR: A hub for fast-casual restaurant innovation

When people think innovation, they typically think Silicon Valley or New York City. But, fast casual better chicken chain Slim Chickens is dedicated to remaining on the cutting-edge of the industry, and has implemented the latest menu board technology available at their newest corporate location in Fayetteville, Arkansas. On the cusp of nationwide expansion, Slim Chickens leaders are thinking about every little detail –from restaurant design and atmosphere, to food taste and quality, to customer experience and operational efficiency. In its latest effort to increase efficiency and services speed, the company has installed a cloud-based menu board system created by Delphi Display Systems Inc., affectionately known as the Insight system, at its newest restaurant to test the capabilities and the results. Delphi’s Insight system is the only fully-integrated, end-to-end drive-thru technology platform that engages the customer with relevant and compelling content, influences their purchase behavior to drive incremental sales and profitability, captures every customer interaction from the moment they enter the drive-thru to the moment they pick up their food, and provides the operator with the robust analytics necessary to optimize business operations in real-time. Slim Chickens had the boards installed on both the interior and exterior of the restaurant. The cloud-based system stores data at the company's headquarters and co-founder and CMO Greg Smart said information can be changed every five minutes if needed. He said the format makes for easy "dayparting," or highlighting specific products at certain times of the day. The boards also allow Slim Chickens to highlight new items and LTO’s. The high-tech menu boards also allow the chain to quickly change prices or add or remove items quickly, he said. If a restaurant is running low on a product it can be removed while other offerings can be emphasized -- think iced tea on a hot day. "The old way of changing the menu board could be a three- to four-week process," Smart said. “This really allows us to provide a custom experience and keep things fresh for our customers.” If the cloud-based system proves to work as well as hoped, this is a feature that could become standard for Slim Chickens restaurants. Not only does it allow for customization of menu items and prices, but for a franchise system, this could be a game changer in giving franchisees the ability to localize their offerings for their particular market. “This is what franchisees want. It's easy to use," said Tom Gordon, the company's president and chief executive officer. “It gives them more control over their day-to-day business operations and the ability to cater to what their customers want.” Slim Chickens expects to observe the new system in action for a while and analyze its effectiveness before making any decisions to further invest in it for additional locations.