Enhance Customer Experiences & Drive Operational Efficiency

AI-driven tech deployments are one of the defining trends for quick-service restaurants (QSRs) in 2026 as they seek to maintain operational efficiency amid staffing challenges. While many QSRs experimented with AI-powered tech in 2025, 2026 is the year they embrace full-scale deployments.

As with any tech deployment, the use case must be practical and seamless. Digital menu boards and ordering kiosks represent a prime AI use case that can enhance the customer experience, boost ordering, and drive operational efficiency. Let’s explore.

Shorter Wait Times & Personalized Recommendations: A Seamless Ordering Experience

One of the key benefits of digital menu screens is their ability to streamline the ordering process.

Implementing a set of self-serve kiosks with digital menu displays means QSRs can take more orders faster and better allocate employees. While the kiosks allow for increased throughput, employees gain the time to focus on food preparation to help fulfill these increased orders and ensure everyone receives the correct items efficiently.

In addition to shorter wait times, digital menu screens help simplify the order selection process. Digital menu software powered by AI can help make recommendations based on popular orders. For example, if other customers have been ordering a particular side with a new sandwich option, the digital menu will begin making that recommendation to new customers. And in geographies where the temperature changes from morning to afternoon, programable digital signage content can promote hot coffee in the morning and an ice-cold lemonade as temperatures rise in the afternoon.

These recommendations can also help customers move quickly through the ordering process, detecting if they order a burger and offering a pop-up message to see if they want fries followed by a drink. In addition to driving add-ons, this ensures customers don’t forget a piece of the order and prevents them from having to navigate through multiple windows on the digital menu display.

Drive-thru digital menu boards have the same impact on streamlining the ordering experience with high-quality 4K content that easily captures people’s attention. Rather than squinting at one large menu that’s trying to fit multiple items, customers see options rotate across the screen with vivid, life-like imagery that helps them decide what to order.

Enhanced Visibility to Drive Upsells

By nature, self-serve digital menu boards encourage increased ordering and higher spending as people feel more comfortable purchasing extra items from the privacy of a self-serve kiosk. This makes them a great avenue for QSRs to promote new items as add-ons.

In settings where customers order from employees with digital menu screens, AI-powered gaze detection helps QSRs understand which content captures the most attention. This way, they can easily tailor content and swap in visuals according to audiences’ interests or even the changing weather. A sudden rainstorm may have more customers looking at the soup options, in which case the digital menu software can update the content automatically to show close-ups of different soups available. And if no one seems to be ordering a new menu offering, they can test out different promotional content in spaces throughout the restaurant and see which one garners the most visibility.

In addition to tailoring content based on audiences’ ordering preferences, AI-powered digital signage makes it easy to customize content according to the location of each screen. While the drive-thru might be a better place to promote quick deals for customers in a hurry, those dining-in may feel more inclined to add on dessert and spend more time there.

Seamless Management for Operational Efficiency

While managing multiple digital signage displays – from kiosks to indoor menu displays to drive-thru digital menu boards – may seem overwhelming, QSRs benefit from the latest digital signage tech for operational efficiency.

With multiple ordering modes – from in-person to self-serve kiosks – customers need direction to navigate the space. Digital signage supports wayfinding and crowd control, directing customers to the shortest lines for an optimal ordering experience and a more efficient operational process. Similarly, digital screens can help define waiting areas and automatically update wait times to set customer expectations.

In addition to these front-of-house applications, digital signage offers operational benefits for back-of-house workflows. Digital displays in kitchens present real-time order flow from orders placed at both front-of-house counters and drive-thru lanes. When each member of the team has clear visibility into incoming orders, allergy information, and modifications, they achieve greater efficiency. Digital screens can also power integrations between POS and inventory management applications to automate in-stock promotions and hide sold-out items for better efficiency.

When leveraging the benefits of AI-powered digital signage applications, it’s critical to deploy digital signage players optimized for AI use. Thanks to an integrated neural processing unit (NPU), BrightSign players can run powerful AI applications at the edge. QSR operators can easily power dynamic video and graphics while benefiting from AI insights. They don’t have to worry about compromising on performance.

With digital menu displays powering all ordering experiences, using media players with a secure, reliable operating system like BrightSignOS™ ensures content is shown throughout the day. And the ability to manage all screens remotely with BrightSign’s free device management service makes it easy to control content and monitor equipment health before a small issue results in significant downtime.

Personalized & Efficient: The Future of QSR Ordering Experiences

As QSRs seek to embrace AI, digital menu screens offer a practical application for the technology to drive more personalized, seamless, and efficient ordering experiences. From self-serve kiosks that reduce wait times and increase throughput, to digital drive-thru displays that capture guest attention, the right digital signage solution transforms every touchpoint in the customer journey. Add AI-driven insights, dynamic content scheduling, and seamless remote management, and the result is a smarter, faster, more profitable operation from open to close.

Whether you’re managing five screens at a single location or hundreds across a franchise network, BrightSign solutions give QSR operators the performance and reliability to keep every display running and every customer experience consistent.

Ready to see what’s possible for your quick-service environment? Contact BrightSign to start the conversation; we’ll help you build the digital menu experience your customers will keep coming back to.