How to pilot an ordering kiosk in one store

Run a kiosk pilot in one store for at least four weeks, measured against four baseline weeks you recorded yourself. Keep menu prices and the register the same throughout. Write the measures and the pass rules down before the kiosk arrives, and judge the result on whole-store sales, average check and labor hours.

This worksheet covers a counter kiosk. For a drive-thru lane, use the drive-thru pilot checklist. If you have not yet decided between a kiosk, QR codes and tabletop tablets, start with the kiosk, QR or tablet guide.

What should you settle before the kiosk arrives?

1. Dates. Pick four baseline weeks, one settling-in week and four test weeks. Keep them clear of holidays, a new promotion, a price change or a menu change.
2. Trial terms. Square's kiosk hardware page offers new kiosk customers a free 30-day trial of the app on some plans, then $50 per month per device on Square Plus. The kiosk runs for five weeks of this plan, so budget for the month after the trial and ask other vendors what a trial includes.
3. Placement. Put the kiosk where guests see it before the register and where staff can see a guest who needs help.
4. The register. Keep a staffed register open for cash, for guests who cannot use the screen and for anyone who would rather talk. The kiosk accessibility guide covers why.
5. Add-on prompts. Choose the prompts before the test and leave them alone until it ends. The kiosk menu design guide covers where they go.
6. Outages. Square's setup guide says the Square Kiosk app does not take offline payments. Decide where guests go if the internet drops, and put it on a sign.
7. Owner. Name one manager who pulls the numbers each week and one person who can stop the pilot.

What should you record in the baseline weeks?

Record the same measures, the same way, in the baseline and test weeks. Split each one by daypart, because a kiosk may help at lunch and do nothing at 3pm.

Measure	How to define it	Where to get it
Net sales	Whole-store sales after discounts, before tax and tips	POS sales summary
Orders	Tickets closed, all channels	POS sales summary
Average check	Net sales divided by orders	Work it out from the two lines above
Items per order	Items sold divided by orders	POS item or product mix report
Add-on rate	Orders with one of your chosen add-ons, divided by orders	POS item report for those add-ons
Line at peak	Guests waiting to order, counted every 15 minutes through the rush	A tally sheet at the counter
Walkaways	Guests who leave the line without ordering	The same tally sheet
Order to ready	Time from order sent to food on the pickup shelf	Kitchen display report, or a stopwatch on 20 orders a day
Counter labor hours	Paid hours on register and front-counter shifts	Timeclock or scheduling report
Kitchen corrections	Orders remade or comped for an ordering error, per 100 orders	POS void and comp reports with a reason code

What should you add in the test weeks?

• Kiosk share of orders: kiosk orders divided by all orders. Toast's kiosk overview shows how to filter the sales summary to the Kiosk source. Ask other vendors for the same report.
• Staff-help calls: a tally each time a team member walks over to the kiosk, with a word on why.
• Abandoned orders: Toast's kiosk setup guide lets you pick a void reason for kiosk orders voided after a time-out or error. Count those voids each week.
• Downtime: minutes the kiosk was off, frozen or unable to take a card.
• Guest comments: write down what guests say about the kiosk, word for word, and who said it (regular, new guest, older guest, group).

Leave the settling-in week out of the results, while staff and regulars are still learning the kiosk.

How do you read the results?

Compare the four test weeks with the four baseline weeks for the whole store. Kiosk tickets compared with register tickets largely reflect who chose the kiosk, since groups and bigger orders may go to the screen. Here is a made-up example for one store.

Measure (four weeks)	Baseline	Test	Change
Orders	3,100	3,050	50 fewer (1.6% down)
Average check	$12.40	$12.70	30 cents higher (2.4% up)
Net sales	$38,440	$38,735	$295 more (0.8% up)
Counter labor hours	260	240	20 fewer
Kitchen corrections per 100 orders	1.2	1.5	0.3 more
Kiosk share of orders	None	38%	Not applicable

In this example the check rose while orders fell, so sales barely moved. The 20 saved hours only count if they came off the schedule. The rise in corrections needs a look at the tickets: a missing required modifier on the kiosk is a menu fix. Before calling the result, check the weather, local events and any change in delivery apps across both periods.

Then set the gains against the kiosk's cost for the same four weeks. The kiosk cost guide lists the cost lines and the prices vendors print.

What pass rules should you write down first?

Fill in the blanks before the baseline starts, and have the owner sign it. Use your own numbers.

1. Baseline weeks, settling-in week and test weeks: ________.
2. Whole-store net sales in the test weeks must be at least ________ compared with baseline.
3. Average check must not fall below ________.
4. Counter labor hours must fall by at least ________ per week, taken off the schedule.
5. Walkaways at peak must fall to ________ per day or fewer.
6. Kitchen corrections must stay at or below ________ per 100 orders.
7. Kiosk share of orders must reach ________ by the last test week.
8. Downtime must stay under ________ minutes per week.
9. Any guest who cannot finish an order on the kiosk must be served at the register within ________ minutes.
10. If the pilot fails: what you can return, what you still owe, and by when: ________.

What if you are testing a voice kiosk?

Add a test in your loudest hour, a guest who asks for a person halfway through, and a guest who orders by touch alone. The voice kiosk guide has a full test plan. Maple's voice ordering kiosk is in early access with a small number of restaurants; its page describes a staff-help button on every screen and a one-tap switch to turn Maple off on any kiosk. Try both during the pilot, with a new staff member as well as your manager.

Published by Maple, which sells an early-access voice ordering kiosk. This AI-assisted guide combines Square and Toast help and product pages and Maple's published kiosk description with an original pilot worksheet, a made-up example and fill-in pass rules. It does not report a Maple pilot or any customer result, and it sets no pass mark for you.