Category: Solutions & Use Cases

OrderOut, paired with Star Micronics CloudPRNT printers, helps restaurants to streamline online orders and increase efficiency

Somerset, NJ – July 11, 2019 – Star Micronics, a leading manufacturer of mobile, point of sale (POS), and customer engagement technologies, is proud to announce that OrderOut has added support for the Star mC-Print3, TSP654II, and SP742 printers, all with CloudPRNT technology. OrderOut works with third-party online ordering platforms and the restaurant point of sale (POS) to consolidate all platforms onto one device.

OrderOut provides direct integration into the POS, eliminating the need for separate tablets for each third-party online ordering system being used at the restaurant. When online orders are placed, OrderOut detects the order and instantly transfers it to the POS and kitchen printer. The platform also automatically accepts orders based on your current menu and availability, and maps the restaurant menu from the POS and food delivery services directly into the OrderOut system.

Star Micronics CloudPRNT technology makes accepted and printing online orders easy for restaurants and food service operations. CloudPRNT is embedded in Star’s mC-Print3, TSP654II, and SP742 printers. The mC-Print3 is Star’s newest thermal printer that is perfect for restaurant environments, with a splash-proof and insect-proof design. The SP742 is Star’s impact printer, ideal to environments with high heat and humidity. CloudPRNT works with the online ordering service to store and create print jobs, and communicate status with the printer.

“We are thrilled to partner with Star Micronics to provide the best possible solution for the ‘tablet nightmare’ restaurants experience with third party food delivery platforms. The direct integration with the Star Micronics printers allows us to address the entire market by not having to integrate directly with every POS, while still providing an amazing solution,” says Zack Martin, CEO and Co-Founder of OrderOut.  “We have already received tremendous interest with the product and we’re excited to see it finally help restaurants optimize their third-party food delivery operations. The benefits are vast but include not having to manage incoming orders and tablets, and the ability to add more third party food delivery services without the added operational issues.”

Time is flying, and it’s hard to believe the first half of 2019 is behind us. It’s even harder to believe how much can happen in the point of sale world in just six short months. On the Star Micronics Blog, we strive to cover a variety of the industry’s hottest topics, and in the first half of the year, we published 43 blogs – but which were the most popular? Let’s explore the top 5 blog posts from the first half of the year!

#1. Millennials’ Eating Habits: How They’re Changing the Food Industry

If there’s one generation that makes headlines, it’s millennials. According to the 2015 U.S. Census, there are 75.4 million millennials living in the country, officially making them the largest generation in the States. If you operate a restaurant, it’s worth paying attention to what millennials do and want – especially when you consider that they spend more dining out than they save for retirement. In this blog post, you will find the top four things millennials are seeking when it comes to dining out – and how these changes are affecting the food industry.

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#2. 5 “Must-Haves” for Stadium Point of Sale

When visiting a large sports stadium or entertainment arena, you often find long lines for food and merchandise during half-time or intermissions. The people attending these professional sports games or concerts paid good money to see their team play or favorite artist perform, and they don’t want to miss a thing. This puts a huge amount of pressure on the employees working the concession stands or merchandise shops to complete the customer’s order as quickly as possible. A lot of this workflow plays into the stadium point of sale (POS) system being used. Here are 5 “must-haves” when looking for a POS system for sports and entertainment venues.

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#3. Infographic: The Rise of Online Ordering

If you’re looking to learn more about the online ordering industry as a whole, you’re at the right place. This online ordering infographic explores the history of online ordering, industry key players and revenues, customer demographics, and more – including what point of sale features restaurants looking to jump into the growing industry should look for. Enjoy!

View Infographic

#4. NRF 2019 Recap: The Point of Sale of the Future

In January, we had the pleasure of attending and exhibiting at NRF 2019 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. The Star family was set up at booth #3601, and also took some time to explore the show floor and learn even more about the latest trends in retail. Here’s a look back at what we demonstrated in our booth, as well as some of the key trends we noticed around the show.

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Watch our video recap of the show:

#5. 5 of the Most Beautiful Cannabis Dispensaries in America

The cannabis industry is huge in the United States – and it’s just getting started. In 2017, the industry employed 121,000 people and took in roughly $9 billion in sales. With more and more states legalizing its use, those numbers are expected to steadily rise and many more cannabis dispensaries will surely open their doors. Curious about the dispensaries already in operation? In this blog, take a look at five of the most beautiful cannabis dispensaries in America.

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Want to learn more about how Star innovates in the point of sale space? Browse our resource library, full of free eBooks, case studies, brochures, and more!

Craver, along with Star Micronics CloudPRNT technology equips restaurants with easy, integrated online ordering from a custom mobile app

Somerset, NJ – July 10, 2019 – Star Micronics, a leading manufacturer of mobile, point of sale (POS), and customer engagement technologies, is proud to announce that Craver will be supporting Star’s new mC-Print3 with CloudPRNT technology. Craver, along with Star’s mC-Print3 with CloudPRNT will enable restaurants to easily accept and print mobile orders through iOS or Android devices.

Craver provides customized apps on a monthly subscription basis for restaurants. They create custom apps to fit the needs of their customers’ business with POS system and payment integration. The app also includes an integrated loyalty and rewards program that makes it easy for customers to collect and redeem rewards. Craver helps restaurants increase profits by not only enabling mobile ordering, but by also sending customers push notifications to notify them of customized deals and promotions, encouraging them to place more orders.

Star Micronics new mC-Print3 is sleek, compact, and connected with CloudPRNT support and Hub functionality to power up to 3 peripherals using USB connectivity. The CloudPRNT technology enables users to print orders to Star printers directly through a cloud service. CloudPRNT will work with Craver to store and create print jobs, and communicate status with the mC-Print3. This eliminates the need for an extra tablet in the restaurant to send an online order to the printer.

“Star Micronics CloudPRNT technology enables Craver customers to receive their mobile and web orders directly on their Star printers without any additional hardware, increasing the restaurants efficiency,” said Amin Yazdani, CEO of Craver Solutions Inc. “Together, Star Micronics and Craver make the mobile-order processing easy for restaurants.”

This is the third and final part of “The Benefits of Self-Service Kiosks,” a three-part blog series about the many ways self-service kiosk technology is improving businesses, communities, the customer experience, and more.

When it comes to operating a restaurant, it’s not just a matter of surviving today, you need to thrive well into the future. It’s certainly an interesting time for the hospitality industry as a whole: We’re in the beginning stages of a restaurant technology boom which has been flagged with the phrase, “evolve or die.” Although that term may sound scary, there’s an easy way to prepare your restaurant for the future: with self-service kiosks!

Here’s Why You Should Leverage Kiosks for Self-Ordering in Hospitality.

Read on to discover how kiosk technology can help restaurants ride the new wave of hospitality and create a fast-track to success.

Out with the Old, in with the New

As a restaurant, a key audience to keep your focus on is millennials. With an approximate headcount of 80 million in the U.S. alone, millennials (or those born between the years 1981 and 1996) are officially the largest living generation and have surpassed baby boomers in buying power. Simply put, millennials are shaping today’s and tomorrow’s restaurants.

Still not sold on adapting your business model to accommodate these folks? Think again: According to Bernstein researchers, millennials, more than any other generation, are more likely to value eating out, and they are more likely to gather at eateries than bars.

It’s a perfect opportunity for restaurants: the largest living generation loves to eat out more than any other age group. But what do millennials value, and how is the restaurant experience shifting as new trends emerge and baby boomer trends recede? According to Convince & Convert and Salesforce, here are some top emerging trends among the younger generations:

• When choosing a restaurant, Gen Z and Millennials are 99% more likely to rely on social media and online reviews than Gen X and Baby Boomers
• 33% of Generation Z say ads cause them to usually (or always) try new things, compared with 21% of Americans overall
• Millennials value smart self-service solutions

When it comes to kiosks, millennials play a very important role. Because they grew up with device access at all times – from ‘90s PCs to today’s smart devices – millennials are more comfortable with non-verbal communication than previous generations and value the opportunity to solve issues on their own. Furthermore, 91% of millennials polled in a study by Retale said they have used a self-service kiosk, and 20% claim they don’t like interacting with cashiers at checkout.

The largest generation with the most buying power values convenience and technology. What better way to marry the two than by adopting self-service kiosks?

Free Self-Service Kiosk Resources

The future of many industries lies with self-service solutions. That’s why Star Micronics is offering free online ordering resources for resellers and software developers who are helping customers future-proof their businesses with self-service solutions.

Visit Self-Service Toolbox

Drive Digital Adoption – for ALL Customers

We just spoke a lot about the millennial generation – but kiosk technology isn’t only for them. In fact, kiosks drive digital adoption (or, the ability to take advantage of all that technology has to offer) for a variety of customers.

From retirees to those who aren’t native English speakers, thanks to their ease of communication and ability to serve the underserved, kiosks are a beneficial trend for everyone. It’s never been easier to improve the restaurant experience across demographics!

Streamline the Digital Experience

As we discussed above, the digital transformation that’s unfolding before our eyes is causing previously unrelated realms to merge. Dining out isn’t simply driving to a restaurant anymore: it’s a multi-faceted digital decision. Social media, web-based reviews, online ordering applications and websites, and more all contribute to the question, “What’s for dinner tonight?”

Kiosks, like Flash Order’s, can play an important part in this digital shift. By matching your in-restaurant kiosk’s user experience to your mobile website and/or application, you cultivate customer familiarity and create a seamlessly intuitive, convenient, and well-branded dynamic.

Kiosks: The Gateway to the Future

In short, self-service kiosks enable restaurants to stay current with trends as older ways of business fade away, and their ease-of-use encourages everyone to utilize technology, not just millennials and early adopters. There’s simply no reason to not implement technology that benefits businesses and customers alike.

Looking to implement a self-service solution? Download our free Guide to Selecting the Right Kiosk Printer.

Download Brochure

Independence Day is almost here, and America is ready to celebrate. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, 87% (or 216 million) people planned on observing the holiday last year. Before you go visit that firework show, be sure to let your customers know about your holiday specials by doing some Fourth of July marketing using your receipt printer!

If you own a Star Micronics printer^*, it’s never been easier to promote your holiday specials. With Star’s PromoPRNT tool, you can create custom promotions from templates that print on the bottom of your receipts – for free.^*  Even better yet, with the cloud-based tool you can manage the promotions from anywhere!

Learn more in our quick how-to video:

Not sure where to start? Don’t worry! We’ve created three ready-to-use Fourth of July templates in the PromoPRNT Promotion Builder. Check them out:

BBQ Event

New Product Release

Instagram Contest

Ready to get started with your Fourth of July marketing? Click here to learn more about/register for PromoPRNT!

^{*Windows PC users can use their existing thermal printer, others may need to update printer model. Call 1 (800) 782-7636 extension 2 for details or visit www.promoprnt.com for more details.}

Summer is almost here – and so is Father’s Day. Is your store prepared? Get ready with our Father’s Day promotions!

According to the National Retail Federation, last year 77% of Americans celebrated Father’s Day and spent a whopping $133 per person (the second highest amount in 15 years). Best of all, two-thirds of that spending happened in physical stores, and the trend is expected to continue this year, with a forecasted holiday spend of $15.3 billion.

It’s time to tell your shoppers about those special deals you have for Dad – using your Star receipt printer! With PromoPRNT, you can print custom promotions (for free*) right on your receipts.

Learn more in our quick how-to video:

To get you started, we’ve created three Father’s Day promotions in the PromoPRNT Promotion Builder – check them out:

Father’s Day Meal

Father’s Day Gift Sale

Father’s Day Golfing (or Other Activity)

Even More Ideas for Dad

You can also take your Father’s Day celebration beyond receipts. One way to do so is to create dad-focused merchandise displays in a high foot traffic area of your store. You can also incorporate your promotions into your website and social media design, create a Father’s Day gift guide, and more! Find even more tips here, on our retail POS software partner, Vend’s blog.

Ready to get started helping your customers celebrate Father’s Day? Click here to learn more about/register for PromoPRNT!

^{*Windows PC users can use their existing thermal printer, others may need to update printer model. Call 1 (800) 782-7636 extension 2 for details or visit www.promoprnt.com for more details.}