KFC moves to install self service kiosks

The touch-screen kiosks, which have proven successful at KFC outlets in France, will be introduced to New Zealand within a year. The first will be on the North Shore. Photo / Supplied

Fast food could get even faster with KFC due to introduce "self-service" kiosks in its New Zealand stores.

A KFC store on Auckland's North Shore will be the first to get the touch-screen terminals within the next year, says Russel Creedy, chief executive of parent company Restaurant Brands.

He said self-service had already been introduced by KFC in France, where the technology had been used for a number of years and had proved successful.

In France, KFC customers pick their meals up from a dedicated counter after they have placed their order on the touch-screen terminals.

Mr Creedy said restaurants with kiosks often became busier, meaning the technology would not result in stores being run with fewer staff.

"If anything, you tend to increase staff because you get more customers through the door."

Mr Creedy said self-service enhanced customers' in-store experience because it allowed people to spend more time considering what food items they wanted to buy.

"They can browse instead of being at a counter face-to-face with somebody who's looking at them saying, 'What would you like?"'

Mr Creedy said KFC customers would still have the option of ordering their meals from a staff member.

The introduction of self-service terminals is part of "Project Fusion" - the next phase of KFC's store transformation programme.

It began in 2004 and has refurbished two-thirds of the chain's 88-store network in New Zealand.

The Warehouse revealed in May that it was scrapping self-service checkouts, which chief executive Mark Powell said worked well in supermarkets but were less compatible with general merchandise.

The big box retailer introduced the technology about three years ago, installing it in six sites, including the Albany Mega Centre and Auckland's Westfield Downtown shopping centre.

Air New Zealand has been offering passengers the option of checking in via self-service kiosks for a number of years.