Genuine Dining
Location
United Kingdom
Business type
Contract catering
Company size
501-1,000 employees
Genuine Dining created an incredible food offer for their customers, which in turn sparked huge demand. However, increased demand often means longer queues – and no one enjoys waiting in line. The traditional checkout process was leading to long waits and frustrated customers, so the Genuine Dining team turned to Deligo's AI self-checkout system. This solution enabled frictionless transactions, cutting wait times to under a minute.
The system was quickly adopted by staff and immediately improved customer satisfaction by speeding up service during peak hours. The self-checkout kiosk can even handle complex tasks like recognising and pricing the varied components of a crowded English breakfast plate. Explore the full customer story to learn more.
Speed meets satisfaction: How Genuine Dining achieved 30-second checkouts & happy customers
+140 hrs of labour redeployed to higher-value tasks
+150 transactions / day
<50 seconds spent queuing
+1 new food counter added to increase the offer at lunchtime
About Genuine Dining
Genuine Dining is a leading contract caterer in the UK, known for its innovative approach and focus on making the workplace a genuinely exciting place to be. The company’s team of creative food enthusiasts delivers fresh, seasonal, and beautifully presented dishes across various businesses, including office workplaces, film studios, hotels, government buildings, and research parks. Their mission goes beyond serving great food: they create inviting dining spaces that foster connection, collaboration, and a positive workplace culture.
The Checkout Challenge
Running a busy workplace restaurant is no small feat, and Genuine Dining, renowned for its commitment to enhancing office culture through exceptional food and service, found itself grappling with a significant challenge. At one of their busiest locations, Havas, the checkouts had become a bottleneck, particularly at the weigh-and-pay salad bar.
The previous checkout system relied heavily on manual processes, with no integrated scale to streamline transactions. This challenge was most apparent during peak times, where long queues formed, frustrating customers and slowing down the entire dining experience. Customers used to spend at least 2-3 minutes waiting in line to pay for their selected meals.
Prefer listening over reading? Enjoy this customer story in video format.
The way to introducing AI self-checkout
Faced with these challenges, Genuine Dining’s leadership knew that they needed to find a solution that wouldn’t just address the symptoms but would take the dining experience to the next level. The goal was clear: to implement a system that would improve the customer journey without introducing any new challenges.
The decision came down to finding a system that delivers both speed and flexibility. The self-checkout system proved to be the perfect choice, allowing customers to quickly complete their transactions while improving staffing efficiency.
This is particularly useful during the quieter hours between breakfast and lunch, and on Mondays and Fridays, which are generally less busy. All the tills see less action during these times. Moreover, the self-checkout system provides valuable support during peak periods in the middle of the week, helping to manage customer flow and reduce wait times. This flexibility helps to avoid the need for additional staffing on busy days and prevents having excess staff on quieter days. It was clear they needed a solution that could adapt to varying demands throughout the week.
“Deligo’s unwavering focus on providing a frictionless and enjoyable user experience was really important to us. It was essential that we enhance the customer journey by implementing self-checkout and not introduce any frustration or pain to the checkout process.”
Holly Finch, General Manager at Genuine Dining
Streamlined transition for the customers & the staff
Introducing new technology can often be a daunting process, but Genuine Dining was committed to ensuring a smooth transition that would be as effortless for their team as it was for their customers.
From the moment the decision was made, our team at Deligo actively oversaw the implementation, managing the installation to ensure a smooth user experience for our client and their customers. This approach made the transition smooth, allowing both staff and customers to swiftly adapt to the new system with minimal disruption
The Genuine Dining team appreciates the kiosk's user-friendly interface and values how easy it is to update daily-changing menu items with reference photos, a task that takes under 2 minutes each day to add their three daily main dishes. The staff now relies on our WhatsApp channel when they have any questions, and appreciates how quickly they receive the help they need.
A new era of catering efficiency
The self-checkout kiosk made an immediate impact, effortlessly blending into the restaurant’s interior design and streamlining the checkout process. By cutting down wait times, it transformed both the breakfast and lunchtime experience, turning lengthy queues into swift transactions and leaving customers happier as they completed their orders in under a minute.
“Introducing the self-checkout kiosk has been a game-changer. It has significantly reduced wait times to under a minute and has completely transformed our operations. Most importantly, customers love using it!”
The ease of integrating the kiosks into daily operations allowed the staff to reallocate their time and focus more on customer-centric tasks. The support that the kiosk provided, particularly during the busiest mid-week periods, allowed the team to maintain a sense of calm and focus on what truly matters: delivering great food and exceptional service.
Serving English breakfast? 🍳🫘🍅
At Havas, Genuine Dining offers traditional English breakfasts to office residents, a seemingly complex task for an AI self-checkout kiosk due to the numerous possible combinations of breakfast elements. However, with Deligo's advanced recognition features, accurately pricing these varied components is seamlessly handled. Check out this video to see how.
Ahead of the curve with AI self-checkout
For Genuine Dining, implementing the AI self-checkout kiosk has been a big milestone. The system has resolved previous obstacles and significantly enhanced the overall customer experience, as evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive feedback. As pioneers in redefining standards within the contract catering industry, the Genuine Dining team at Havas confidently recommends Deligo’s AI self-checkout to other restaurant operators.