Drive Sales with Restaurant Digital Signage: Tips and Tricks

When you’re managing a restaurant, it’s important to grab attention fast, especially during peak hours. That’s where digital signage can make a huge difference. From speeding up decision-making to showcasing your best-selling dishes in eye-catching ways, screens do more than just display menus. 

They help drive sales, improve operational efficiency, and give your restaurant personality. 

Here’s why digital signage is a smart move for your restaurant, and how to make the most of it.

Why do restaurants need digital signage?

Restaurants need digital signage because it helps them sell more, update faster, and stand out in busy environments. Everything from menu boards to real-time promo displays is designed to help restaurants achieve these goals.

Our findings show that 7 out of 10 restaurants say digital signage improves their customer experience. 30% of buyers are also greatly influenced by digital menu boards. These are all wins that your restaurant needs to capitalize on ASAP.

Unlike static menus or printed posters, digital screens let you instantly highlight top-selling items, promote daily specials, and keep content fresh without reprinting anything. That means people can walk in, immediately see what they want to buy, or spot promos they want to capitalize on, and pay!

Plus, the setup is really simple. Whether you're using a smart TV or a device like ScreenCloud’s Pixi player, getting started takes just minutes. You simply plug and play.

Read more about setting up digital signage here.

Top benefits of digital signage for restaurants:

• Boost sales with dynamic menu boards
• Update content instantly, no printing required
• Easily set everything up
• Give your restaurant a sophisticated atmosphere. 
  

7 ways to use your restaurant digital menu boards

Waiting time display boards

Remove the risk of customers leaving as soon as they see a long queue. 

By strategically crafting a digital signage Playlist with a waiting audience in mind, you can reduce perceived wait times – by up to 35%. What’s more, you’re more likely to capture their attention and have an increased dwell time. 

Showing dynamic and relevant menu board content is also a great branding strategy, and can enhance customer loyalty. See how Nashville-based deli Mitchell’s Delicatessen used digital signage to do just that. 

Share product offers digitally

Be strategic with screen placement. Answering the four Ws (who / what / when / where) is a major part of your digital signage strategy and will impact dwell time.

• Who? Customers
• What? Want to advertise a lunch hour meal deal
• When? During the lunch time rush
• Where? Screens visible from the entrance / behind the cashier.

Schedule any daily / time-sensitive content to show at the most opportune time for your customers – like lunch hour deals during the lunch hour. Use your digital signage displays to remind your customers  of any incentives, and even show products you’re running low on / out of stock. 

Create digital menu boards

When you put content on your screens using ScreenCloud and our Digital Menu Board app, it can be updated in seconds, from anywhere. This means your digital menu boards can be up-to-the minute, helping customers and staff make informed decisions – just like BBQ grill house Smoky Boys. 

Share social media

Social media is a powerhouse when it comes to food advertising. Display social media feeds such as Instagram and Facebook and encourage social sharing by creating a hashtag or a QR code for your customers. 

Run photo competitions; give discounts to customers who leave reviews (which you can also show on your screens with the Google Reviews or Yelp apps); or just show off user-generated content with a social media wall like Taggbox. 

Upsell items using restaurant digital signage

Using visual images and menu boards of your desserts shown throughout the restaurant is a great way to get your customers set on what they’re going to finish with. Chances are, once they see your revolving digital display of cakes and delicacies they won’t be able to resist and will simply point in the direction of what they want and hope that you deliver it.

Build community

As naturally as someone would have filled in a written feedback from 10 years ago, using live social media displays on the walls of your restaurant gives customers a way to leave a review and build a community between your current patrons. 

Provide personality

Use your QSR digital signage displays to showcase your restaurant’s personality. Introduce your staff members and their favorite menu recommendations. Tell customers random facts about the farmers you buy your meat from. Or show how your popular dishes are made. Personality is what brings life to your menus and products. Screens are the vehicles on which to showcase it. Check out this guide for some ways to surprise and delight in store customers.

Keep content relevant

Relevancy is a key element of showing meaningful and dynamic content. This means tailoring the experience the customer receives depending on time of day, day of week, time of year etc. 

Using our Playlist function you can set up and schedule your content based on settings such as time of day or day of week. Menus can be edited directly within ScreenCloud which will benefit staff, allowing them to refresh on menu choices before the start of a shift or providing training notices and guidelines on the latest food regulation standards.

Top apps to manage your restaurant digital signage

Our digital signage solution offers a wide range of free apps to choose from, each of them allowing you to create stunning displays for your restaurant. 

Here are a few of our top apps for restaurant digital signage:

Digital Menu Board

The Digital Menu Board app allows you to create and manage dynamic digital menus directly from your browser. You can add everything from items and descriptions to images, categories, calories, and prices, with changes appearing on your screens in seconds. 

Canva Integration 

With ScreenCloud's Canva integration, you can take your Canva designs and turn them into amazing content on your screens. We’ve seen restaurants use this for promotional content, event announcements and seasonal specials. ​

Google Slides

You can also create slides for your digital signage that spend fixed time on the screen before getting replaced. Google Slides is an excellent way to do this. Restaurants often use this to give each daily special more screen time and space, promote upcoming events, or show glowing testimonials from customers

Social Media Integrations

Depending on what social platforms you use for your content, apps like Gallery for Instagram Business, Business Feed for Facebook, or even YouTube can help showcase your restaurant's online presence and encourage customers to engage with your business. They could share their experiences and stay updated on news and promotions. ​

Noticeboard 2.0

With the Noticeboard 2.0 app, you can quickly share updates, announcements, or messages. But rapid doesn't mean mediocre with this app, because you can also add in customizable backgrounds, fonts, and other design elements with a few clicks. The app can be very useful for notices like open hours, staff messages, or limited-time offers.

Countdown Timer

Use the Countdown Timer to easily share time sensitive offers and even build excitement around them by displaying a ticking clock next to the food items. Your restaurant could use this for promoting happy hours, seasonal launches, or flash promos.

Find out more about the 90+ apps and integrations that can help your restaurant business create stunning content.

What’s the best signage set up for a restaurant?

Your needs will vary slightly as a small restaurant or a large chain.

Small restaurants

In our experience, a small establishment can do with one centrally placed screen that’s visible for customers. As for functionality, you need your screens to do the following:

• Playlist with images and videos
• Ability to upload new media easily
• A way to display offer of the day or a new meal option
• Possibly a scannable QR code or directions to leave an online review.

In this case, one screen with a functional digital signage solution is more than enough. Apps like digital menu board let you use preexisting templates to display your menus and hit the ground running. The CMS will take care of media uploads, and you can use social integrations for review websites.

Restaurant chains

A large operation will have different priorities. For one, you’re not just thinking about what to display, you’re also thinking about how to manage content at scale. You want to deliver a consistent experience across every screen, while still giving each location flexibility to show relevant offers.

In this case, your setup will include:

• Multiple screens per location (e.g. behind the counter, in the dining area, and at the entrance)
• Centralized content management to push updates across all stores
• The ability to localize content (e.g. region-specific promos or pricing)
• User permissions for different store managers or regional leads
• Hardware that’s scalable and easy to maintain. Ideally this will be a mix of commercial displays or smart TVs paired with plug-and-play signage players

Chains benefit most from a cloud-based CMS that offers robust scheduling, device monitoring, and user access controls. This setup reduces the burden on IT teams and makes it easier to keep every screen on-brand and up to date. 

ScreenCloud offers an enterprise solution that’s tailored for larger operations. You get the flexibility and scale needed to manage hundreds or even thousands of screens from one dashboard.

How much does restaurant digital signage cost?

The cost of digital signage for restaurants depends on how many screens you need, what kind of hardware you choose, and the software you use to manage content. 

For most restaurants, expect to spend:

• $300–$800 per screen for hardware (TV or commercial display + media player)
• $20/month per screen for top-of-the-line digital signage software

There may also be optional costs for installation or design services, but many restaurants handle these in-house using prebuilt templates.

If you're looking for a deeper breakdown including ways to keep costs low, check out our guide on how much digital signage costs.

Try ScreenCloud’s restaurant digital signage for free

Restaurant digital signage can be a real way to boost sales in your restaurant by promoting amazing meals, while also leveling up the customer experience. And with ScreenCloud, It’s now easier than ever to set up your screens. 

Try it out now with a 14-day free trial, or book a demo and see how powerful digital signage can be for your restaurant.