May 15, 2018: The Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan signs the order of “Actions on managing the operation of the “Charvak” free tourist zone”. One of the terms of infrastructure development in the zone calls for inviting leading quick service restaurant (QSR) companies onto the domestic market. Opening affiliates of renowned QSR networks should have a positive effect on the economy of the region, in particular through establishing competition in the field.

The government of the Republic is to develop conditions conforming to the international requirements and standards of catering management, thus allowing for the QSR giants such as Starbucks, McDonalds and Burger King to appear on the local market.

Let us note that the introduction of global quick service restaurant chains in Uzbekistan had begun even before the Cabinet of Ministers had signed the order. The first KFC restaurants recently opened in Tashkent. According to the report of “Yum! Brands”, the KFC franchise owner, a thousand new restaurants are to be opened in Russia and CIS countries before 2020. And this is only the beginning of the expansion awaiting the Uzbekistani market.

“We welcome any sort of competition. Should it be McDonalds, KFC or Baskin Robbins, any representation of American corporations is always encouraged”, - commented the minister of foreign trade of Uzbekistan Elyor Ganiyev in a local media report. 

Embracing self-servicing

The expansion of global corporations is not the only vector of development. We live in a time when introducing modern technologies to ensure quality service becomes universal. Hence, the quick service restaurant industry is no exception. One of the key noticeable trends is the mass introduction of self-servicing systems into the infrastructure of leading companies.

The first interactive kiosks appeared in McDonalds in the US in the early 2000’s and since then the company makes active efforts to establish such systems in their foreign affiliates. The current plan envisions installing over 1 thousand kiosks each quarter in the United States alone.  The CEO of McDonalds Steve Easterbrook hopes for all 14 000 US restaurants to incorporate self-service terminals by 2020. 

Entrepreneurship benefits 

This growing interest for self-service systems is of no surprise considering the main benefits of terminals and the effects they have on business.

To begin with, introducing such devices leads to major queue reduction. The approachable and intuitive interface gives customer recommendations on meal combinations and special offers in a simple illustrative way. The system will always propose adding a sauce or a dessert in a form that is interactive and purchase inducing. The vice-president of the world’s largest self-service system developer “Diebold Nixdorf“ Devora Henderson notes that introducing self-servicing kiosks into the restaurant infrastructure results in a 15-20% average customer receipt augmentation.

Moreover, diminishing the human factor leads to significant reduction of mistakes when ordering or paying. Self-servicing kiosks are capable of accepting both types of payments: cash and card (including contactless). Terminal introduction prevents any potential errors of a cashier. As per cashless payments, integrating kiosks with EFT POS terminals makes the payment process quick and convenient – all that is left for the customer is to accept their order.

“Our experience proves that introducing self-servicing terminals has a direct effect on the company turnover. Terminals remove the intermediary in the process of taking orders and paying, significantly lowering the expanses of commercial enterprises. In case of major global companies we are talking about six-digit numbers”, - explains the Head of BS/2 Retail Sales Department Jurij Mikuckij.

BS/2 is a reputable software and hardware solutions developer in Eastern Europe, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. In 2018, BS/2 carried out a project of introducing self-service terminals into the infrastructure of McDonalds restaurants in Azerbaijan.

BS/2 Uzbekistan makes part of Penki Kontinentai company group. Since 2008, its activities include providing equipment, as well as developing and introducing workflow optimization software solutions for retail enterprises and financial institutions of Uzbekistan.