Best Practices

Here are a few best practices that we've found over the course of setting up self-order kiosks for all kinds of businesses:

Don't be afraid of extra signage to help customers transition link

One thing we've heard from a lot of KioskBuddy users is just how user-friendly and "conversational" ordering is with our kiosk app. Want to see what folks are saying? You can check out some of our reviews, here.

If, however, you've been taking in-person orders for a long time and you're transitioning over to a self-service kiosk, don't be afraid to add extra signage to make it easy on your customers.

The District has a funky "order here" sign and an eye-catching menu behind their kiosks making it obvious where customers should place their order. Green Market Cafe has also sectioned off their self service area with a more simple straight-forward set up.

Keep your tablet locked to the KioskBuddy app link

For iPads

Once your kiosks have been all configured to your liking, be sure to enable Guided Access to prevent customers from closing the app. It's a built-in feature in iOS that lets you lock an Apple device to a particular app. Users won't be able to exit that app without knowing your pre-set pin. See our below video tutorial for a more detailed demonstration.

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For Android Tablets

Be sure to enable app pinning to prevent customers from leaving the app and always take safety precautions to secure your physical device. See Google's Pinning tutorial for more information.

Keep your iPad kiosk physically secure link

It's absolutely a good idea to take safety precautions to secure your physical devices running as kiosks. After all, iPads and other payment hardware equipment can be expensive to replace. For all-around theft prevention, we strongly recommend Square's Kiosk hardware. It's specifically designed for kiosk setups because it has VESA mounting on the back side so you can mount it to the wall, a security screw to keep the iPad secure, plus the contactless and chip payment reader is built right into the hardware!

Here are some other tips and best practices we've compiled from our current users for keeping your iPad kiosk setups physically secure:

• Use a reputable kiosk mount provider to display your kiosks

• If possible, also mount your Square payment hardware

• Display your kiosks in well lit, visible locations (this helps prevent tampering and also doubles as a way to ensure maximum usage of your automated self-ordering concept!)

• Ensure your staff is aware of kiosk procedures, including where the kiosk is located, how to unlock any third party mounting, and how to configure KioskBuddy

Keep printer connectivity in mind link

When you choose a location for your kiosks, it's very important to keep the type of printer you're planning on using. The connection interface of that printer will play a large role in deciding how far away you can place your kiosks from your order printers. For example, a Bluetooth printer will need to be in a fairly close distance to your kiosks, as well as unobstructed by and objects. For a Ethernet or WiFi based printer, it'll depend on your router setup, but in general you'll have a bit more leeway in terms of how far away you can place your kiosk while maintaining a good connection.

Getting orders to back-of-house link

You may need to get KioskBuddy orders to the back-of-house. If that's the case, there are three different ways you can do this:

1. You can print directly from KioskBuddy. Find out more, here.

2. You can send orders to Square POS for printing. The key benefit is you can use Square for printing via Order Manager, so you get better connectivity as well as the ability to use the USB printers you mentioned.

3. A kitchen display system like KioskBuddy KDS, Fresh KDS, or Square KDS.

Keep Square Chip Reader connectivity in mind link

Typically, the Square Bluetooth Chip Reader will be placed directly next to your iPad kiosk, but it's still a good idea to keep the following points in mind when setting it up:

1. Keep it connected to the dock for power as it will power off automatically on its own after 2 hours of inactivity when running on only battery.

2. Ensure the Reader is not too far away from the iPad to ensure a good connection so that no issues occur when taking payments.

3. Ensure there are no obstructions between the Reader and the iPad to ensure a good connection so that no issues occur when taking payments.

4. Ensure there are no interfering Bluetooth signals to ensure a good connection so that no issues occur when taking payments.