Maler Digital Signage carries out KFC digital menu project in the UK and Ireland

More than 890 establishments distributed throughout both countries, with a total of 8.500 screens and 124 different groups of information and content make up this ambitious digital project whose operations have been defined and structured in detail by this specialist.

Kentucky Fried Chicken fast food restaurants (KFC) in the United Kingdom and Ireland have faced the change from traditional printed menus to a digital format in more than 890 establishments in order to improve the visibility of their proposals to customers, as well as update content and promotional information in real time.

One of the requirements to be solved is that this chain operates with certain 124 different versions of information (coins, coffee brands, ice cream, soft drinks…) and they all have to be exchanged, be modified and eliminated quickly and easily according to the operations of each establishment.

The specialist Digital Signage Painter has carried out the entire KFC digital project, from the preliminary study, which started in 2015, to the operations and management of the service to the present. In total a complete marketing system has been programmed for more than 890 establishments, con 8.500 digital screens and 124 different groups, with multiple time slots, independent closing and opening, maintenance, control, material categories, videos and an error control system, etc. which has been structured as follows:

Fujitsu’s TELentice Enterprise: allows you to create and associate a specific opening and closing time for each establishment, in addition to configuring time slots. This tool also generates the reservation and registration of the material, as well as the distribution server that communicates with each of the establishments.

This system contains and serves all content and programming. The configuration is very detailed, since it facilitates the creation of a true corporate digital signage network. Creating reservations and registering content are very quick tasks that allow several users to manage the server at the same time.

Painter Store Menu builder: is the core of KFC's schedule planning. Contains each group, each contingency panel, time slots and planograms. Both the marketing department of this fast food chain, as the content planner can use the system to assign content requirements to each of KFC's scheduling groups.

The system comes with a set of pre-configured rules that forces users to use the correct terminology, assign content to players, as well as pre-approved video formats. Unless all controls are in place, the system will not allow the programming to be distributed.

Once the organizers have completed the programming, the builder will generate all scheduling plans and prepare all corresponding files for inclusion in TELentice, the record, programming and distribution. This way, will be validated and generated.

The hardware chosen by KFC UK and Ireland has undergone several months of testing and detailed configuration, during which Maler Digital Signage has tested the panels and computers of all the main hardware suppliers; You have analyzed every detail of your configuration, to the extent of requesting several versions of firmware and drivers to ensure that the hardware meets the client's high demands and work standards.

The distribution process of the entire project is fully monitored in real time through four interfaces:

TELentice Enterprise Distribution Server: which allows you to know which establishments have been notified of the download of new content and schedules, as well as redoing those that have failed.

Distribution monitor: when each of the establishments begins the download, inform TELentice Distribution Monitor, which indicates how the download process is going and the number of days of content and schedules that are kept on the players.

Regular player monitoring: Each process reports every sixty seconds on fifty columns of the system and on the information of the digital signage network..

Remote web interface: that remotely reads the information from any TELentice Server Monitor and prepares it in an attractive and very agile query web interface.

The proposal of this comprehensive and versatile solution has been one of the main arguments of those responsible for KFC United Kingdom and Ireland to select Maler Digital Signage, who has worked on all the details of the digital menu software platform: OS, hardware and software testing, content record, test distribution and maintenance.

Some of the differences between KFC's digital menu project and others is that its requirements (computer/panel) have been expanded from a single menu per computer/screen to various time slots. A multiple menu with a complete hardware and software contingency system that allows more than 890 stores distributed across different networks that can be programmed and updated in a matter of hours.

Besides, The system allows you to have up to twenty different daily menus that can be modified within seconds of receiving the request. All details of the digital menu project are fully monitored every sixty seconds, in a service 24/7, from a single content record to distribution for full broadcast.