Hesburger – Order management overhaul
We have worked together closely with Hesburger since 2017 and have grown to be their main technology and design partner – read more about our partnership.
The fast-food industry is facing a major transformation. More and more food orders are placed through digital channels, and this cultural shift directly impacts both consumer expectations and the needs of the restaurant staff.
This change brought new challenges to Hesburger: restaurant employees managed seven different ordering channels and multiple devices to process incoming orders. Hesburger's order management overhaul tackles this challenge: it is a major improvement for both the customer experience and the daily operations of the staff.
Client
Hesburger / Burger-In Oy
Industry
Restaurant
Platform
Employee software / Restaurant software
Services
Service design / Digital design / Software development / Continuous improvement
Starting point
The pandemic caused a massive increase in digital food orders. Food delivery apps became the new norm – and consumers have developed high expectations for their quality. In Hesburger's case, this shift was reflected in a sudden surge in the popularity of home delivery services, the Hesburger app, and drive-in lanes. The demand for these channels has continued to grow steadily. But managing multiple ordering channels simultaneously also causes major challenges for the staff.
With this in mind, Hesburger realised there was a need for a comprehensive order management overhaul, which was launched in collaboration with Taiste. The software company Arado has also been involved in the undertaking.
The polularity of digital food orders keeps growing
Even though the growth of ordering food digitally has been somewhat more stable after the pandemic, the channels are here to stay. Currently, as much as 62% of Hesburger's sales come through digital ordering channels. The order volumes are significant: for example, in Finland alone, 27 million burgers are ordered each year.
Challenge: up to seven different ordering channels and multiple devices
Hesburger customers can place their orders via seven different ordering channels. Initially, these orders were received on multiple separate devices in the restaurant, requiring manual transfer to Hesburger’s in-house point of sales system. Annually, tens of thousands of work hours were spent on this process. On top of this, employees lacked a clear overview of order preparation, collection, and handoff. Combined with the fast-paced environment, this made it harder for staff to stay focused—especially during peak hours.
Strategy
The goal of the overhaul was to create a solution that:
- Automates and simplifies the work of the restaurant employees and their operating environment
- Reduces the number of errors and provides better control during peak hours
- Supports the growing order volume and the increasing popularity of home delivery services
- Creates measurable value: improves sales, employee and customer satisfaction
Hesburger Test Lab – involving everyone at Hesburger
Hesburger Test Lab is a regularly organised co-design and user testing event to which we invite Hesburger employees. A key goal has been to involve a wide range of people from all levels of the organisation: restaurant workers, restaurant and area managers, as well as operational leaders.
With the help of the Test Lab, we can validate the ideas and prototypes developed during the project in quick cycles, while also gaining insights into the needs, characteristics, and practices of the different restaurant locations. These sessions are complemented with other service design methods, such as user flows, surveys, and continuous observation and testing in the restaurants.
Creative solution and implementation
Our solution to the challenges was a new order management system that consisted of a completely new order tablet, a new point of sales system for the Hesburger employees and an order pick up screen for the customers.
The trio was designed to process and display all orders, making it possible to get rid of the other devices entirely.
The new order tablet
Before the overhaul, all orders from home delivery partners were manually entered into Hesburger’s point of sales system and picked using paper receipts.
The new order tablet is the heart of order management, handling order reception, collection, and food handoff across all sales channels. Each sales channel comes with its own unique features, approval times, and management functions. This required continuous collaboration not only with Hesburger’s operational leadership but also with various home delivery partners.
Automated order flow
All sales channels and orders are automatically merged into a single order stream and organised in an optimal order to support the collecting process efficiently.
Digital collecting
All orders are processed within the same interface. The entire restaurant staff and customers get a clear real-time view of order progress.
Support for multiple tablets
The number of tablets can be easily scaled based on the restaurant's size. The tablets are synchronised, enabling real-time order tracking and seamless collaboration even within larger teams.
Sales channel management
With the tablet, employees can manage various order channels, such as self-service kiosks, the Hesburger app, and home delivery partners. Channels can also be temporarily shut down if needed.
Analytics and order history
Employees can view key sales and service speed metrics and compare them to previous periods. The order history feature, on the other hand, provides a quick and efficient way to handle refunds and resolve order issues.
The new point of sales system
Hesburger’s staff point of sales system system is used for traditional over the counter sales, order picking, refunds, drive-in queue management, and end-of-day processes. It is seamlessly integrated with other order management components, such as the order tablet and pick up screen.
As part of the order management project, Hesburger’s staff POS underwent a complete transformation. The core features were defined in collaboration with restaurant personnel, with the interface elements were prioritised based on their actual needs. Key design principles included intuitiveness, interface clarity, and minimising the need for training.
Product sales
Meal assembly, customisation, and handling various payment methods with discounts have been designed into a streamlined, customer service-improving workflow – tailored specifically to Hesburger’s business needs.
Configurability
The best-selling products, campaigns, and restaurant-specific product assortments can be prioritised in the interface, making the POS system even faster to use.
Integrated with other restaurant areas
The POS system is seamlessly integrated not only with Hesburger’s backend system but also with other parts of order management, kitchen devices, printers, and customer displays.
Fewer receipts
Previously, multiple receipts had to be created for each transaction, both for preparation and accounting. The new integrations and automations have eliminated this need, increasing both efficiency and sustainability.
Product search and descriptions
Using the staff POS system, restaurant employees can browse detailed descriptions of the product assortment. This allows them to quickly provide answers to even the most specific customer questions.
The new pick up screen
The pick up screen gathers all the restaurant's orders into one view, allowing customers to follow the progress of their order. The newly designed interface displays orders from all sources, providing a better overall view of the queue situation.
Order tracking
Tracking one’s order on the screen is clear and easy to follow, creating a calm waiting experience.
Visualising the invisible queue
Communicating all orders being prepared in the restaurant helps customers understand the actual queue situation. This is particularly important in drive-in restaurants that often experience a high amount of simultaneous home delivery orders: the restaurant may appear deceptively empty, even though in reality the kitchen staff is extremely busy.
Responsive design
The pick up screen interface is designed so that the order cards are always displayed as large as possible. The cards gradually shrink as the number of orders increases until eventually, pagination is introduced.
Multi-language support
The pick up screen operates automatically in all the languages set for the restaurant. At best, the screen can switch between up to four different languages. Icons and large numbers ensure that the pick up screen is easy to follow, even for those who don’t understand the languages.
Design
Iteration-based design process
Defining and designing together with users, as well as testing new features in pilot restaurants before launch ensures the features are refined to support the restaurants' own processes.
Consistent, sustainable design
Products share agreed-upon design patterns and usage conventions, even though the implementation technologies differ. Layout structures, menus, colors, typography, and icons ensure that the experience is consistent and built on a solid foundation.
Accessibility
Restaurant employees use the interfaces simultaneously with other tasks, which divides their attention and increases cognitive load. The design adheres to WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines, particularly regarding contrast, text sizes, and colour choices.
Continuous feedback and development
The feedback loop with the restaurants is always ongoing, with suggestions collected systematically. The most popular ideas are prioritised and added to the roadmap.
Technology and data
Integrations with partner apps
The biggest technical challenge was creating an architecture that enables integrations with various home delivery partners. Bringing orders from different sources under a single interface and the related infrastructure was an ambitious project – one that had never been done before in Finland. Integrations were built with the systems of Foodora, Wolt, and Bolt Food.
Interplay between interfaces
For the restaurant processes to work, communication between the different interfaces and data structures must be lightning-fast. Orders need to be transferred to the restaurant’s system within seconds and be approved by staff to ensure the best customer experience possible.
Extensive testing practices
To make the implementation possible, the technology team engaged in continuous dialogue with Hesburger's staff and home delivery partners. Additionally, we established both virtual and physical test restaurants, which allowed us to validate a wide range of use cases in realistic environments before moving to production.
Implementation and results
The completely new system was implemented in the first restaurant in 2024. Now, it is in use at about 120 Hesburger locations in Finland. The order tablets and pick up screens are in operation at 376 restaurants across Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, with the rollout is still ongoing.
The system overhaul has achieved its goals and received positive feedback, particularly from the restaurant staff. The update has streamlined the work of the employees, reduced the number of necessary devices, and minimised the risk of errors in data transfer – resulting in 25,000 work hours per year being freed up for other tasks.
Tilda, Shift Manager
Aino, Restaurant Worker
Siiri, Assistant Restaurant Manager
Linnea, Assistant Restaurant Manager
Sofia, Staff Trainer
Elina, Assistant Restaurant Manager
Milja, Shift Manager
Roosa, Shift Manager
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