OAK BROOK, Ill. – Burger King, Carl’s Jr., Del Taco, Hardee’s, KFC, McDonald’s. Taco Bell, Zaxby’s and other fast-food chains have added a new item to their menus: television. A growing number of quickservice restaurants are mounting flat-screen monitors in dining rooms to serve their patrons’ entertainment needs, reports Nation’s Restaurant News.
“When they’re making their next dining decision, they’ll remember that Carl’s and Hardee’s have TVs,” said Brad Rosenberg, manager of digital strategy and marketing for the regional burger brand’s parent company, CKE Restaurants Inc. Currently, around 218 company-run and franchised Hardee’s and 140 Carl’s Jr. locations run The Bite network, a proprietary entertainment package that has 35 to 45 minutes of repeating programming.
McDonald’s has its own proprietary entertainment network called the McDonald’s Channel with the programming running in 19 stores as a test. According to promotional materials, the programs “will entice the customer to sit down and enjoy their meal — and perhaps to stay a little longer. … With this innovation, regular customers will want to stay awhile, and enjoy their meals. Younger customers will be drawn in by the buzz to see what it’s all about, and will come back again to see what’s new.”
Burger King has debuted a new design with flat-screen TVs on tabletops in the dining room. The 20/20 look will soon be in all of Burger King’s 12,000 stores worldwide. While Burger King did not provide content details for the tabletop screens, it appears that games like Word Dojo could be played on the monitors.