EMN8 Inc., a San Diego-based manufacturer and deployer of payment kiosks for quick service restaurants, earlier this month raised $14.5 million from stock sales to unnamed investors, the company reports in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Perse Faily, EMN8 CEO, did not return calls or respond to e-mails about the company’s increased capital. However, before the filing she told PaymentsSource that besides targeting quick service restaurants, EMN8 is promoting the machines to casual dining restaurants, including Chili’s Grill & Bar, Applebee’s and Sizzler.
A Sizzler spokesperson confirmed in an e-mail the restaurant chain is looking at EMN8’s payment kiosk, and EMN8 is building a model for Australia-based Sizzler to test.
EMN8 has deployed its payments kiosks, which take orders and accept debit and credit cards and cash, in Jack in the Box, Carl’s Jr. and Burger King restaurants.
Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates, a Rockville, Md.-based kiosk industry consulting firm, is disappointed quick service restaurants have been slow to adopt self-service payment kiosks. “I wish I had an answer why EMN8 has not made a bigger splash,” Mendelsohn says. “I saw their kiosk five years ago, and the company has been very quiet.”
At Burger King, the kiosk displays a full menu and suggests additional options, such as fries and a cola, when the consumer is ordering. Once done ordering, the consumer swipes his debit or credit card or inserts cash, and the kiosk prints a receipt, which the consumer presents at the counter when the food is ready.
The kiosks increase quick service restaurant sales by 15% to 30% because customers buy more food, Faily claims.
EMN8 developed payment kiosks for quick service restaurants in 2002, but the industry was not ready for self-service, Faily says. Some Burger King customers, especially older ones, also tend to avoid using the machines.
In August, IBM Corp. and EMN8 announced an agreement to jointly manufacture and market EMN8 self-service payment kiosks.
