NEW YORK CITY – Self-ordering kiosks allow customers to take charge of their order and provide restaurants with another way to make ordering food easy, QSR Magazine reports. Earlier this fall, Shake Shack opened an automated, cashless store in New York City, with self-ordering kiosks. “We wanted to make sure we’re building a space that had the ability to provide food for the number of different digital ways somebody would want to give us an order,” said COO Zach Coff. While Shake Shack has yet to fully analyze the results, so far, it has no future plans to open additional locations with self-ordering kiosks.

Touchscreen kiosks have been around for a while, with Panera Bread, Wendy’s and McDonald’s on the forefront in the restaurant world. “When you couple digital innovation with operational integrity, the result is a significant level of digital adoption at the guest level,” says Blaine Hurst, Panera’s president. “Our holistic approach to technology pushes us to find new ways to make a difference in the lives of guests.”

For convenience stores, Wawa and Sheetz have pioneered self-ordering kiosks to speed up ordering and delivery of food. Many experts view the interest in automation as being driven by millennials, who prefer using digital services, such as touchscreens or apps, to place food orders.

Stephen Dutton, senior consumer foodservice analyst at Euromonitor International, forecasted that more fast-food restaurants will turn to order-ahead and self-ordering technology in the future. “Automation can replace certain traditional processes that were managed by human employees, but it can also create new types of work that is best managed by human employees,” he said.