Cineplex Wins Turnkey Deal To Run QSR Menu Boards For Biggest McDonald’s Franchisee On Planet
January 26, 2018 by Dave Haynes
Toronto-based Cineplex Digital Media has done a deal with a company billed as the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world to deploy, maintain and operate digital menu boards at McDonald’s locations way south in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Cineplex (CDM) will work alongside Arcos Dorados to provide ongoing strategic creative content, consulting services and marketing initiatives to new and existing restaurants in multiple Latin American countries.
Cineplex says in a press release it was selected by Arcos because of its technology, creative consulting services and experience deploying and supporting clients around the world. The network will have content in Portuguese and Spanish and include Cineplex’s “proprietary platform” – which must mean the screens will be running off the same EK3 platform that’s been driving menu board screens in 1,000s of Tim Hortons stores in Canada for more than a decade, as well as McDonald’s in Canada and Dairy Queen in the U.S.
“Having worked on a pilot program with CDM for the past year, we have witnessed first-hand their deep experience in the digital signage and restaurant industries,” says Dan Gertsacov, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer, Arcos Dorados. “CDM has been instrumental in providing innovative platforms and solutions that deliver a quick and improved ordering platform for our customers as we expand the ‘Experience of the Future’ concept in our main markets.”
“We are excited to continue our partnership with Arcos Dorados to provide user-friendly, digital displays across Latin America,” says Fab Stanghieri, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Cineplex Digital Media. “Like us, Arcos clearly sees the value of strategic digital solutions that engage guests and enhance the customer journey.”
The new digital menu boards will be installed at McDonald’s front counters, McCafés, dessert centres and crew room locations. Digital menu boards are already up at new store locations across Brazil and Argentina, with plans to launch in Uruguay in 2018. Over the next three years, the solution will see the installation of thousands of digital screens in total, says Cineplex.
Arcos Dorados describes itself as the world’s largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in terms of system wide sales and number of restaurants, operating the largest quick service restaurant (“QSR”) chain in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has the exclusive right to own, operate and grant franchises of McDonald’s restaurants in 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories, including Argentina, Aruba, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, St. Thomas, Trinidad & Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela. The Company operates or franchises over 2,100 McDonald’s-branded restaurants with over 90,000 employees and is recognized as one of the best companies to work for in Latin America. Arcos Dorados is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ARCO).
Nice deal. The only way I know EK3, which was acquired by Cineplex, has ever done things with QSR is providing a total turnkey solution that sees them doing ALL the managed services work for the client, with some very basic local software controls provided at the franchisee end. I did a consulting gig with Tim Hortons several years ago and learned the people at head office didn’t even have logins for the EK3 platform. Everything was managed and I don’t believe that has changed.
CDM has several jobs posted for the Toronto head office and for London, Ontario (anywhere from 90 minutes to three years drive south, depending on traffic). I assume some of those jobs require Portuguese language chops, but the Toronto office is not all that far from a district called Little Portugal. An estimated 100,000 Portuguese-speaking people from the old country and Brazil live in Toronto, so this part of the arrangement won’t much challenge CDM.
You’d want to hire speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, though, rather than of European Portuguese. Some words are completely different between the two.