Only Things Standing After Twister Takes Out Indiana Taco Bell Are Menu Display Totems And Kiosks
March 17, 2024 by Dave Haynes
Here’s a compelling argument for why the engineering design for outdoor digital displays is about much more than just the brightness of the screen and the ability to exhaust built-up heat.
That stuff is super-important, but so are things like how the enclosure is fixed to the ground.
Just about the ONLY Thing left standing at a Taco Bell in Winchester, Indiana is the drive-thru menu display after a tornado rolled through last week. Weirdly, the news report video at the scene also shows an intact set of self-service kiosks on a half-wall that also came through at least somewhat intact.
The video also shows the displays and protective glass didn’t come through the twister intact, but the enclosure was sufficiently anchored in concrete with, I assume, some seriously sturdy bolts and nuts. QSR franchise operators have been known to blanch when they hear the overall capital and labor costs for drive-thru displays, but this shows why engineering matters (not that this store will be back anytime soon filling burrito orders).
The unit is a STRATACACHE outdoor menu board.
If that was a “screen on a stick” ODMB enclosure that is sold on price rather than performance, it probably would have ended up in Illinois.