Digitalization of restaurant operations and continuous development of systems are an important part of Hesburger's strategy. Together with the software company Taiste, we have been enabling Hesburger's digital journey since 2019.
Hesburger is an international restaurant chain familiar to many Finns. The story of the company began in Naantali in 1966 when Heikki Salmela and his wife Kirsi founded the Kievari grill. The first Hesburger restaurant was opened in 1980 and since then the company has grown into an international chain of over five hundred restaurants, operating in nine different countries across Europe. Hesburger employs over 10,000 people and its over 200,000 daily customers generate approximately 500 million euros in annual turnover.
Hesburger's technological history dates back to the 1980s, and the company has always sought competitive advantage from it’s own software development. We have helped Hesburger, among other things, to modernize the company's cash register systems by building a fully customized system that specifically addresses their business needs.
CLIENT
Hesburger
INDUSTRY
Ravintolapalvelut
SERVICES
Service Design, Software Development, Continuous Improvement, Internationalization
ACCOUNT MANAGER
Anssi Soinu
CLIENT WEBPAGE
We have been honored to receive public recognition with Taiste twice for the customized software solutions built for Hesburger. In 2025, we won the Best Digital Service category at the Grand One competition in Finland and claimed the silver position in the Mobile Apps category of European Design Awards with the order management redesign we implemented for the restaurant chain.
“This year’s best digital service winner enhances both customer and employee experiences and goes beyond just being a technology update. With end-user involvement and thorough testing it addresses multi-channel challenges and improves daily operations through usability at its core.”
The digital development of the restaurant business has been rapid, and one significant change visible to Hesburger’s customers is the addition of self-service checkouts to their restaurants. Together with Taiste, we have been involved in building Hesburger's self-service checkouts from design to their implementation, and over the years, self-service checkouts have become a significant sales channel for the restaurants. Based on internal research, self-service checkouts have increased restaurant sales by an average of over 10% since their introduction.
The self-service checkouts and the redesigned cash register system used by the staff are fully tailored to support Hesburger's business needs. This has enabled unlimited ways to test and implement new business solutions, bringing the company a significant competitive advantage. The self-service checkouts work seamlessly and in real time with the restaurant's other systems, ensuring the best possible service experience for customers and staff.
The primary goal of the development of the POS systems has been to make the everyday work of the restaurant staff less stressful and more organized. We have ensured this by organizing Hesburger Test Lab events together with Taiste, where we discuss the development of the systems and seek feedback directly from staff. In addition, we always pilot new features in a real restaurant environment before rolling them out to wider use.
Hesburger has nearly 500 restaurants in different countries, so getting system updates into place without disruption to staff, customers or business is particularly important. To achieve this, we have developed our own testing and release model with Taiste to support Hesburger's business.
The best outcome is always achieved through close collaboration with all parties. Being involved in the development of POS systems from the beginning has given us a great opportunity to support Hesburger in various stages of the software development process, from launch to continuous development. Together with Taiste, we have introduced and developed various software development operating models for Hesburger. We have also supported other areas of the organization such as marketing, customer service, and training.
Hesburger operates in nine different countries, and each new country brings with it a set of new challenges to be solved when rolling out system updates. POS systems are a good example of this: in addition to currency and language support, implementing a POS system in a new country can require discussions with local authorities, official system certifications, hardware deployments, building new integrations, and planning country-specific deployments.
We have wanted to be close to Hesburger's staff and customers with Taiste, also when supporting international growth. For each country, we have ensured the operation of the systems by traveling to the restaurant environment on site to observe how they work. This has been particularly important because, for example, the ways of giving feedback can be very different depending on the country. Supporting Hesburger's international growth has been a great learning experience for us about the operating methods and requirements of different countries.
Arado and Taiste are united by their dedication and commitment to our customers' businesses. As a single team, we have brought together the enthusiasm and extensive network of experts from the two software houses to comprehensively advance Hesburger's technological development work.
Our collaboration with Taiste shines at Hesburger. Do you want to experience it too?
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