A brand-new report shows that the solution built together with Taiste significantly boosted restaurant revenue.
The fast-food chain Hesburger has achieved notable results by developing fully customized software solutions in collaboration with Taiste. This Europe-wide project included new self-service kiosks, pickup displays, and order collection tablets designed to ease the work of restaurant staff. Data analysis conducted by Taiste revealed that the updates increased sales by an average of about ten percent in the restaurants where the software was implemented. The calculations were based on data from 67 restaurants where the new systems were installed between 2022 and 2024. Sales figures were analyzed in four-week periods before and after the introduction of the new digital solutions.
In 2024, the total taxable sales of the Hesburger chain were €488.6 million, of which €295 million came from Finland – meaning the impact of these 67 restaurants is also significant in monetary terms. Hesburger operates 487 restaurants across nine countries: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Poland, and Romania.
The results of the software launch are also a remarkable international digitalization achievement, fully carried out in Finland by a team of about 30 people. The solutions have also impressed industry experts: in March 2025, Finland’s largest digital media competition, Grand One, awarded Hesburger’s order management system as the Best Digital Service of the Year. The project also received honorable mentions in the Best Service Design and Best User Experience categories.
“System overhauls are typically time-consuming and uncertain projects, which is why many companies opt for ready-made software products,” says Hesburger CEO Kari Salmela.
“At Hesburger, however, we’ve wanted to build our own software solutions from the ground up, because ultimately, they serve our business best.”
Competition in the fast-food sector demands uncompromising quality and agility in digitalization projects.
“Challenging IT system updates require expertise in both technology and user experience,” reminds Taiste CEO Oscar Salonaho.
“Additionally, it's crucial to stay focused on the company’s business and customer satisfaction at every turn.”
Measuring the success of digitalization projects is often difficult, as many factors influence revenue. Salonaho emphasizes the importance of analytics expertise:
“Planned data collection plays a central role for us. We need to ensure that results are not affected by seasonal trends or similar variables.”
Custom software development is often perceived by companies as expensive. For Hesburger, however, the investment has been highly profitable considering the results and the company’s size. Salonaho encourages companies to consider in-house development as a bold alternative to off-the-shelf software.
“High-quality custom digital solutions are a major competitive advantage.”
