Making a Splash with Automated Food Ordering and Pick-Up

Nestled in the heart of Sparks, Nevada, lies a cherished, family-owned oasis of joy and excitement: Wild Island Adventure Park. Since its doors first opened in 1989, this combined water park and entertainment center has been a beacon of fun and relaxation for locals and visitors alike.

As the park continues to gain popularity and attendance increases, the need for speed and reliability has become increasingly crucial. One area in particular stood out as an obstacle to the park’s success—its outdated kitchen facilities. Built over three decades ago, the kitchen was struggling to keep up with the growing demands of an increased number of park guests. Improvements to the long food and beverage wait times and the kitchen’s operational inefficiencies became a high priority.

“The kitchen area has grown drastically, and we were having a hard time keeping up with the increase in park attendance,” says Kelly Smiley, the park’s food and beverage director. “Our tickets were slow, and most of our guest complaints and poor reviews were regarding food wait times. We needed another option that removed guests from a classic queue line and gave them the opportunity to wait elsewhere while still enjoying the park.”

Listening to both park guests and employees’ needs, Wild Island began its search for a solution that would modernize the water park’s food and beverage facilities and streamline kitchen operations.

Eliminating Long Lines and Wait Times

Wild Island called on Truffle and Epson to help provide the answer. The park deployed the Truffle GoBox, a contactless food and beverage locker, with Epson m-Series POS printers into the park during the summer of 2023, just in time for the start of the season. Today, Wild Island has incorporated 16 of these innovative lockers throughout the water park’s various food and beverage facilities, and the feedback from guests and employees has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Our guests scan a QR code—which is posted all throughout the park—and choose their menu items, which are then sent to the kitchen to be prepared,” says Smiley. “The food and beverages are then placed into one of the GoBoxes, which can only be unlocked by another QR code that the customer receives when the order is ready for pickup. Park attendees have really enjoyed this solution because it helps guarantee order accuracy and eliminates the process of waiting in lines, leaving more time for fun.”

Deploying the Truffle GoBoxes and Epson m-Series printers has also helped Wild Island reduce labor hours in the kitchen area and guest wait times.

“The kitchen still runs with one cook and two packers, like it had in the past. Now that the guests place their orders on their own devices, we were able to eliminate two cashier positions,” she notes. “We were able to take those roles and reallocate them to other areas such as our facilities department, which increased park cleanliness.”

Prior to installing this solution, Wild Island had one main kitchen where they received the most traffic. The lines would be full, with guests sometimes having to wait 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours for food.

“Now, on some of our busier days, those ticket times still creep up to 16 or 17 minutes, but we never see anything longer than 20-minute ticket wait times,” Smiley notes. “And instead of waiting in a line, guests can wait at their seat and still enjoy the park.”

POS Receipt Thermal Printers Engineered for Speed, Reliability and Low Maintenance

While the Truffle GoBoxes are a new and exciting addition to the park, Epson thermal POS receipt printers have been used throughout the park for decades.

In addition to the Epson m-Series printers that are integrated with the Truffle GoBoxes, both the entertainment center and water park utilize over 30 Epson TM-T88 series printers due to their speed and low-maintenance features.

“As speed is of the utmost importance at our park, fast receipt print times are essential,” Smiley points out.

One of the most popular stands at the park has an average of 58 transactions an hour. “The Epson POS printers can withstand this demand and still last with little to no maintenance required. In fact, the Epson POS printers we deployed a decade ago still work just as well as the first day we got them,” says Smiley. “They’re a great long-term solution and probably one of the lowest maintenance pieces of hardware we have.”

‘Sliding’ Ahead

Wild Island is excited for the upcoming season and is looking to expand the new Truffle GoBox and Epson m-Series POS printer solution to other areas of the park.

“Our future involves integrating innovative solutions that show both our guests and employees we’re listening to them and their needs,” Smiley concludes. “We want them to walk away knowing we’re not only safe, clean and family friendly but also a great place to work. The solutions we use help us ensure that.”