Case Study: Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine Drives Revenue Growth with Advanced Self-Order Kiosk Technology
- Client: Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine
- Industry: Fast Casual Dining
- Locations: 11
- Point of Sale: Toast
- Key Stakeholder: George J. Cestero, COO & IT/Digital Marketing Director at Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine (16 years)
Overview
Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine is a well-known fast-casual restaurant brand serving authentic Cuban dishes to a loyal customer base across 11 New York City locations. With a core demographic of business professionals up to age 45, the brand sought to expand appeal to younger guests while improving the speed, efficiency, and modernity of its on-premise ordering experience.
To achieve this, Sophie’s looked beyond its legacy kiosk solution in search of a next-generation platform—one that could deliver intelligent upsells, richer visuals, and a frictionless operational workflow.
Challenge
While their legacy kiosk provided basic self-ordering functionality, Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine wanted a solution that aligned with modern guest expectations and the brand’s commitment to efficiency.
Key challenges included:
- Desire for a more “next-gen” experience with AI-driven recommendations and high-impact static images and videos.
- Limitations of the legacy kiosk interface, which the team felt lacked visual appeal and the ability to drive higher engagement.
- Need for stronger vendor partnership, including collaboration on integrations such as loyalty through Lunchbox.
Sophie’s evaluated alternatives including Grubbrr and Bite, but found that:
- Bite was not a good fit from a partnership perspective.
- Grubbrr’s backend was not intuitive or robust enough for their multi-location operational needs.
Ultimately, Sophie’s required a partner who would be flexible, responsive, and invested in their long-term success.
Solution
INFI partnered closely with Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine to deliver a customizable, visually rich kiosk experience integrated seamlessly with Toast.
Why Sophie’s Chose INFI
- Seamless Toast Integration
The team described the integration as “seamless,” noting immediate reliability and fast data sync. - Superior UI/UX for Modern Guests
INFI’s high-resolution imagery, video support, and intuitive flow created a more engaging experience—helping Sophie’s attract more younger customers. - AI-Driven Recommendations
Smart upsells drove higher ticket sizes compared to their legacy providers kiosk. - Collaborative Implementation
INFI’s sales and implementation teams delivered a consultative onboarding process, requiring minimal hardware and enabling a smooth rollout. When Sophie’s needed immediate support for their Lunchbox loyalty integration, INFI engaged proactively to ensure the integration could move forward without delay. - A True Long-Term Partner
Sophie’s emphasized the value of having a vendor who collaborates openly, supports their evolving needs, and invests directly in their success.
Results
After deployment, Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine saw immediate and measurable impact across revenue, volume, and guest behavior.
Year-over-Year Performance
Kiosk sales increased 44.2% YoY for the period of October 9–16, driven by both higher order volume and larger check sizes.
- 2025 kiosk sales for the period: $5,021
- 2024 kiosk sales for the period: $3,481
Lunch hours (11 am–2 pm) drove the largest gains, with every hour posting increases in revenue and transactions. Notably, 12 pm sales rose 227.6% YoY—a major performance milestone.
Day-over-Day Gains
Comparing Oct 9 vs. Oct 8 (11 am–1 pm window):
- Orders up 5%
- Sales up 36%
- Average ticket up 28%
This indicates both stronger engagement and improved purchasing behavior at the kiosks.
Week-over-Week Growth
Comparing Oct 9–16 to the previous week (Oct 1–8):
- Kiosk sales increased 25.2%
- Transactions increased 14.3%
- Average ticket increased 9.6%
This demonstrates that guests are not only using the kiosks more frequently, but also spending more per visit.
Ordering Channel Insights
- Take-out orders accounted for the majority of the growth, aligning with the fast-casual lunch-heavy model Sophie’s is known for.
- Dine-in remained stable with consistent ticket sizes, complementing the surge in take-out activity.
Conclusion
By transitioning to INFI’s next-generation kiosk platform, Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine enhanced both the guest experience and internal operations—leading to significant revenue and transaction growth.
From seamless Toast integration to AI-powered recommendations, rapid item management, and exceptional implementation support, INFI provided the modern ordering experience Sophie’s needed to better serve guests and drive higher engagement.
Sophie’s now benefits from:
- A highly visual, user-friendly kiosk interface
- Faster, more flexible back-of-house operations
- Strong increases across sales, tickets, and order volume
- A true partner invested in their continued success
INFI helped Sophie’s Cuban Cuisine not just modernize their ordering experience—but elevate their entire guest journey.
