Galaxy® Kiosks Transform Food & Beverage at The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

A Vision for Growth
When The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens assumed responsibility for its food and beverage operations in January 2024, it marked the beginning of a significant operational transformation. Previously managed by an outside partner, the Palm Desert, Calif., attraction saw an opportunity to bring the operation in-house and create a dining experience that better aligned with its long-term vision.

One year later, in January 2025, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens expanded its investment and partnership with Gateway Ticketing Systems by adopting Galaxy’s food & beverage kiosk solution as part of a pilot program. The initial goal was to introduce self-service kiosks in smaller food outlets before launching them at the attraction’s new dining venue, Big Horn Café.

When Big Horn Café officially opened in April 2025, the kiosk solution was ready for its full debut. Using Galaxy’s HTML kiosks and QSR Automations’ kitchen display software, the team was able to customize the guest experience with a branded, personalized landing page that reflected the identity of The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. Choosing Gateway Ticketing Systems was a natural decision.

“We were already using Galaxy,” Frank Morales, IT Manager at The Living Desert, explained. “It made sense to continue building on a platform we already knew.”

Solving Operational Challenges
Before implementing Galaxy’s QSR capabilities, staff relied heavily on printed kitchen tickets to communicate orders. While functional, the workflow created significant challenges.

When a transaction was completed, the system depended on receipt printers in the kitchen to produce order tickets. If a printer malfunctioned or simply ran out of paper, orders could fail, leading to transaction issues, chargebacks, frustrated guests, and additional administrative work for staff. Handling those chargebacks became one of the team’s biggest operational burdens.

“Once QSR came out, it changed all of that on top of the food and beverage integration,” Morales said.

Replacing paper-based workflows with digital kitchen displays significantly improved reliability and reduced dependence on hardware that could interrupt service.

Putting the Guest Experience First
As with any technology implementation, guest adoption was a primary concern. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens wanted to ensure that kiosks were intuitive, easy to use, and capable of creating a seamless ordering experience. At the same time, the team focused on making kitchen operations as efficient as possible so guests could receive their meals quickly.

“Our goal was to keep wait times minimal and make the entire process, from ordering to food delivery, as smooth as possible,” Morales commented.

The attraction’s approach was highly collaborative. Rather than forcing technology into existing workflows, IT staff regularly met with managers and frontline employees to understand operational needs before configuring the software.

“From 2024 to now, there’s been a lot of growth for us in understanding the needs of our managers,” Morales explained. “I ask the staff what they need and what their vision is, then I try to fit the software to support that.”

Leveraging Membership to Drive Revenue
Because Galaxy already powers the attraction’s admissions and membership programs, food and beverage operations can leverage valuable membership data to create targeted promotions and personalized guest experiences. Membership discounts can be applied automatically, allowing managers to offer special promotions such as complimentary pastries, discounted coffee, or exclusive offers on designated days.

“Everything is processed within Galaxy,” Morales said. “Our membership manager can create events, apply discounts, and use those promotions to encourage members to visit.”

These exclusive membership offers become an effective business tool, helping increase member engagement while driving additional food and beverage sales.

“Playing on the membership aspect has had a lot of positives from a business perspective,” Morales added.

Learning Through Implementation
Although the overall implementation was successful, it wasn’t without challenges. One of the team’s biggest successes occurred before installation even began.

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens proactively imaged every kiosk, workstation, and VeriFone payment device ahead of deployment across its five food outlets. That preparation allowed the attraction to complete the equipment swap overnight, minimizing disruption to daily operations.

“The cutover was very fast,” Morales said, citing the staff’s anticipatory approach as instrumental.

The implementation was an opportunity for staff training to ensure operational success. Configuring ticketing workflows, food and beverage operations, membership discounts, taxes, menu modifiers, and pricing all presented opportunities for learning and professional development. Once administrators mastered the system themselves, they then needed to train additional employees throughout the organization. Success depended as much on operational processes as technology. “Sometimes it isn’t the technology,” Morales noted. “It’s the operational workflow first, and then the technology supports that.”

Building a Community of Users
Looking back, Morales said they learned a lot through this launch and would approach implementation slightly differently given this acquired knowledge. Thus, they’d recommend connecting with the strong group of other Gateway customers already using the Food & Beverage Kiosk solution prior to starting the process.

“I would have reached out to our Customer Success Manager and asked to connect with organizations already using it, just to learn what to expect and what to watch out for,” Morales said.

Since then, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens has become an active participant in the Gateway user community. After presenting their experience at a Southern California User Group meeting, they discovered that sharing lessons learned sparked valuable conversations with other customers facing similar challenges. Morales believes those customer-to-customer connections are one of the most valuable resources available during implementation.

Supporting Daily Operations
Today, Galaxy plays an important role in the attraction’s daily operations, although much of the work happens before guests ever arrive. Because The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens operates seasonally, with its busiest months being October through May, the food and beverage team spends much of September preparing menus for the upcoming season.

Administrators update menu items, modify pricing, adjust taxes, add or remove modifiers, and make inventory-related changes before the busy season begins. Once operations are underway, managers continue making adjustments throughout the season as inventory changes or promotions are introduced.

Enabling Creativity and Growth
Perhaps the biggest operational win has been Galaxy’s support for Grab & Go service. By simplifying ordering and reducing labor requirements, Grab & Go has become one of the organization’s fastest-growing food service offerings.

“The biggest win was Grab & Go functionality,” Morales said. “It reduced labor time and helped us sell faster and more easily.”

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens plans to expand these offerings even further by creating a dedicated Grab & Go section and increasing mobile food cart operations throughout the property. Understanding Galaxy’s food and beverage capabilities has also empowered managers to think more creatively.

“Being able to fully understand Galaxy for food and beverage has enabled us to grow Grab & Go offerings on little carts,” Morales said. “It has also allowed managers to be more creative in how they want to run their business.”

Measuring Success
While The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens continues refining operations, early results have been encouraging. Guest demand has increased enough that lines regularly form at the property’s seven self-service kiosks during peak attendance days.

Sales have also grown since implementation, and as managers have become more comfortable with the platform, they’ve introduced increasingly creative menu offerings and promotions. Looking ahead, the greatest opportunity lies in further reducing the time between placing an order and receiving food.

“If we can find the right combination of reducing order times and building a menu that complements that speed, we’ll continue to grow sales,” Morales added.

Looking Toward the Future
The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens’ long-term vision extends well beyond quick-service dining.

“The whole vision is to eventually operate a full sit-down restaurant,” Morales explained. “We’re planning to build an events center within the next five to ten years.”

That future includes table service, open tabs, bar service, and expanded hospitality offerings. While Galaxy currently excels in quick-service environments, staff sees significant potential for the platform to evolve alongside the attraction’s ambitions.

Future enhancements, potentially including SMS order notifications, expanded QSR functionality, simplified menu management, faster inventory updates when items go out of stock, audit logs showing who made configuration changes, and kiosk lockdown functionality for easier device management, will only serve to improve the platforms real-world functionality.

A Strong Recommendation
Despite the inevitable growing pains that accompanied implementation, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens considers the project a success.

“Overall, we’re very satisfied,” Morales commented.

Today, Galaxy has become a key part of the attraction’s food and beverage strategy, helping streamline operations, increase sales opportunities, improve member engagement, and support future growth.

In fact, The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens staff readily recommend Galaxy Food & Beverage to other attractions considering modernizing their dining operations. The biggest piece of advice is to take advantage of the Gateway community.

“I would definitely recommend Galaxy for food and beverage,” Morales said. “And I’d also recommend talking to other customers who are already using it before you implement. Learning from their experiences can make a huge difference.”