Start-up Puts Digital Menu System On Smart TVs
January 30, 2012 by Dave Haynes
A small SF Bay-area firm has paired up with another local start-up to offer a digital menu board system that integrates with the Point Of Sale set-up and eliminates the need for a PC bolted on the back of the display.
This system relies, instead, on the emerging wave of so-called smart TVs.
Digital Menu Me is partnering with Revel Systems, which does iPad-based POS systems for restaurants, to drive menu boards on Samsung’s internet-connected smart TVs.
With a Cloud-based system utilizing Digital Menu Me technology, says the news release, along with Revel systems Point of Sale System, the digital menu boards can automatically pull the menu in from the POS system whenever it is updated. This eliminates the hassle of reprogramming the menu boards and keeps you looking professional to your customers.
Digital Menu Me says it can halve the cost of other systems on the market because it is cloud-based and easily integrates with a restaurant system. Samsung 40-inch Internet-enabled TV allows Digital Menu Me to just mount the TV and plug it into the internet (no extra equipment.) In addition, Digital Menu Me can dispatch installers no matter where you are in the country, who can mount and install the system for you for only $299. Digital Menu Me is utilizing Samsung’s App technology to power the digital menu board, thus eliminating an extra piece of hardware in your restaurant that you have to manage.
Ralph Charles, CEO of Digital Menu Me, says the integration with Revel Systems opens a lot if possibilities: Our customers can now easily log in and make changes into their POS menu and not worry about updating their digital menu boards. Revel really makes it easy for companies to integrate into the POS market and is the leading company that we have experienced so far for support of their API, it also helps that the API is free and has dedicated developers to help others integrate into Revel Systems open API.
Interesting. These internet-connected TVs, loaded with widgets and browser capabilities, should very easily manage the limited media requirements of a digital menu. What this appears to be doing is just going out to a web server and displaying a page on the menu screen.
The big question is probably about total cost of ownership, not the low start-up cost. Though you will get some arguments from people who doubt the actual differences inside between consumer and commercial displays, the prevailing argument is that TVs are not engineered to operate reliably for 12-18 hours a day, or in some cases 24/7. They are also not engineered to deal with all the ambient crud – like flour and grease – drifting in the air in a typical QSR. That stuff finds its way into electronics and then there are problems.
I don’t know anywhere near enough about these TVs, but my guess is the remote monitoring and management capabilities of “smart” TVs is still quite limited. So when one blinks out, there may be no way of knowing unless you are on site or someone calls.
Digital menu systems get done in a bunch of ways, but the ones I know of use industrial-grade PCs that can be fully managed remotely and are easily swapped in and out, in the event of breakdown, to minimize the black screen time. They use tricks like swappable devices that snap in and out of slots.
Cutting corners on a promo screen that’s advertising a soup and sandwich special is one thing. But it is a real risk to cut corners on a system that is taking the place of the old backlit printed menu sign. If that digital menu goes dark, customers don’t know what to order. Sales drop and order times skyrocket.
My guess is this offer may resonate with small operators, but be a non-starter for risk-adverse chains.
Small point: the company does not do itself any favors showing a demonstration screen layout that breaks all the rules about readability.
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Cloud-Based Digital Menu Boards Are Reveling with Samsung’s Internet Enabled TV’s
Imagine that a restaurant is serving a tilapia dish for their dinner special. By nine o’clock, the kitchen notifies one of the waitresses that they’ve run out of tilapia. However, the waitress gets distracted and forgets to tell the rest of the wait staff. Meanwhile, customers are continuing to place orders for the tilapia special, only to be told that the restaurant has run out. Not only are the customers not able to order the dinner they want, but now their service has been delayed.
With a Cloud-based system utilizing a Digital Menu Me technology, along with Revel systems Point of Sale System, the digital menu boards can automatically pull the menu in from the POS system whenever it is updated.
This eliminates the hassle of reprogramming the menu boards and keeps you looking professional to your customers.
Digital menu board systems that are cloud-based are not only practical, time saving, and innovative, but they are also cost effective. The Digital Menu Me systems only cost $2,000 compared to the $4,000+ cost of other systems on the market today and because it is cloud-based, it can easily connect with systems already used by restaurants. Samsung 40-inch Internet enabled TV allows Digital Menu Me to just mount the TV and plug it into the internet (no extra equipment.) In addition, Digital Menu Me can dispatch installers no matter where you are in the country, who can mount and install the system for you for only $299. Digital Menu Me is utilizing Samsung’s App technology to power the digital menu board thus eliminating an extra piece of hardware in your restaurant that you have to manage.
Ralph Charles, CEO of Digital Menu Me, on the unique combination of installing alongside the Revel Systems iPad POS system:
“Revel Systems open API makes this possible and so easy for our developers to integrate into Revel Systems, it truly has me reveling just thinking about it. Our customers can now easily log in and make changes into their POS menu and not worry about updating their digital menu boards. Revel really makes it easy for companies to integrate into the POS market and is the leading company that we have experienced so far for support of their API, it also helps that the API is free and has dedicated developers to help others integrate into Revel Systems open API. Revel Systems CEO Lisa Falzone is a pioneer into the future of the POS market place.”
Digital Menu Me has big visions for the future and is advancing the digital signage market by integrating into leading cloud based systems to make things easier for its customers. Digital Menu Me is now taking on distributors for its cloud-based digital menu boards. The future is here with Digital Menu Me.
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The biggest problem with be warranty service – with most consumer TVs you void the warranty as soon as you use it in a commercial setting. So, as you say, the start-up cost may be low, but when the TV dies in 3-4 months the owner will have no recourse but to completely replace it.