Problem:
Yemeni Village, located at the west end of downtown Calgary, is a highly regarded and often praised Halal restaurant serving traditional Yemeni cuisine. Everything about this restaurant from the giant style plates to the Apple iPad menus is unique… Wait, iPad menus?
You read that correctly. When I first walked into Yemeni Village back in February 2021 and chatted with management about their menu solution, I was shocked to learn that they had iPads to pass around the restaurant as menus. This was pretty cool but with only a few iPads, surely guests would wait for long periods of time, forced to grab their smartphones, and start searching online for the Yemeni Village Menu. Obviously, iPads were an expensive, and inconvenient solution as we were in the middle of a pandemic, and they were constantly charging these things and sanitizing them hundreds of times per day. There had to be a better way…
Tapcetera Solution:
We installed our Tapcetera touchless menu stickers on all their tables shortly thereafter. Featuring a combination of NFC and QR touchless technologies, they were an instant hit, and the usage numbers were staggering. In just the first abbreviated month, they had over 700 menu opens. In the months to follow they averaged over 1200! Customers were now able to sit down at any of the tables, indoor or patio, and enjoy instant, easy access to Yemeni Village’s menu and digital content.
With a modest diameter of just 2 inches, these stickers are noticeable when needed but remain inconspicuous against restaurant décor. At the top are the words “TAP FOR MENU” and they feature a simple design consisting of an NFC tap icon and a simple, low-data, QR code. They are made from a strong vinyl with high-tack and have a nice glossy laminate coating to withstand months of table cleanings and fidgety fingers.
Disaster averted!
In September 2021, I was contacted by management and asked to change all their sticker links from their menu, hosted on their website, to a new online hosted ordering system. Using our proprietary, cloud-based, tag management software (tapct.com), I was able to change all their tables within a few seconds. They were thrilled at this amazingly simple functionality, and although they could have done this themselves, they were happy for the assistance.
Now, fast forward a few months to the evening of Friday, November 5, 2021. I was contacted frantically by Yemeni Village management through Whatsapp, saying that their table menus weren’t working, they were slammed, and they essentially had no menus for their guests. Logging into our software, I was able to determine that the Tapcetera stickers were functioning just fine, it was in fact the online ordering system that had gone down without warning. I suggested changing all the links on their stickers back to their menu on their website, and viola, within a minute, everyone had menu access again.
One of the many great features of our system is the ability to adapt and make link changes from anywhere, at any time. Our customer service and support are also pretty darn good!
Could your business benefit from Tapcetera technology and our touchless information system? Absolutely! Don’t hesitate to send us a message and tell us about your business, or to learn more about how NFC tags can help you and your customers!
By: Jason Duff