Star group in Mirage share

THE Star Entertainment Group and its Hong Kong- based partners have wrapped up the acquisition of the Sheraton Grand Mirage Resort on the Gold Coast. The Star, which has bought the 5- star beachfront resort with partners Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium, is contributing around $ 40 million in equity investment for its share of the purchase.

Matt Bekier, chief executive of The Star, says the resort is a perfect complement to the group’s existing properties — Jupiters on the Gold Coast, Queen’s Wharf in Brisbane and The Star in Sydney. A TECH company has developed a system that photographs pizzas as they emerge from the oven at fast food chains so customers can see their order is picture perfect.

Israeli- based technology group Dragontail Systems, which floated on the Australian Securities Exchange in December, wants to automate quality control at restaurants, starting with pizza chains.

In the past year, Dragontail has been testing its Camera Cut Station Unit, a system of wireless sensors that monitor oven, fridge and kitchen temperatures while taking photos of freshly cooked pizzas.

The camera analyses the quality of ingredients and checks that there is nothing missing from the pizza, Dragontail chief executive Ido Levanon said.

“The camera takes a picture automatically when the pizza comes out of the oven and it analyses the pizza using a mathematical model,” Mr Levanon said. “If it doesn’t look like it’s supposed to then it alerts staff right there on the spot.” It also sends a photo of the pizza and the temperature of the product to customers via SMS or email.

Mr Levanon said it creates a new level of transparency for the customer and gives staff an added incentive to do a good job. It also reduces pizzas being rejected by alerting staff to preparation errors.

“Pizza chains have a procedure where so many times a day a store manager has to check the quality of pizzas where only a small sample are checked,” he said. “The great thing about the camera is that it checks every single pizza and it removes the need for paperwork.”

Dragontail has signed up a pizza chain in Australia – it won’t name the client until February, and hopes to expand to other fast food businesses.

The company already provides automated order and delivery systems to a number of chains, including Pizza Hut in North America and Israel.