Hull tech firm eyes global dining transaction market
MENU TILE HAS SOLUTIONS FOR POST-LOCKDOWN DINING
A HULL technology company believes it has the product to satisfy a global appetite to make eating out a seamless and contactless experience for customers.
As lockdown lifts and pubs and restaurants welcome back diners for the first time, Menu Tile is going live.
Brought forward by the Digitalquill group of companies, led by managing director Matt Houldsworth, it uses quick response (QR) codes and near field communication (NFC), allowing diners to view a menu, order and pay from their smartphone.
Suitable for use when dining in, collecting, or choosing delivery, it doesn’t even require an app.
Under development for two years, with major investment behind it from the Bridge View Park business, Covid-19 presented the opportunity to re-angle, having been initially geared towards helping customers with food intolerances.
“It has been a long time coming for us, but it is an exciting time, and I really think we can do some good,” Mr Houldsworth said.
“Menu Tile is a project we have had under way for two years, and we’ve invested hundreds of thousands of pounds into it. Originally, and still a part of it, was the desire to flag up allergen information in an accessible way. We came up with the concept on the back of that.
“We had planned to launch in March, then Covid hit, and we rapidly realised that the world was going to be a different place when we came out of it.
“We accelerated some features we had in place, which had suddenly become much more important, such as fully contactless operation and online payment, and for clients the ability to factor in a buffer between bookings to allow for clean down and sanitising.”
Described as an immersive experience, with restaurants given the chance to give their dishes as much of a story as they wish, it has been trailed with The Brunch Club at Brough and several others, ahead of launch.
Scores of businesses are now rolling out, with a table tile at the centre of the link with the customer.
“The phone has been ringing off the hook,” he said, having launched a marketing campaign. “Most people calling us not big operators with planning departments, they are owneroperators dealing with marketing, IT and accounts, while also cooking a menu and putting a health and safety plan together.
“We’re offering a managed set-up on being sent a menu.”
A seven-strong team, bolstered by contractors, has developed it, with are a standalone company set up. “We see this as an international project. It has multilingual functionality built in, so we will be pushing this globally. We are starting local, we need to make sure we can walk before we run, but we plan to rapidly expand to the rest of the UK, then start with British holiday destinations. We are very excited about hitting the market.”