Results Are In: The Smartmenu is #6 in Fast Casual’s list of Top 100 brands, people, trends and technologies for 2012. The Fast Casual restaurant segment loves health conscious consumers and so do we. Thank you Fast Casual – we are delighted with this honour.
See the full list here: http://www.fastcasual.com/
Usable Health is proud to announce the launch of our 1st Order Express location at the ATDC building (in the 2nd floor break room).
As you may recall from our earlier post, Order Express is an off-premises smartmenu that is tied into a local restaurant. The idea behind Order Express is to bring the restaurant to you.
At ATDC we have two smartmenus installed, one for Chuck’s Famous Sandwiches and the other for Tin Drum Asia Cafe. Both restaurants are right across the street from ATDC, and run smartmenus in the restaurants.
Why use Order Express?
Saves Time! – The smartmenu is right in your break room! Instead of having to go to one of your local restaurants and wait in line to order your meal, Order Express allows you to quickly and conveniently place and pay for your meal.
Saves Money! – Order Express users will have access to special deals and discounts offered by our partner restaurants.
Stop by and give it a try today!
This week occasions the prestigious Hotelympia 2012 exhibition for foodservice and hospitality, in London. We’re excited that one of our main POS partners, Comtrex Systems (US site) is demoing a smartmenu as part of their exhibition booth. If you happen to be in town, come see both systems at booth S2026! Many thanks to Clive, Trevor, Schipra, Steve, and the rest of the Comtrex UK team.
Hola amigos! We’re excited to announce our first smartmenu deployment at a table service restaurant. Visit Zapata (in Norcross, GA) for some delicious, authentic Mexican food, and a unique ordering experience. You can browse the restaurant’s full menu (including the substantial selection of fine tequilas!) and place your order on an iPad loaded with the smartmenu software. The owner and managers have gone out of their way to ensure that the smartmenus integrate seamlessly into the attentive service provided by the waitstaff. And the smartmenu remains with your table for the duration of your meal, so the tequila never has to stop flowing. After a few rounds, try to convince the manager to unlock the iPad so you can bump your favorite duranguense tunes for some atmosphere.
Still need convincing? Zapata has a 4-star average out of 62 yelp reviews. Chido!
Me gusta!
Recently, we’ve been exploring a new idea: an off-premises smartmenu. That is, a smartmenu that’s close to a restaurant — in the lobby of a nearby office building, or the foyer of a busy train station, for example. It’s our take on the various paper menus that you’ve probably seen hanging in the break rooms at your workplace — except you don’t need to call in your order, and you have all of the benefits of the smartmenu ordering experience. It’s great for restaurant, too: providing visibility, allowing customers to browse a real-time menu, all without the need for a separate mobile app or website, as with online ordering.
We will be installing our first such smartmenu in a central location at the Interstate North Office Park, in Atlanta. This smartmenu will allow remote ordering at nearby St. Charles Deli. The location of the smartmenu will allow individuals and groups at the office park to avoid the long lunch-rush lines.
We’re currently evaluating other locations where we can install off-premises smartmenus. Let us know if you have any suggestions!
New smartmenus in Tin Drum at The Summit, Birmingham
It’s been a busy two months for Usable Health! We’ve started rolling out our new integrated smartmenus, based on the RedDotNet 10.4” tablet. The new screen is just as attractive and responsive as our iPads (that’s good for you!), but these devices are also much easier to install and service (that’s great for us!). We are now rolling out this configuration to new restaurant customers and replacing the iPads in our existing locations.
Two new restaurant’s now have these smartmenus:
We’re also upgrading existing restaurants to the new integrated smartmenu as they become available. Check out the new ordering experience at Tin Drum’s Dunwoody and Downtown/Georgia State locations, as well as at Fresh To Order in Buckhead.
You can see photos of the Birmingham installation on our Facebook page.
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Usable Health is made of stars.
Take our CTO, Eugene, for example. When he is not busy changing the world by delivering just-in-time food suggestions through Smartmenus, you will find him working on finishing up his PhD in Human-Centered Computing.
Just a few days back we heard that he made it to the list of Forbes 30 under 30! In their own words he is part of this awesome group of (young) people “…who aren’t waiting to reinvent the world. Today’s disrupters and tomorrow’s brightest stars.” We could not agree more. Before the issue hits the stand on January 16th you can get a sneak peak of the article here.
Last Thursday, we were honored to receive a visit from Georgia’s First Lady, Sandra Deal. Mrs. Deal is well-known for her activities in outreach, education, and community volunteering. She was interested in learning about the nutritional capabilities of the Usable Health’s SmartMenu ordering tablet. Mrs. Deal’s visit began at Tin Drum in Tech Square, where she was able to see the SmartMenus in action. She applauded Tin Drum and other Atlanta area restaurants that are going the extra mile to provide healthier dining options to their patrons.
Mrs. Deal continued her visit with a stop at the Georgia Tech research lab where the formative work on the SmartMenu’s nutritional advice component was conducted. She viewed a demo of our new features and we discussed how nutritional advice systems like the SmartMenu could impact the obesity epidemic in Georgia and nationally. Mrs. Deal promised to connect the Georgia Tech researchers and the SmartMenu project with Georgia policy and business leaders, such as the state Secretary of Agriculture and regional Sysco executives. The goal of these connections would be to open a conversation about how the state of Georgia and the commercial food industry could leverage consumer-facing technology for improving nutrition and health.
Mrs. Deal was accompanied by Usable Health’s founder and CEO, Jiten, and one of the members of our Board of Advisors, Beth Mynatt. The visit was arranged by Georgia Tech’s First Lady, Valerie Peterson.
At Usable Health, we’re trying to change the restaurant business for the better! We want our SmartMenus to improve diners’ restaurant experience and to support busy restaurant staff. And we’re building online tools to help restaurateurs manage their business more effectively. But the four of us can’t do it alone. So we’re looking for a few awesome people to join our team. We’re currently recruiting and interviewing for three positions: lead developer, customer support/logistics lead, and bizdev/sales lead. Check out the full details on our hiring page.
Aren’t on the job market yourself but know someone who is? Receive your choice of an Apple iPad 2 or Samsung 10” Galaxy Tab if we hire someone you refer!
QSR Magazine: Atlanta-based fast-casual concept Fresh To Order is aiming to increase loyalty while cutting back on labor and food costs with the launch of its SmartMenu kiosk technology. Click here to read the full article on their site.
“SmartMenus = a personalized ordering = a healthier bottom line.”
“Providing choices within categories and putting them into perspective is what SmartMenus aim to do for restaurant diners with an eye on their diet and health.”
“SmartMenu is an introduction to the future of dietetics. I think that dietitians should definitely keep updated in this area.”
“Good for the restaurant industry. Good for the economy. Something that will keep people from saying it’s not healthy to dine out at restaurants!”
“SmartMenu remembers each guest’s individual ordering history by way of a diner recognition feature.”
“SmartMenu creates immediacy to the customer experience by utilizing touchscreen tablet computers for ordering at the counter, as well as at tables for full-service establishments.”
“A new healthcare technology company is helping consumers make healthy eating easier.”
“[The] SmartMenu is an integrated ordering and selling solution…offers suggestions for diners to choose meals based on their specific dietary preferences and health needs.”
