GlowTouch helped its beverage client capitalize on the growing craft beer industry by creating an online selection menu. Do you have an idea for an app?
Relationship:
Since 2011
Service Provided:
Mobile App Development
Industries:
Food & Beverage
A restaurant management group envisioned a more sophisticated, innovative way for patrons to select beer. They partnered with GlowTouch to turn their vision into a reality. The craft beer app has been incredibly well-received, leading to a considerable sales boost.
Instead of a printed beer list, customers use a touchscreen tablet to browse, scroll and search for the craft beer of their choice.
Who Would Have Thought Technology Could Increase Beer Sales?
01 The Challenge
The restaurant group was looking for a creative way to stimulate its business and drive meaningful growth.
02 The Solution
They partnered with GlowTouch to develop an Android-based tablet application that would display restaurant beer menus, thus reducing the cost of updating and printing paper menus each time a new beer was added.
03 The Benefit
Exponential increase beer sales as a direct result from the application.
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01 The Challenge
A well-known restaurant management group faced a challenge most businesses encounter nearly every day: how to stimulate its business and drive meaningful growth. Management rolled up their sleeves and began brainstorming creative ways to inject new energy into the business.
The company’s foray into the world of craft beers, although initially helpful in attracting local beer enthusiasts, presented the company with a number of unforeseen challenges. Bartenders were charged with the cumbersome, unwieldy task of remembering, and even reciting, the entire craft beer menu on any given night.
Moreover, paper beer lists are easily torn and must be updated every time a new beer gets added to the lineup. That’s where, according to the restaurant group’s owner, the idea for a beer application initially originated.
The company’s foray into the world of craft beers, although initially helpful in attracting local beer enthusiasts, presented the company with a number of unforeseen challenges. Bartenders were charged with the cumbersome, unwieldy task of remembering, and even reciting, the entire craft beer menu on any given night.
Moreover, paper beer lists are easily torn and must be updated every time a new beer gets added to the lineup. That’s where, according to the restaurant group’s owner, the idea for a beer application initially originated.
02 The Solution
Envisioning a much more sophisticated and innovative beer selection environment, the owner and his team approached GlowTouch with the idea. And with just that in hand, an idea, the client relied on GlowTouch during early conversations to provide strong project guidance and insightful technical recommendations.
Extensive meetings with GlowTouch over several weeks refined the project scope and identified a technology platform that would best suit the application. Adhering to counsel from GlowTouch, the restaurant management group elected to develop the application on the Android platform as opposed to Apple Inc.’s operation system (iOS) because the Android’s open-source platform allowed for more flexibility.
They wanted to ensure that when patrons were presented with the tablet, they wouldn’t be able to simply close the company’s app and use the tablet for alternate purposes. Unlike Apple’s iOS, the Android platform’s open source nature allowed GlowTouch to engineer the application to operate in Kiosk mode, which essentially locks the app and ensures the user interface covered the entire screen.
The craft beer application would require extensive customization in order to meet the specifications laid out by the client. With a team of four technical engineers and a dedicated Project Manager assigned to the project, GlowTouch was able to accelerate its development efforts and produce a beta version of the application in a few short months.
Working intimately with a group of company restaurant managers, GlowTouch was able to collect valuable feedback from patrons during a testing phase that allowed it to solicit usability input and optimize the app based on direct user feedback. Moreover, the client commissioned several focus groups designed to gather further feedback from users to ensure the application would resonate with both passionate craft beer aficionados as well as the casual restaurant-goer.
The tablet was first released in late 2011 at one of the company’s pubs. At a launch party formally introducing the app, there was overwhelming positive feedback from both regulars and new customers.
A newly-installed head brewer was ecstatic about the mobile app development.
The craft beer app has been incredibly well received by all who have used it. Its popularity even resulted in a slew of media coverage detailing the app and its appeal with customers. Local media outlets took the opportunity to spotlight the app and explore the injection of technology into the traditionally tech-averse hospitality industry.
Extensive meetings with GlowTouch over several weeks refined the project scope and identified a technology platform that would best suit the application. Adhering to counsel from GlowTouch, the restaurant management group elected to develop the application on the Android platform as opposed to Apple Inc.’s operation system (iOS) because the Android’s open-source platform allowed for more flexibility.
They wanted to ensure that when patrons were presented with the tablet, they wouldn’t be able to simply close the company’s app and use the tablet for alternate purposes. Unlike Apple’s iOS, the Android platform’s open source nature allowed GlowTouch to engineer the application to operate in Kiosk mode, which essentially locks the app and ensures the user interface covered the entire screen.
The craft beer application would require extensive customization in order to meet the specifications laid out by the client. With a team of four technical engineers and a dedicated Project Manager assigned to the project, GlowTouch was able to accelerate its development efforts and produce a beta version of the application in a few short months.
Working intimately with a group of company restaurant managers, GlowTouch was able to collect valuable feedback from patrons during a testing phase that allowed it to solicit usability input and optimize the app based on direct user feedback. Moreover, the client commissioned several focus groups designed to gather further feedback from users to ensure the application would resonate with both passionate craft beer aficionados as well as the casual restaurant-goer.
The tablet was first released in late 2011 at one of the company’s pubs. At a launch party formally introducing the app, there was overwhelming positive feedback from both regulars and new customers.
A newly-installed head brewer was ecstatic about the mobile app development.
The craft beer app has been incredibly well received by all who have used it. Its popularity even resulted in a slew of media coverage detailing the app and its appeal with customers. Local media outlets took the opportunity to spotlight the app and explore the injection of technology into the traditionally tech-averse hospitality industry.
03 The Results
The client’s investment in technology to spur its business has proven incredibly beneficial. The company has experienced a considerable boost in beer-based sales as a direct result of the craft beer app. Not only are sales of bottled beer on the rise, but draft beer consumption has skyrocketed. This is due in large part to the company’s beer-flight offering, a collection of four different beer samples which can be customized directly from the app.
At last count, approximately 60 tablets are currently in use throughout the restaurant group’s various establishments. Moving forward, the client is already exploring new ways to sustain momentum for the craft beer tablet, including everything from a mobile version, partnerships with local breweries, and more. With the support, expertise and guidance of GlowTouch, the sky’s the limit.
At last count, approximately 60 tablets are currently in use throughout the restaurant group’s various establishments. Moving forward, the client is already exploring new ways to sustain momentum for the craft beer tablet, including everything from a mobile version, partnerships with local breweries, and more. With the support, expertise and guidance of GlowTouch, the sky’s the limit.
