Digital Menu Software: Tech-Diet Swiftly Becoming Staple of Restaurants in India3 min read
India’s leading business daily newspaper, Business Standard, recently reported that digital menu software is fast becoming a diet staple of restaurants in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Delhi, and Bangalore. Digital menu software enhances the dining experience by giving diners “a visual tour of the dishes,” keeping guests apprised of seasonal offerings, and letting them explore new foods, learn about the chef’s signature dishes, search for specific items, find wine pairings and tasting notes, or personalize their meal by sending instructions directly to the kitchen.
Melting Pot, the on-site dining venue at Juhu Residency Boutique Hotel in Mumbai, began offering menus powered by digital menu software to their guests a little less than 2 months ago. Veda will soon follow suit. The restaurant, located at Mumbai’s High Street Phoenix Mall, announced that it will launch a pilot of tablet PCs, loaded with touchscreen-driven digital menu software, later this year.
Other soon-to-be-entrants include Courtyard Mumbai International Airport, which announced that it will be introducing digital menu software in its banqueting segment, where it believes iPads enhanced with digital menu software will drive sales; and the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, which says that they, too, will be launching iPads featuring digital menu software for their guests.
These restaurants join a number of others which have already discovered the power of digital menu software, such as acclaimed international venue, Koh by Ian Kittichai, the signature Thai restaurant at InterContinental Marine Drive in Mumbai, which introduced the digital menu software last November to make its expansive food and beverage menu easier for guests to navigate. With digital menu software, the restaurant can provide guests with full-color photos and detailed information on each dish; guests can also learn more about the restaurant and Chef Ian Kittichai, and provide feedback on the food and dining venue.
Another early entrant, Royal China India implemented the digital menu software on iPads at each table featuring images of the 200 items on its menu and a “totalizer” that enables guests not only to make all of their selections (from appetizer through dessert), but to see the total cost of the meal, including tax, before placing their order.
Likewise, high-end, chic Escobar Tapas Bar in Bandra, a suburb of Mumbai, introduced the digital menu software earlier this year. In addition to providing images and information on each food item, digital menu software at Escobar also suggests wine pairings and lets guests view tasting notes, but, unlike the others, it has not been enabled to allow direct-ordering features.
Other restaurants in India already utilizing digital menu software include Set’z, the 5-star rooftop restaurant with 7 interactive kitchens, located at DLF Emporio mall in New Delhi, and the highly-rated Chinese and Malaysian venue, FU-Better than Chinese, located in Delhi’s M Block Market.
Upscale venue, Touché, in Bangalore has gone even further in digitizing its venue, with light-enhanced touchscreen floors and graphics. Digital menu software at Touch not only drives the touchscreen-table-featured menu card, but music requests, games, lighting, and billing.
Digital menu software is not limited to restaurants, however. Retail confectioner, Not Just Desserts by Sabina, is also using digital menu software to showcase its offerings. The store’s proprietor, Mitali Gupta, daughter of founder, Sabina, says the digital menu software is “very user-friendly”; she finds it “works better than flipping through real photos or showing a power point presentation.”
According to Business Standard, restaurants in India report that public response to the digital menu software has been very positive; in fact, they have found that, overall, guests far prefer using the interactive digital menu software to reading conventional paper menus. As one guest at Royal China told the newspaper, digital menu software “adds to the experience.”
