roast plant
Projection menu boards for this novel coffee shop experience
Roasting Plant are coffee lovers from the lower Eastside NYC who set out to create the best tasting cup. From humble beginnings in a garage they developed Javabot, their immersive roastery-cafe experience where you can choose any just-roasted bean and have it ground to order.
the challenge
When the company wanted to launch their offer in the UK, they approached Pixel and asked us to design and implement a novel, projection based digital menu board. Importantly, they wanted the menu to be system integrated with their unique ‘Javabot’ coffee roasting system,so that the details of the bean now roasting could be automatically shown on the menu.
Our Approach
We specified NEC laser projectors to take care of the beam throwing duties, due to their excellent price-performance, horizontal and vertical lens shift and filter-free operation. A range of tests on various projection surfaces was undertaken to ensure that the aesthetic of the restaurant could be carried over to the menu boards without sacrificing legibility of the projections. We then created the digital menus based on a design provided by Roasting Plant’s agency, animating the various ‘roasting now’ graphics to create a subtle but captivating look and feel. The integration with the Javabot system was taken care of by our development team with a simple, persistent connection to a network messaging interface. Lastly, we provided a simple interface that store managers can utilise to change prices and menu items using point and click interactions from inside the store or remotely.
The Outcome
Projection menu boards always look incredible. In our view, it’s the only digital technology that can provide an organic aesthetic, complementing more bohemian store designs. The Javabot integration adds that little extra magic to the experience. Everything is proactively monitored by the Pixel remote support team, with on-site maintenance by our mobile engineering workforce when required.
