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  • Beer Menu Digital Sign

    I am looking on some info on Digital Signage for behind the bar. I want to use an LCD screen as a menu board for what we have ontap. I have seen a few bars with this and was wondering if anyone has experience doing this. Is there certain software to use or can i just build the menu in something like powerpoint.

    thanks,

    Matt

    Matt Nucci
    Blue Mountain Brewery
    Afton, VA
    Matt Nucci
    Co owner
    Blue Mountain Brewery
    540-456-8020

  • #2
    You might look into Taplister for a complete turnkey solution. I've seen their stuff and its really nice and the system is pretty solid. There is a monthly charge for it though.

    We've been using a system we built that runs on an AppleTV with powerpoint type slides saved as images. It's a little cumbersome to change but if not changing the list more than a couple or three times a day its not that big a deal.
    Owner
    Grind Modern Burger
    PostModern Brewers
    Boise, ID

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    • #3
      We use a local webpage with a shared Javascript file that is also used on our website for up-to-date tap listings. We have a computer that runs Google Chrome in full screen mode to show the webpage.

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      • #4
        I have seen this system at several beer bars and breweries around florida. It's cool because it updates to social media, your website, etc. whenever you change a beer. We have 50 taps and we rotate constantly so the chalkboards get old fast, besides getting up on a ladder constantly is inviting an accident. It is not cheap, $100 per month but I think for our operation it is worth it, maybe not for a brewery tap room that has beers that rarely rotate. It is web based and you use a projector or TV that is fed by a googletv. You update via a web portal or smart phone. They also have a QR that you can print on table tents, etc. so people can hit that with their smartphone and view your beer menu that way on their phone. We are going to get this for our tap room purely for the ease of update.

        Luch Scremin
        Engine 15 Brewing Co.
        luch at engine15 dot com

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        • #5
          Originally posted by Brewtopian View Post
          You might look into Taplister for a complete turnkey solution. I've seen their stuff and its really nice and the system is pretty solid. There is a monthly charge for it though.

          We've been using a system we built that runs on an AppleTV with powerpoint type slides saved as images. It's a little cumbersome to change but if not changing the list more than a couple or three times a day its not that big a deal.
          How does the image quality look with the powerpoint slides on Apple TV? I am not to familiar with Apple TV...how do you get the images on it? thanks.
          Matt Nucci
          Co owner
          Blue Mountain Brewery
          540-456-8020

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          • #6
            Image quality is actually great. If you export the slide as a jpeg then import it into your photo album (we're using all Mac machines so I'm not sure the process on a PC) then sync to the AppleTV it pops up on the screen.

            If you have a facebook page you can check out the slides on either of our facebook pages as we post them there pretty much every time we update the board.
            Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

            Attached Files
            Owner
            Grind Modern Burger
            PostModern Brewers
            Boise, ID

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            • #7
              PowerPoint and Apple TV

              We just did this for our retail area. Using an iCloud account. And then saving our ppt slides as jpgs..which is a save as option..then drag and drop each slide into the iCloud upload directory..we did it one at a time so they were in the right order ...but if its only one slide..or random photos it won't matter..
              Then set up atv to photo stream ..not difficult. Works great.

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              • #8
                Digital Display Technology

                TapHunter also designs and implements digital beer displays. http://gettaphunter.com/blog/

                Click image for larger version

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                • #9
                  Maybe Im old school but I have yet to see a digital beer menu I liked. Too hard to read usually unless you are right up in front of it and they always seem too busy, though Im sure you could customize it to make it more appealing. I like a simple well lit chalkboard with legible large font. Seems warmer and more in the spirit of craft brewing. But thats just me.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Matt Dog View Post
                    Maybe Im old school but I have yet to see a digital beer menu I liked. Too hard to read usually unless you are right up in front of it and they always seem too busy, though Im sure you could customize it to make it more appealing. I like a simple well lit chalkboard with legible large font. Seems warmer and more in the spirit of craft brewing. But thats just me.
                    I don't entirely disagree with you. The only problem with this is if you're an operator like myself who's taplist is in a constant state a rotation, who on a Friday night may change out as many as 10 different beers a chalkboard doesn't work. We tried a chalkboard but have a staffer on a ladder in the middle of a Friday rush just didn't work.

                    On the flip side a digital screen can be updated quickly and easily, always looks good and can be uploaded easily to social media.
                    Owner
                    Grind Modern Burger
                    PostModern Brewers
                    Boise, ID

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                    • #11
                      I think the social media point is key. If you are into social media at all as a means to promote your brewery (or like me, the only means to promote) having an easily accessible taplist to people online is a great idea. Although I do not yet have a taproom, when I do this is one of the few "splurges" I intend to use. We will rotate lots of special "taproom only" beers as a way to bring in customers. The ability to drive people to the webpage/FB/Twitter to see what's on tap at any given time is a win/win in my opinion...
                      Scott LaFollette
                      Fifty West Brewing Company
                      Cincinnati, Ohio

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                      • #12
                        I like how the 2 digital list examples in this thread are made to look like a chalkboard!

                        The possibility of an automatically updating beer list on FB or on the webpage never really occurred to me, and at first reading of this tread I felt that little light bulb flicker. However, I'm kinda with Matt Dog on this one. I just like the chalkboard with the smears, and the girly waitress bubble letters and the colored chalk. If you have someone who likes to draw on staff you can end up with some really creative art on your wall too. People are proud of that stuff and if a good employee takes a little bit of pride in the place they become a great employee. I'm still amidst my buildout, so I have a month or two to decide. My intent has been to use a large chalkboad as the centerpiece of the bar with my tap handles right in front of it. I would then simply use my FB page to update as we change beers, which will likely happen a couple times per week. If it is just done in the background automatically it has far less impact then personally writing something about your beer. Plus when you post on your like page, people are notified vs an arbitrary picture being updated in the background. I think there is far more impact doing in manually! Especially with a large list when a person may look at it and not really see the additions because it is so uniform and sterile. Will people really read the whole list each time or look for a change? If I was changing taps 10 times a day I would feel differently for sure!!

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