online ordering service for 24/7 gaming festival

One of the most critical components for the event, which took place over 10-14 December, was having a service for the BYOC (Bring your own computer) community who are engaged in live games and competitions on a global scale round the clock throughout the event, to be able to order refreshments from 8am – 2am each day without causing disruption to their play.

Amadeus, part of the NEC Group, used the convenient web and smartphone app QJacker which allows users to order food and drink to be brought directly to their gaming stations. Working closely with NEC Group IT and QJacker, Amadeus developed the application to suit the needs of the event – including design, build and testing – within eight weeks. Amadeus were the first customers of QJacker to provide deliveries as all other live sites use collection points.

 

 

Operations Director, Tony Baldock, explains the importance of the introduction of the ground breaking service, “The level of detail required to get the finished solution just right was challenging but the planning and teamwork including IT, marketing, our service partners and suppliers helped make this venture a success. The event was only won in September so a three month turnaround for a brand new concept is phenomenal.”

“Allowing customers to order instantly rather than pre-ordering gave a different dimension to the event and was very important for the visitor experience. The team offered exceptional service by following a pre-determined seating plan meaning we were able to find customers very quickly. The average time from order confirmation to personal delivery was just eight minutes.”

Tony added, “We also worked closely the Insomina56 organisers to determine the demands of the community with the most important factors being portion size, quality of food and value for money. Normal operations were also in effect with our service partners extending their hours to support us, and we had an out of hours support team to ensure if we did have any issues they were resolved promptly as to not affect food service or customer experience.”

Overall, the £30,316 revenue was taken from 2912 orders, with spend per customer valuing £34.80 and each average order spend totalling £10.41. By 11am on the first day more transactions had been processed than in three games at Old Trafford and the first slab of beer (24 drinks) had been purchased. The top foods ordered were chips (1,290), pizza (491) and burger with cheese and bacon (359).

Amadeus balanced the delivery of food at Insomina56 with ensuring thousands of other visitors also received top quality food service at four other events (Vivid Christmas parties, Success Express, Asian Bride Live and LKA) hosted at the NEC over the same weekend.