Customer found by card or QR at the counter
The cashier scans a card or the QR code in the diner's app. The counter shows the name, customer type, photo, wallet balance and the meal due. Lost, blocked and expired cards stop working at the next sync.
PLANSEvery plan
Built and tested against our test server. The counter app has not yet run on a real tablet at an outlet and is not in the Play Store. Try it at one counter before you rely on it.
The problem it solves
- Students and staff carry cash, and the cashier keeps change for a queue of 200 at lunch.
- A name read out at the counter is easy to fake, so meals are taken on someone else's plan.
- A lost ID card still works for days, because nobody can block it at the counter.
- The cashier cannot see a child's allergy or what is left in the wallet before serving.
How it works
- The office gives each customer a card under Food Service > Customers > Customer Cards. Each card has a number, a holder and a kind: RFID, NFC, Barcode or Printed QR. With the SmartMy Feast app (Growth), each diner also has a QR code on the app's Today screen.
- The cashier scans the card with a reader that types like a keyboard, or points the tablet's camera at the QR. A number can also be typed into "Scan card or QR, or type".
- The tablet looks the code up in its own copy of the outlet's customers, so the lookup works without the network too.
- The customer panel shows the name, the customer type, the photo when there is one and the wallet balance. With spending controls (Growth) it also shows allergy and diet alerts in red.
- On the Serve tab the panel adds "Meal from:" and the plan or token that gives this meal. On the Sell tab the scanned customer's prices, payment modes and limits apply to the bill.
- A transferable meal token can be scanned on its own, without a card.
Everything it does
Cards
- One customer may hold several cards; each card number is unique
- Kinds: RFID, NFC, Barcode and Printed QR
- States: Active, Lost and Blocked; a Valid Until date ends a card by itself
- A card can be limited to one Entity, or left empty to work in every Entity
- Every change to a card is kept in its history
The app QR code
- Each diner gets an app QR code, shown on the Today screen of the SmartMy Feast app (Growth)
- New QR card in the app's Wallet, or New App QR Code on the contact in the back office, makes a new code. The old one stops working
What the counter shows
- Name, customer type and photo (photos are kept on the tablet after the first time they are shown)
- Wallet balance, in red when below zero
- On Serve: the plan or token that gives the meal now, or why there is none
- With spending controls (Growth): the allergies, the diet note and the daily and weekly limits
- On Sell: an alert when an item in the bill contains something the customer is allergic to, or is not vegetarian for a vegetarian customer
Refused codes
- The tablet holds only active cards that have not expired and are valid in its Entity
- A lost, blocked or expired card is taken off the tablet at its next sync; scanned after that, it shows "Unknown card or token"
- The tablet syncs every 30 seconds while it has the network
Where it is recorded
- With face recognition (Scale), each meal and sale also records how the customer was found: Card, App QR, Token or Face
Who uses it
CashierScans the card or QR, reads the panel and serves or sells.
Food Administrator or office staffIssues cards, marks them lost or blocked and sets Valid Until.
Diner or parentShows the card or the app QR; makes a new QR in the app when a phone is lost.
Where you use it
- The SmartMy Feast Counter app on an Android tablet: the Serve, Sell and Wallet tabs (built and in testing, not in the app stores yet)
- Web: Food Service > Customers > Customer Cards; the App QR Code and New App QR Code on the contact's Food Service tab
- The SmartMy Feast app: the QR card on Today and New QR card in Wallet (Growth). Built and in testing, not in the app stores yet
- Not built: finding a customer by name search or by a one-time code on their mobile at the counter
- Not built: an RFID or NFC card read by the tablet itself; use a reader that types the number like a keyboard
What you control
Settings
- Card kind, state, Valid Until and Entity: per card
- Which customer types the outlet serves: on the outlet's Customer Types Served tab
Questions
Which ID cards can we use?
Any card whose number a reader types into the tablet like a keyboard: RFID, NFC or barcode readers of that kind. Printed QR codes and the app QR are read by the tablet's camera. We test your reader with you before go-live.A student lost the ID card. How do we stop it?
Set the card to Lost or Blocked under Customer Cards. The counter drops it at its next sync, usually within 30 seconds, and then treats it as unknown. Give the student a new card.Does the counter need the network to find a customer?
No. The tablet keeps the outlet's customers and finds them from its own copy. Changes made in the office reach it at the next sync.Can someone use a screenshot of another person's app QR?
A QR code works for whoever shows it, like a card. If a code was shared or a phone lost, make a new QR card in the app or in the back office. The old code stops working at once on the server and at the next sync on the counters.Is the app QR in the Starter plan?
Cards, including printed QR cards, work in every plan. The SmartMy Feast app with its QR code comes with Growth.Related features
COUNTEROne-tap serve of plan and token mealsScan the card and the meal a plan or token covers is served in one tap, or on the scan itself. The counter checks the session, the opt-out and a second helping, also without the network.COUNTERSelling when the network is downWhen the network drops, the counter tablet keeps serving and selling. It checks meals, limits and wallet balances from its own copy and numbers bills from a reserved block. Everything goes to the server in order when the network is back. Anything the server cannot take as it was goes to the supervisor as a sync conflict.COUNTERFace recognition at the counterA counter tablet recognises a diner after a blink and serves the meal or takes the wallet payment, without a card. Only diners who consented are enrolled, a parent decides for a child, and no photo is kept.PAYINGPrepaid walletEach customer has a food wallet. It is topped up at the counter or in the office, in Growth also online, and spent at every counter by scanning the card. Every change is an entry that is never edited, only reversed, and a low balance raises an alert.PAYINGSpending limits, blocked items and allergy alertsSet a daily and a weekly spending limit for a customer, and block items or categories they must not buy. The counter shows a red alert for their allergies and diet. Parents set limits for their children on the portal or in the app.PORTAL AND APPSSmartMy Feast app for dinersThe SmartMy Feast app for iPhone and Android holds the diner's QR card for the counter. It also has today's meals to answer, two weeks of menus, the wallet, bookings with their slips, meal plans and history. Parents switch between their children.
See it with your own menu.
Tell us how many outlets you run and how people pay today. We will show you a day in your mess or canteen on SmartMy Feast.