Restaurant Weeks: Tech To Play Important Role

[Updated with video] While Bermuda-inspired cuisine will have a starring role in the 2015 Restaurant Weeks, technology is playing an increasingly important supporting role, thanks to a Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] partnership with Table.bm.

Table.bm has significantly enhanced its automated restaurant reservations system which allows third parties – hotel concierge staff and business secretaries, for example – to make reservations on behalf of guests and business people 24-7.

Just in time for Restaurant Weeks 2015 the public is being introduced to TARA [Table Automated Reservations Assistant], a computer generated persona which allows Table.bm to contact, by telephone, all restaurants, even those not registered with the service. If TARA recognizes that she cannot e-mail a particular establishment, she places a call to the main listed telephone number instead.

“This is TARA from Table.bm, are you willing to take a reservation?” she asks the person answering the telephone. The person at the restaurant answers “yes” or “no” and assuming an affirmative response TARA proceeds to give the name [spelling it if requested], the time and number of people for the request. The restaurant can then confirm or decline the request and the task is completed. The reservation status is transmitted to the originator via e-mail and logged on the Table.bm webpage for the particular restaurant.

TARA will keep trying if there is no answer to her phone call.

Operation is easy, quick and delivered at no cost to either party as a service from Gateway Systems Limited, a leader in local hospitality and business information and communications technology.

Update: 17-minute video of the full Restaurant Weeks launch event today

Table.bm is also featuring Restaurant Weeks 2015 on its homepage as a way to drive usage of its technology during the culinary promotion. Meantime, in local restaurants diners are encouraged to visit Table.bm to vote for the Restaurant Weeks People’s Choice Award.

Tashae Thompson, BTA’s chief organiser of Restaurant Weeks, said: “Restaurant Weeks is one way we are working to enhance the culinary experience on behalf of visitors and locals while also growing the culinary economy on behalf of our restaurant stakeholders.

“When Gateway Systems told us they shared these exact same goals it was very easy to form this partnership. We are excited about the technological advances Table.bm has brought to Restaurant Weeks.”

Also during Restaurant Weeks 2015 an app new to the Bermuda market will debut, giving diners an exciting user experience on their smartphone or tablet.

Restaurants signed up for the service can send messages about special events, new dishes or wines or even a copy of a menu to any mobile device user who has downloaded the application. Android, Windows and iOS devices will be supported, but currently it is available and being tested on Android.

“We are delighted to participate in 2015 Restaurant Weeks and showcase our new services from Table.bm” said Kevin Luckham, chief architect of Table.bm and director of Gateway’s Software Development Team. “

We needed to become familiar with the latest technology and show the use of Microsoft Azure at a recent launch of the ‘Microsoft Cloud’ in Bermuda, so it made sense to come up with a practical application that could benefit the hospitality industry, one of our clients. We have more exciting enhancement ideas on the horizon.”

The fourth annual Restaurant Weeks, which begins tomorrow [January 15], is the first under the BTA, and the biggest yet with 44 participating restaurants. It is expected to be the most technologically advanced thus far as well.

The specially priced menus feature fare from the following establishments:

$29 Prix Fixe

• Café Amici
• Docksider Pub & Restaurant
• Flanagan’s Irish Pub & Outback
• Frog & Onion
• Hog Penny
• Jasmine Lounge
• La Trattoria
• Palm Court
• Pickled Onion
• Portofino
• The Swizzle Inn
• Victoria Grill
• White Horse

$39 Prix Fixe

• Angelo’s Bistro
• Bacci
• Bistro J
• Bone Fish Bar & Grill
• Bouchee
• Chopsticks Fusion
• L’Oriental
• Little Venice
• Lobster Pot Restaurant
• Muse
• Port O’Call
• Rosa’s Cantina Restaurant
• Soccer & Friends
• Sul Verde
• The Newport, A Gastropub
• Wahoo’s Bistro & Patio

$49 Prix Fixe

• Ascots
• Barracuda Grill
• Beau Rivage
• Bella Vista Bar & Grill
• Café CoCo
• Café Lido
• Fourways Inn
• Harbourfront
• Harry’s at the Waterfront
• The Hibiscus
• Red Steakhouse
• The Point Restaurant
• The Waterlot Inn

#Cuisine

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