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Executives at MenuPad, a Tampa-based firm that infuses iPad and related tablet technology into restaurant menus, have been unusually patient for the last three years.
After all, the interactive menu firm's only client since late 2010 has been Carmel Cafe, a chain of six Mediterranean cuisine eateries. The patience partially stems from the firm's chairman, Outback Steakhouse co-founder Chris Sullivan, who can afford to take his time on a project after an ultra-successful 40 years in hospitality. “We are a better company for being able to work with Carmel Cafe,” MenuPad CEO Vic Lafita says. “We've seen the ups and downs with the technology and we've been able to improve the applications.”
But now Lafita says the firm's slow stroll is about to take on a much greater sense of urgency. In late March, for example, the firm announced six new clients that have dozens of locations in Florida and Charlotte, N.C. The firm's payroll is also up significantly, from three employees last June to around 20 today. “There's a ton of momentum building for us now,” Lafita tells Coffee Talk. “I think you will see big things from MenuPad this year and in 2015.”
New clients include Bethesda, Md.-based HMS Host, which now offers an iPad-enabled ordering system at the Chili's Bar & Grill it operates in Terminal F at Tampa International Airport. A second new client, Tampa-based Ciccio Restaurant Group, plans to utilize a MenuPad kiosk option for its customers. Other restaurant chains new to MenuPad include Lee Roy Selmon's and Miguel's in Tampa and Blackfinn Ameripub in downtown Charlotte.
Lafita says one competitive advantage for MenuPad is its technology is flexible and can work with a wide variety of point of sale systems. “I think our product can work anywhere,” says Lafita, who joined MenuPad last summer after 25 years with Kraft Foodservice. “This is where this business is headed.”
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