Project Description

The Electronic Drink Machine Corporation or EDM has developed an innovated new way for restaurant and club owners to maintain maximum productivity of their liquor sales without sacrificing profit or service to accomplish this.

Lack of bartender accountability allows inconsistent drink creation through carelessness and theft, subsequently causing loss of profit to bar and club owners and loss of customer satisfaction. It is in its ability to counter these problems that the significance of the product is revealed. EDM has utilized the latest in technology to bring club owners this new option for club profit control. The technical break down is in three areas. First the database design, second the integrated pos system, third the user interface. The next most important area is the delivery system. It can be broken down to three parts as well, storage and pumping, delivery, and dispensing. These technological innovations, coupled with its look and ease of use make the EDM a must for club owners interested in maximizing profits while limiting waste and theft.

The EDM will utilize an online updateable database. The user will pay for the subscription service, much like an antivirus service, and receive the latest drink updates from across the country. The updates will also be able to be further broken down into the most popular drinks served at other bars, and by type of drink (i.e. cocktail, shooter, etc.). The database will also be loaded with all the "known" drinks at implementation. The database will be able to be searched by liquor type, or drink name. It will provide the bartender with a drink description to account for the various names one drink may have, and the fact the same name may be two drinks. If the bartender is unsure of the drink and the customer knows the ingredients, a screen will allow the bartender to enter the drink and its ingredients into the system. The database will provide the bartender with a list of the most ordered drinks of the night as well as a list of the most popular drinks. These features will help to expedite the ordering portion of EDM. Once a drink is ordered the database will be searched for the drink and once found the EDM drink software will control the valve system delivering accurate drink measurement every time. At the same time the drink is being searched the database is updating the bartenders account. This means of the bartender sold a certain dollar amount at the end of the night his register should reflect the same value. This is one of the most important ways EDM maintains the accountability of the bar staff.

The Point Of Sale system or POS is responsible for maintaining a variety of statistics for the restaurant or club. In our case the POS will keep accurate tabs on food sold, and utilizing the database it will keep records on drinks sold, most popular drinks, and busiest hour. The integration of a POS into our system helps the club owner centralize their technical support. The POS allows for a seamless integration into the food service portions of the club, without jeopardizing EDM's most important function, accurate drink creation with accountability.

The user interface provides a fast intuitive way for bartenders to access the system. Initially the screen offers the bartender several options. The most frequently used will be the liquor choice tabs. This offers the bartender a fast way to access a drink based on the main liquor ingredient. Also if a customer is interested in types of drinks made with certain liquor, once again this feature will be most helpful. Another very useful tab that will be available to the bartender will be the most popular drink. This tab will contain the 10 most popular drinks of the night. Since drinks tend to repeat them selves, and patrons tend to go to the same bartender, this tab will cut time significantly.

Drinks can be ordered by name, this feature would also give a list of similar drinks so the customer can have there drink the way they are used to having it. This feature takes into account drinks can have many different variations. A "custom" tab will offer the bartender the ability to manually enter a new drink. The manual drinks can be reviewed at the end of the night for validity. This could also be utilized when a customer orders a drink by name but the ingredients are slightly different than they are used to, a version could be added to the end of the drink, so when the drink is ordered again in the future the most popular version will be on top, but the other versions will be present also. The user interface is several layers deep but each layer is simple and intuitive so there will be no lengthy searching on any one page.

A clubs layout will determine exactly how our system will be implemented. However there are three parts that will be present everywhere and constitute our basic system storage and pumping, delivery, and dispensing. Exactly how these three are implemented, again, is a function of location.

The system needs a place to store the liquor; and the liquor needs to be maintained at one constant pressure. We will use micro-pumps that have built in pressure stabilizing technology. This means regardless of how much liquor is being removed or from how many different stations it is being pulled from, the pressure will be constant. This is necessary for the dispenser to release the proper amount of liquor. The storage room could be anywhere on site that is already utilized for that purpose, or EDM could take an onsite tour to see how best to implement the storing of liquor.

Delivery will be accomplished through a series of tube that end at a valve matrix. The tubes will always have liquor except at the end of the night when they will be emptied for cleaning. The tubes will connect to the bottles through a collar apparatus that will connect to the pumps. When it comes time for cleaning the tubes will be connected to a cleaning solution. And the pumps will be turned on again and the fluid will be cycled through the system.

Dispensing will be managed by the drink software but mechanically carried out by a valve array. This array will maintain an appropriate number of valves for the amount of liquors used by the club. When a drink requires certain liquor, the valve will be opened and that liquor dispensed. The same scenario is applied to the mixers for the drinks. The valves will be connected to the database system, which will control the valve dispensing software.