Patrons utilized RFID technology-enabled currency to taste through city’s food sceneIntellitix, the world’s leading RFID solutions company for live events – deployed the industry’s most advanced cashless payment system, IntelliPay at Canada’s first Taste of Toronto culinary event from 24 – 27 July at the Fort York National Historic site. The four-day food and drink extravaganza enabled guests to utilize its official dining currency, ‘Crowns’ loaded onto bespoke radio frequency identification (RFID) enabled Taste cards for use through its restaurants and bars on-site. Using the IntelliPay system, patrons could conveniently load Taste cards pre-event by creating an online account, or throughout the event itself at the top-up stations located across the site. With IntelliPay cashless terminals at each restaurant, patrons were able to simply, securely and quickly transact and taste around the site and keep track of their spending. Taste cards and Crowns were valid throughout the event’s duration; any unspent Crowns will be donated to Canadian registered charity, Second Harvest Food Rescue.Watch the video case study below.[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSfevpavDYc[/embedyt] The world’s greatest restaurant festival featured guest appearances from the city’s most acclaimed chefs and rising stars, interactive cooking classes and demonstrations, live music and entertainment; a selection of tasting dishes from some of the city’s latest and greatest restaurants and the finest local food and beverages were available to purchase. Organised by IMG, Toronto joined 22 other Taste festivals held in leading cities around the world including London, Sydney, Cape Town, Milan, Dubai and Moscow.“Taste festivals are all about creating premium and accessible experiences. Taste of Toronto being the inaugural North American event, we were looking at creating something that was immersive and allowed us to connect with our audience outside of just the four days of the event,” said Justin Clarke, Taste Festivals Managing Director. “Intellitix’ system allowed us to do that, as well as speed up transaction times and ultimately offer our visitors a better experience.”“It’s great to get away from a cash based transaction when you’re in a festival environment,” said Ian Hill, front of house captain, Splendido restaurant, Toronto, and a vendor at Taste. “For us, it takes cash out of the equation and it creates an opportunity to have a relationship with our guests, which is ideal.”Celebrating its first anniversary, the IntelliPay system has proven its reliability, having been embraced by more than 500,000 people to date in 2014 including fans at MysteryLand in New York State and most recently, for more than 75,000 music fans at the Bud Light Digital Dreams Festival held in Toronto last month.“The music sector was the first to implement a fully cashless system, but deploying this kind of unique environment to food and drink festivals such as Taste is simply a natural fit,” added Serge Grimaux, CEO, Intellitix. “IntelliPay dramatically reduces queuing time and enhances the entire patron experience. It’s perfect for an event where the emphasis is on sampling great food and exquisite drinks. We’re immensely proud of its success here in Toronto and look forward to more culinary partnerships.”“Removing cash gives visitors complete control of what they spending, as every transaction can be tracked online,” concluded Mr. Grimaux. “The same is true for the vendors as it enables them to increase efficiency, and ultimately, profits. We see the food, wine and beer field as an exciting new vertical for Intellitix. We’re excited to be working with Taste to introduce the technology at their Toronto event and we are looking forward to continuing to grow this very fruitful relationship.”About Taste Festivals Taste Festivals, an IMG event, is considered the world’s greatest restaurant festival. The festival concept began 10 years ago in London, England, and has rapidly grown into an international event with festivals in 20 cities around the world including Dubai, Amsterdam, Milan, Moscow, Melbourne, Dublin, Mumbai, Sydney, and Johannesburg, to name a few. Everywhere it goes Taste represents a gourmand’s dream come true: delicious food created by the city’s greatest restaurants, world famous chefs, superb drink and outstanding entertainment, set in stunning outdoor surroundings.About IMGIMG is a global leader in sports, fashion and media operating in more than 30 countries around the world. IMG’s businesses include College, Media, IMG Academy, Events and Federations, Golf, Tennis, Fashion, Models, Clients, Consulting, Licensing, Joint Ventures, and creative management agency Art + Commerce. In 2014, IMG was acquired by WME, the world’s leading entertainment and media agency. Together, the companies offer an unparalleled client roster; world-class partnerships with sponsors, brands and broadcasters; and marquee assets across entertainment, events and fashion.About IntellitixIntellitix is the leading global provider of RFID access control, brand activation and cashless payment systems for live events. Since 2011 it has activated over 6 million RFID tags. Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, and with offices also in the UK, Australia and USA, Intellitix technology cuts queues to a minimum and eradicates ticket fraud and unwanted resale. Intellitix proprietary software and fully integrated hardware has proved 100 per cent secure and reliable. The Intellitix platform more closely connects promoters and brands with their audience, and works with any existing ticketing system or partner. In 2014 alone, Intellitix has deployed RFID solutions at festivals including Coachella and Bonnaroo (US), Tomorrowland (Belgium), Slottsfjell (Norway), Festival d’Été Quebec (Canada) and will be deploying its service at the upcoming Ryder Cup in Scotland. Intellitix has worked with many major brands including Ford, Spotify, HTC, Sony, Gazprom, PlayStation, UniCredit, adidas and Red Bull. www.intellitix.com]]>
