In Shawarmery's new branch in Munich, four screens hang above the counter in portrait mode. I set them up this summer: a dedicated app on the Samsung displays, a server in a cupboard and a dashboard where the restaurant decides what runs when.
Anyone who orders there waits a few minutes for their dürüm. Almost everyone spends that time looking at their phone. I couldn't stop wondering how those minutes could be spent with the place itself instead of some random feed.
There is already a first attempt. The dashboard can show a QR code that leads to Kingsley Run, a small game for the phone. It works, but everyone plays on their own. The big screen knows nothing about it.
The round runs on the screen
The Live Arena turns this around. The game runs on one of the menu boards, and everyone in the restaurant sees the same round. Sometimes something is hidden in the grid, sometimes you have to count how often something appears, sometimes you have to find a person again.
You join with the QR code: scan, type a nickname, done. No account, no app. Anyone who gets it right sees their name on the big screen a few seconds later.
On the phone you see the same grid and simply tap the square where you think the thing is.
The same round on TikTok
It really comes alive when the restaurant goes live at the same time. Then exactly this round also runs in the TikTok Live. Anyone watching from home writes their answer in the chat, for example "C4", and lands with their profile picture on the same leaderboard as the guests at the counter. Following the restaurant earns ten bonus points, sharing the Live earns five.
What a restaurant gets out of it
- The wait feels shorter. Not really, but it feels that way. Anyone playing doesn't look at the clock, and anyone who only just lost wants one more round.
- A reason to follow the restaurant. A weekly leaderboard with a small prize, such as a free dürüm for the winner, brings people back.
- A Live that fills itself. Nobody has to edit a video or come up with a programme. The game is the programme, and the guests play along.
What you need to know
You don't need new screens. The arena is a web page, and the Samsung displays open it in their built-in browser.
One thing I had to learn the hard way: a Live with nothing but a game running, no sound and no people on screen, got blocked by TikTok after a short while. That's why the arena now has sound and, if you like, a small camera picture. I wrote up how my first test went in a separate article.
Try it out
The arena runs on my site: kingsley-ym.de/live. How it can look in a restaurant is shown on the page about the Live Arena for restaurants.
