EyeCatch turns POS data into live menus

Executive Tension: The High Cost of Static Data in Fast-Casual Dining

In the fast-casual restaurant sector, operational agility directly dictates profitability. For high-demand culinary brands like Happy Place Homemade, rapid daily success brings a unique operational bottleneck: high-volume sales mean popular items frequently sell out before the business day ends.

When digital menu boards operate independently of the kitchen's inventory, a critical point of friction is created at the ordering counter. Customers spend time waiting in line, make a definitive dining decision, and are only informed at the point of sale that their choice is unavailable. This gap in communication damages the customer experience, frustrates staff, and slows down order throughput during peak hours.

To eliminate this friction, Happy Place Homemade partnered with digital signage integrators EyeCatch Networks. The objective was ambitious: transform their digital menu boards from static display screens into a live, reactive ecosystem. They needed their Point of Sale (POS) system to act as the absolute "Source of Truth" — automatically updating prices, launching real-time flash promotions for slower-moving stock, and instantly marking sold-out items across all screens without manual human intervention.

To bridge the gap between financial transaction software and front-of-house visual media, EyeCatch Networks turned to the advanced integration capabilities of OnSign.

The Real Issues: Legacy Content Lag and Pricing Gridlock

Before EyeCatch Networks deployed the integrated OnSign solution, Happy Place Homemade was constrained by rigid legacy content management workflows:

• The Production Tax: Any price modification or menu change required a minimum two-week lead time. The client had to contract an external content production agency to manually edit video files, re-render the media, and manually re-upload them to the screens.

• Wasted Sunk Capital: Because changes were expensive and slow, the restaurant could not respond to daily market fluctuations, commodity cost changes, or ingredient availability in real time.

• Friction at the Counter: The inability to instantly flag "sold-out" items created operational drag, longer queue lines, and order-taker fatigue as staff continuously apologized for outdated menu displays.

• The Omnichannel Disconnect: Ensuring that the indoor menus perfectly matched the outdoor drive-thru menus required separate, fragmented updates, increasing the risk of compliance errors and mismatched pricing.

How We Worked: Turning the POS into the Visual Source of Truth

EyeCatch Networks approached the project with advanced menu engineering, structuring the digital layouts to balance high-impact "wow-factor" visual animations with highly flexible, data-driven text zones.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

|                       TOAST POS SYSTEM (Cloud)                        |

|                                  │                                    |

|                                  ▼ (Real-Time JSON API Feed)          |

|                       ONSIGN DATA FEED CMS                         |

|                                  │                                    |

|         ┌────────────────────────┐        

|         ▼                                                 ▼           |

|  [Indoor Menu Composition]                     [Drive-Thru Composition] |

|  Player using OnSign (Inside Store)                 Player using OnSign (Outdoor)  |

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

Breaking MP4s into Dynamic OnSign Compositions

Instead of relying on flat, un-editable video files (MP4s), EyeCatch Networks utilized the OnSign Composition Tool. They layered the cinematic background elements while converting the item names, descriptions, and prices into live text boxes.

The Toast POS API to JSON Bridge

To automate the data, EyeCatch Networks leveraged the OnSign Data Feed Tool.

1. They connected the OnSign Data Feed directly to a JSON URL generated by Happy Place Homemade's Toast POS API.

2. Each text and pricing box in the OnSign menu composition was mapped directly to a corresponding data field inside the Toast system.

3. The moment a manager updated a price or checked an item as "out of stock" on the Toast POS terminal, the data was securely pushed to the cloud.

Omnichannel Campaign Deployment

Using OnSign’s Campaign Feature, specific menu compositions were targeted to their respective displays. EyeCatch Networks linked both the indoor digital menu boards and the outdoor drive-thru menu boards to the exact same data feed channel. This unified the entire property; a single update on the POS instantly refreshed every screen inside and outside the building simultaneously.

Hardware Infrastructure & Verification

The on-premise hardware was engineered by EyeCatch Networks to be robust and highly reliable. It utilized two commercial-grade media players:

• Player 1: Dedicated to driving the high-visibility indoor menu network.

• Player 2: Weatherized and optimized to feed the outdoor drive-thru enclosures.

  
  

To maintain peace of mind, the client utilizes OnSign’s Remote View feature. From any smartphone or laptop, management can visually audit the screens in real time, confirming that promotions, pricing, and sold-out flags are rendering flawlessly on the floor.

Evidence of Movement: Instant Agility and Increased Margin Control

By replacing static video content with an intelligent, API-driven OnSign ecosystem, EyeCatch Networks successfully eliminated the administrative overhead of menu management.

The Ultimate Outcome

Updates that previously drained weeks of planning and external budget are now completed in less than a minute. Happy Place Homemade now possesses total operational flexibility: if a product is underperforming in the afternoon, managers can immediately push a promotional discount via the POS to clear inventory before closing. Conversely, if an item sells out, it disappears from the screen instantly, guiding customers to available choices before they ever reach the register.

Through this deployment, EyeCatch Networks has solidified a position of deep trust with the client. By utilizing OnSign to turn the POS into a single source of truth, they have transformed digital signage from a static cost center into a dynamic, margin-optimizing sales tool.