Visited The Providore with JW for the first time. Pleasantly surprised to find they have 2-hour free flow wine. The bottles are displayed in an array of 8 mini fridges, each with 4 bottles. So we have 32 wines to choose from!
Self-serve wine buffet
"So how do they monitor our consumption?" I wondered aloud. First we have to order the free-flow set using their confusing QR code ordering site. I have to mention this, because I'm trying to build a dead-simple QR code ordering app for small shops. Every time I get annoyed by someone else's app I take notes.
We also want plain fries to go with our wine. But the menu only has loaded fries with something-something. That's one downside of contactless ordering, there's no space for customisation. Fortunately we are able to request our plain fries from the waitstaff*. This is a small win, because some rigid places will tell you "Whatever we have is in the menu", with zero room for special requests. It also boils down to how management trains their staff, and how much autonomy they give them to make decisions like these. Sorry, Restaurant Boss me is ranting again.
Where was I?
*We ended up ordering another basket of plain fries later on! This is how you win, restaurants. Take heed.
After ordering and paying through their clunky app, a smiley waitstaff appears at the table with paper wristbands. The rest is easy. Scan the wristband > select wine > selected wine's button lights up > press the button > spout pours out a perfect 90mL into your glass. There's also an option for a 30mL "tasting portion".
Paper wristband
Initially I thought the band is QR coded. But when I got home and peeled the sticker at the back, I realised it's got some circuitry. Or whatever you call it; I'm not a hardware guy. (Update: it's called RFID)
RFID chip on the flip side of the paper wristband
Tech is great! But also halfway through our night, all the dispensers stopped working 😂
Each mini fridge's display screen had to be manually rebooted, one at at time. So the staff did manual pour in the meantime. That's when I noticed the mini fridges aren't even locked! Could've helped myself to anything I wanted (jk). But no one did that. My Dad would say, "This is what it's like to live in a high trust society".
I loved catching up with JW. He leaves his job of 10+ years next year and we talked about his future plans. I may or may not be involved in some of these plans, but we'll see. I'd love to be able to help him out in Thailand and start my slowmad life.
