In my current job at Circolo, I am working on a integrated experience to bring interactive menu and promotional display to the hospitality industry including restaurants and hotels. Codenamed “Remy”, the project I am leading involves several parts including frontend, backend, and AI integration.
I built a frontend management system using React and Next.js that allows clients to easily control their data on the platform. Things such as adding, removing, editing menu items, changing images of menu items, or changing design of the menu becomes effortless. The website also utilizes progressive web app technology so that users can have a seamless experience on the go on their phones and portable devices.
For first-time users that are bringing their menus to the platform, I made an AI tool that helps automate the process. Users can scan or take a photo of their existing physical menu. The input is analyzed using computer vision and artificial intelligence, and with little to no manual intervention, their menu would be digitized and ready to go on our platform.
Finally, Remy introduced an offline-capable renderer system that is used as preview on the client-facing management portal as well as our in-house interactive display stands. This system makes sure that what the client sees as they edit is what they get on the actual device. A major difficulty when realizing this system is how to make sure it fully functions without Internet connection, as the display stand may not have Internet access in production, but I was able to get around these challenges by building a custom caching solution that makes sure all dependent images, fonts, and scripts can be downloaded by the device in one go.