Gallery highlighted three new applications that he believes will deliver on this promise. All are designed to elevate customer experiences. They include quality control apps on tablets for customers; service apps for QR checklists and a new client portal for interactive management of projects.

The Quality Control application (QC app) has been in development since early 2016.

“We tested the QC app in the third quarter of 2016 and will be launching it at NAFEM (North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers) in February,” said Gallery. “This will provide complete transparency to the quality control process that each and every Gallery cart delivers.”

Health code compliance, grill quality and lighting will all be addressed through the new app. “Quality is a given in our business; you have to deliver a product that works and works well,” he said. “The QC app will actively identify any potential issues the cart has when it’s in the field.”

Gallery’s new service application will launch in the second quarter of 2017. It will significantly reduce the time from reporting an issue to resolving the issue. Installed on each cart will be a QR code that can be scanned and will include the cart serial number, databases, parts and the ability to track where each cart is located. The scan will also bring up a web page that will allow the customer to submit a service ticket to Gallery.

“We pride ourselves on delivering a white-glove service to our customers and if one of our carts fails, we want to get the customer help as soon as possible,” said Gallery. “The service app will do just that. We can then deploy a service technician in a few hours to fix the cart. Without the new app, it can take up to 48 hours to get the right technician to the venue.”

The client portal app will list out all of the jobs and projects that are being, or have been, worked on with each client. Drawings, art, warranty information and real-time status of undelivered products will all be on the client portal. The portal will have very specific milestones of a cart’s production.

One of Gallery’s clients is US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis. “We delivered 160 units to that facility,” he said. “We want to give the US Bank Stadium managers the opportunity to focus on the venue and not worry about the carts. The new apps will allow us to proactively manage the carts and not have the US Bank Stadium operators having to reactively deal with the carts.”

Most of Gallery’s carts are custom made.

“We have a few models that are ready to go for a client that needs one immediately, but for most customers, we try to align the cart to their specific needs,” he said. “We take into account the food menu and how the cart should flow operationally.”

A custom cart normally takes four to six weeks to build. More advanced designs can take up to three months or longer. “We designed the carts for the new Rogers Place in Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) and those were very specific and took almost six months,” said Gallery.

“We went through a public procurement process for the food and beverage carts before we opened the new building and awarded Carts of Colorado the contract,” Dan Wowrk, senior director, Icon Venue Group, who was in charge of procurement process at new venue Rogers Place, Edmonton. “We started working with them in February, went through a two to three month design process and received our carts in August before we opened. They hit all their major time frames and they were especially good at turning around redesign issues.”

Wowrk praised the approach that Carts of Colorado took. “The one thing that stood out is that they didn’t just sell us canned cart models,” he said. “They tweaked the designs to the curvature of our building. There are no straight walls here and Carts of Colorado got that and ran with it. They worked well with our food operator, Aramark, and we are really happy with the product.”

Cart prices can range anywhere from $3,000-$4,000 for a condiment cart to $100,000 for a modular bar like the carts delivered to US Bank Stadium.

Gallery is also launching a new cart product at NAFEM this year called the “Fresh & Fast Cocktail Cart” that highlights how Gallery is moving toward being a 21st century business.

“The cart is very visually appealing and set up to increase the speed of service for the food and beverage managers,” he said. “No one likes to wait in line for a cocktail or beer, so speed of service is important.”

The way the cart works is that cocktails are premixed and ready to run through taps, like beer taps, instead of the traditional bartender mixing each drink on demand.

“It’s a draft-cocktail model that allows the operator to premix the cocktails and pour it like a beer,” he said. “The quality is also better as there are no variables.” The cart can accommodate anywhere from two to eight taps.

In addition to new technologies, Gallery will be introducing more portables for franchises & name brands; new construction methods to reduce costs & lead times, and new products that will improve cart design for their customers.

“We’re trying to bring what people want to where people are,” he said. “We want to bring our company up to the standard of the large venues.”

Interviewed for this story: Dan Gallery, (303) 618-3571; Dan Wowrk, (780) 945-0322

by Brad Weissberg, Published: January 4, 2017 on venuestoday.com