Case Study: Statue of Liberty Crown Café

Samsung Digital Menu Boards Powered by MagicInfo Breathe New Life into Landmark Café

Customer NeedAfter Superstorm Sandy, the Statue ofLiberty was closed for eight months torepair damage to the island’s facilities.The closure became an opportunityfor Evelyn Hill Inc., the food andretail services concessionaire at theNational Park, to implement a plannedredesign to the popular Crown Café.As part of the renovation, EvelynHill sought to utilize the latest digitalsignage technology to present cafémenus and promotions in a dynamic,attractive and cost-effective manner.

Samsung SolutionWorking with leading integrator VideoSonic Systems, Evelyn Hill selected Samsung Smart Signage displays to power the Crown Café’s menu boards and to engage guests waiting in line. The Samsung Smart Signage displays – featuring an embedded system-on-chip media player and MagicInfo software – provided an integrated, easy-to-manage digital signage solution that lets staff directly adjust content and schedule updates throughout the day.

ResultsServing more than 600 guests anhour, the Crown Café has seen animprovement in service flow withthe vibrant digital menu boards. The displays in the queue have also helped to lessen guests’ perceived waittime. Most significantly, the Samsungdisplays eliminated the need foran external media player to deliver content, helping to reduce the cost of deployment and maintenance, as wellas energy consumption.

Overview

When Superstorm Sandy madelandfall in October, 2012, Liberty Island was hit hard, with the storm surge flooding 75 percent of its 12 acres. While the Statue of Liberty itself survived the storm unharmed,many of the facilities that supportedthe iconic attraction took a heavybeating, resulting in the closure ofthe island to visitors for more thaneight months.

For Evelyn Hill Inc., the official foodand retail concessionaire for LibertyIsland and several other NationalPark Service monuments, theclosure was devastating. “The eightmonths that the Statue of Libertywas closed was a tough time forus all,” said Brad Hill, president ofEvelyn Hill.

Hill is the third generation of hisfamily to lead Evelyn Hill Inc., whichhas been serving visitors to theStatue of Liberty for more than 80years. The company operates theStatue of Liberty Crown Café andthe Liberty Gift Pavilion, as wellas another café and gift shop onneighboring Ellis Island.

While the lengthy closure of theStatue of Liberty hurt EvelynHill financially, it did provide thecompany the opportunity to moveahead with a planned redesign ofthe popular Crown Café. “On thepositive side, it allowed us to dothe renovation without interferingwith visitors,” Hill says. “We werevery excited to create a new,contemporary environment.”

Evelyn Hill has a long heritageof innovation, priding itself onintroducing new technologies anddesign improvements as part of theregular renovations carried out at itsfacilities. In particular, the companyhas been an early adopter of digitalsignage, first installing flat-paneldisplays at one of the cafes wayback in 2004, and later integratingdynamic video walls when theLiberty Gift Pavilion was constructedin 2010.

“When we partnered with EvelynHill to install those first digital signs,each display needed a dedicatedPC to serve the content,” recalls

Glenn Polly, president and CEOof VideoSonic Systems, a leadingNew York-based provider of audiovisual systems that implementedthe project. “By 2010, technologyhad evolved so we were able to useSamsung LCD displays with contentrun off internal media players.”

So, when Evelyn Hill approachedVideoSonic to discuss the AVoutfitting for the renovated CrownCafé post-Superstorm Sandy, Pollyknew that they would be lookingto push boundaries and furtherstreamline their digital signage.

The Crown Café menu boards anddigital signage would need to bevibrant, slim and elegant, to fit withthe modern interior of the renovatedcafé. They had to be energy-efficientto conform with Evelyn Hill’sstrong emphasis on environmentalsustainability. And, lastly, theyneeded to be streamlined, easyto manage and to enable smarter,automated content updates.

The Customer Need:Dynamic Menu Boards and Displays with Easy Management of Content

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Evelyn Hill Inc. selected Samsung’s40-inch Smart Signage displays for its digital menu boards at the renovated Crown Café on Liberty Island. A total of 10 displays were installedabove the nearly 50-foot span ofthe service counter, providing adynamic, attractive and modern look.Additionally, the café featured three40-inch displays at the entrance whilea number of 22-inch Samsung displays were installed in portrait format on pillars along the queuing line, displaying promotional menu items interspersed with fun factsand trivia about the Statue of Libertyto keep guests engaged.

Aesthetically, the Smart Signage displays provide bright, full HD images,with their narrow bezels and thinprofile accentuating the appearancethat the menu boards are floatingabove the counter. Utilizing energy-efficient LED-direct-lit technology, theyare more affordable to deploy andcontribute to lower ongoing operatingcosts. In fact, LED-lit LCD displaysconsume an average of 40 percentless power than traditional LCD panelswith cold-cathode florescent lamp(CCFL) backlights.

Most important, however, the displays feature the Samsung SmartSignage Platform, an integratedsolution built around an embeddedsystem-on-chip media player thatresides directly on the display’scircuitry board. The system-on-chip,which combines a CPU, a full codec video processor, and between 4GB

and 8GB of storage depending on the model, eliminates the need for a PC or external media player to serve content.

As Polly of VideoSonic explains, thisnot only reduces hardware costs butalso results in savings in installationand provides a cleaner design. Otheradvantages of the system-on-chipmedia player include less maintenanceand display downtime due to fewerpotential points of failure, and reducedpower consumption.

The Smart Signage displays also comes preloaded with Samsung’s MagicInfo software, a management tool which that enables any non-professional user to schedule, play and update display content simply and conveniently.

“MagicInfo is very powerful,” saysPolly. “It’s user-friendly and easy tograsp. It delivers dynamic contentthat can change depending on timeof day and guest traffic. It can beprogrammed ahead of time, andmanaged from anywhere.”

According to Hill, the overall valuepackage of the Samsung SmartSignage displays with MagicInfomeant the choice was obvious. “Ihave been to tradeshows to see thedisplays from a number of differentmanufacturers,” he said. “I’m veryimpressed with Samsung product –it is high quality, easy to use andthe service has been excellentover the years.”

The Solution:Smart Signage Displays Featuring Embedded Media Player and Easy Content Management

Ultra-thin bezels for virtually seamless videowalls. Achieve UHD resolution when you daisy chain multiple displays through Display Port 1.2.

VIDEOWALL DISPLAYS

SMART SIGNAGE DISPLAYS

Broad portfolio of smart commercial displays from 10” to 105”, featuring energy efficient LED backlighting technology.

SAMSUNG COMMERCIAL DISPLAY PORTFOLIO

High Definition displays featuring Samsung’s system-on-chip processor, eliminating need for external media player. Select models feature built-in Wi-Fi.

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© 2016 Samsung Electronics America, Inc. All rights reserved. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. All products, logos and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Screen images simulated. This case study is for informational purposes only. Samsung makes no warranties, express or implied, in this case study.

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The Results:Easy Installation, Lower TCO and New CapabilitiesWhen the first ferry boats arrived at theLiberty Island around 9 a.m. on July 4,2013 following its eight month closure,the Statue of Liberty Crown Caféwas ready to serve guests in a newlyrenovated, contemporary environmentfeaturing its streamlined new digitalmenu boards.

According to Polly, installation of theSamsung Smart Signage displays was as “quick, easy and straightforward” since – without an external media player – the only cables required are power and Internet. “For the most part, with the Smart Signage displays, everything comes in the box,” he explains. “There’s nothing else you need to buy.”

For Evelyn Hill, the Samsung Smartdisplays have provided a streamlined and cost-effective digital signage solution, representing a significant evolution from earliest displays it deployed with PCs in 2004.

The digital menu boards are operatingseamlessly and provide a dynamic,customer-friendly ordering experience.The café serves more than 600 guestsan hour and the menu boards haveimproved the service flow. In addition,the displays on the café queuefeaturing menu items and Statue ofLiberty facts and figures have helped toreduce the guests’ perceived wait time.“The response to the new technologythat Samsung has brought to CrownCafé is terrific,” says Hill.

The Samsung MagicInfo contentmanagement software has alsoallowed Hill to add “AV Manager” tothe many hats he wears, updating

content from his PC and sending it outinstantly to all the displays. “Havingthe embedded media player is perfectfor our type of operation. We’re a caféwith a consistent menu and we wantto provide the information to guestswithout a problem,” he says.

“MagicInfo is made for the everydayperson to use. It is really simple to learnand execute – upload, add to playlist,schedule and you’re done.”

The Crown Cafe is taking fulladvantage of MagicInfo’s “day-parting”capabilities. Hill is able to scheduleautomatic updates to promote specificmenu items throughout the day andhave the displays power down on timeat the end of the day. Plans are alsounder way for additional, dynamiccontent for the displays, includingemployee-focused messages beforethe café opens, and information forguests on the organic foods the caféoffers, on nutrition and on Evelyn HillInc.’s environmental programs.

“Evelyn Hill and the Statue of LibertyCrown Café are an excellent exampleof how digital signage is becomingsimpler, easier and increasingly cost-effective for businesses of all sizes,”says Kevin Schroll, director of Smart Signage Product Marketing at Samsung. “They have tappedinto the potential of smart digitalsignage to simplify message deliveryand their business.”