• As sanitisation becomes a priority following the COVID-19 crisis, paper and plastic restaurant menus could pose a health risk for diners, with bacteria counts as high as 185,000 per square centimetre (far more than a toilet seat).
• New menu app, MasterTAAG, enables diners to access the menu from their smartphones by scanning a QR code, and avoid touching a printed menu.
• While restaurants prepare to re-open, MasterTAAG is being offered free of charge until mid 2021, to speed up ordering, reduce reliance on printed menus and help minimise virus spread.

MasterTAAG, an IoT solution created by entrepreneur David Navaro Vera, enables restaurant patrons to access digital menus in multiple languages from their smartphone.

Already live in Shoko restaurant in Barcelona and the Pig’n Whistle in LA (prior to the lockdown), the solution allows patrons to use their own mobile phones to browse and select their order, rather than touch printed menus that are shared amongst other customers, by scanning the QR code at their table.

As restaurants review their dining strategies in anticipation of opening after the lockdown, MasterTAAG offers a solution to ensure restaurants can offer a high level of sanitisation by reducing their reliance on printed menus, which are typically a breeding ground for bacteria.

Aimed at supporting the hospitality industry by helping restaurants, in particular local independents, sanitise, simplify and speed up their food ordering process, the app is being offered free of charge until mid 2021.

MasterTAAG also provides restaurants with a digital portal including features such as social media, promotions, auto-translation and a photo menu.

“Despite global lockdown measures beginning to ease, the hospitality industry is still under huge threat, with many small businesses closing and jobs being lost. Restaurants, especially independents, are particularly at risk,” said David Navaro Vera, Founder & CEO at MasterTAAG.

“As local, independent restaurants underpin our culture, we must do everything we can to protect them. By providing these businesses with access to MasterTAAG free of charge until mid 2021, we want to give them every opportunity to survive and thrive, by reducing their reliance on printed menus to help minimise the spread of the virus – and more generally, improve overall menu hygiene ongoing.”