Background

Brisbane BBQ Festival is Queensland’s annual gathering for meat lovers and BBQ enthusiasts alike. The festival draws crowds from across the nation to celebrate the art of the barbeque with live music, rodeo, food stalls and a huge multi-team BBQ championships.

Thousands of carnivores join for a weekend of family-friendly fun, with BBQ masterclasses, chilli-eating competitions and kids activities.

Challenge

With a strong focus on offering an abundance of foodie choices, Brisbane BBQ Festival hosts over 60 BBQ teams, dessert stalls, and non BBQ options. Coordinating multiple vendors can be a challenge without a clear and efficient system and they wanted to streamline their operation while offering the best value for their patrons.

The festival covers a large groundspace, so traditionally the vendors positioned on the outskirts were outwith the internet zone. They needed a holistic system that could operate 100% offline.

Solution

Token helped Brisbane BBQ Festival implement a cashless system using RFID cards as the only on-site payment method. Patrons could top up their cards online, or at the on-site top up stations, then use their card to purchase food, drinks and merchandise.

Token’s ability to operate 100% offline meant there was no risk of interruption to sales for vendors positioned far from the WiFi connection, and they could also benefit from the ease of the cashless system.

Results

By logging in to their Token account, the organisers were able to track popularity of each vendor thus providing insights to improve the 2019 festival. This access to accurate live reports, helped them make informed and reactive decisions on crowd control, in turn improving security and safety for all patrons.

The organisers chose to deploy Token RFID cards at no cost to the attendees. Less cash handling meant reduced security and staffing costs, so organisers were able to keep the ticket prices low.

Brisbane BBQ Festival delivered a fantastic event with seamless operational solutions. With faster service times, the queue times were reduced and attendees had more time to enjoy the food and entertainment.