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Safe restaurant reopening technology

Since the spread of COVID-19 started in Denmark, the Danish government has closed all restaurants, bars and other business areas. In order to comply with the back-to-business policies of the government, Arkaden Food Hall, a popular food court located in Odense, needs to limit the number of guests within a specific area – 308 people in their case.

Being responsible for their customers and staff, the Food Hall deployed the People Counting and Flow Control Solution from Dahua Technology, to ensure a smooth and safe reopening after the pandemic.

With 14 food stalls and two bars, the Food Hall has two entrances. The people count from these two entrances needs to be combined and displayed on screens to determine if there is any more room for customers to enter or whether they will have to temporarily wait at the door.

The solution

The solution consists of:

• 2 entrances with 5-series IR bullet AI network cameras.

• 2 DPB18-AI media players.

• 2 DHL32-F600 monitors.

• 1 DSS Pro licence for 64 channels and the BI module.

The Dahua AI-powered people counting camera can automatically and accurately calculate the real-time number of people entering the area, avoiding congestion and helping to mitigate the spread of the pandemic.

The DSS PRO platform with People Counting and Flow Control, together with monitors and the DPB18A helps send different videos/pictures and editable content for guests to see. When the number of guests exceeds the set value, the platform and monitors will notify and display 'the limit is reached' on the digital signage at the entrance of the food hall, reminding incoming customers to wait at the door. In addition, the people counting cameras are simple and easy to install, which allows the installer to complete the entire project in just one day.

“The People Counting solution has given us statistics and data about the behaviour of our customers, which saves us a lot of resources since we do not have to physically count the number of customers at the door. Furthermore, we can provide them with important information at the entrance using the monitors. There seem to be lots of innovative solutions out there that we would be more than happy to try out since we feel this will benefit us to be smarter and more efficient in many ways,” said Sanne Brigsted, business development manager of the Food Hall.

Benefits achieved

Faced with the impact of COVID-19, the Dahua People Counting and Flow Control solutions enhance the safety level and competitiveness of business establishments like Arkaden Food Hall, while creating a comfortable dining environment for their guests. Most importantly, they have helped the location to successfully achieve its primary task of reopening its food hall by allowing an operator to monitor the customer traffic in real-time so that timely security measures can be taken before the place becomes packed with customers.

With this smart system, no additional employees are needed to count customers manually at the door, which can significantly reduce labour costs and improve restaurant management efficiency. Moreover, its monitor can serve as a notice board to inform customers or as a multi-purpose advertising screen with event marketing and planning based on the DSS Pro’s intelligent data analysis, providing a platform with huge expansion potential and creating business opportunities for the restaurant.

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