Since its opening in 2006, Chef Rob’s Caribbean Café has been a culinary staple in Atlanta’s competitive restaurant landscape. A repeat client of local AV integrator and long-time RTI dealer Todd Magee, owner and CEO of T. Magee Inc., the restaurant was undergoing renovation, making it an ideal time to enhance the guest dining and lounge experience with a fully controlled entertainment system.

To ensure an excellent user experience with thoughtful customization for Executive Chef/Restaurateur Robert Gayle and his staff’s needs, Magee relied on RTI. Besides Magee’s being a loyal dealer, the Shakopee, Minn.-based automation provider’s systems have been deployed in restaurants worldwide and cater to such light commercial/resimercial projects suitable for custom integrators.

Eight TVs were installed throughout the restaurant — four in the main dining area and four behind the bar, each receiving a video stream from a DirecTV receiver along with the option to switch to one of two satellite receivers.

RTI Touchpanel, iPad with RTiPanel App Are Control Hubs

For audio, there are three Electro-Voice main speakers and two Electro-Voice subwoofers in the front as well as two SoundTube ceiling speakers and Ashly Audio KLR-3200 amplifiers in the back.

Magee implemented an RTI XP-6s control processor to tie everything together in a comprehensive ecosystem. For convenient and easy-to-operate controls, he mounted a KA8 8-inch touchpanel into the wall behind the bar and customized an iPad installed with the RTiPanel app.

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Because efficiency was a high priority, Magee knew the user experience had to be super simple, eliminating staff from having to click through numerous pages and menus. He leveraged the RTI Integration Designer software, now in version 11, to create a UI configuration that’s intuitive to use, whether controlling the system from the touchpanel or the iPad.

From one window, Magee says, Chef Rob’s staff can power on/off the TVs and change the channels, as well as adjust the volume of each of the audio systems down to the individual speaker.

Integrator Increases Efficiency of Chef Rob’s Staff

The integrator also programmed the RTI system to automate many user tasks. For example, if staff forgets to turn off any part of the AV system after closing, RTI will automatically shut it down.

“RTI truly made every step straightforward and hassle-free, without a single issue,” Magee reports.

Magee employed RTI to streamline the music control experience. When users click the Music button, the music-selection layer pops up. They can pick from and adjust the various audio sources, which include an audio input from the satellite receivers, the stereo input for the weekly DJ, or the Bluesound Pro B100S media player.

Meanwhile, Integration Designer 11 tools such as preconfigured templates and auto programming helped to streamline Magee’s installation. For example, with a driver library accessible right in the software, Magee didn’t have to search for drivers for the various AV components needed for the project on a separate site.

These features helped speed up installation, getting Gayle that much closer to reopening Chef Rob’s Caribbean Café’s doors on time.

Gayle and Magee have already begun discussing new ideas for adding more technology to Chef Rob’s, including projectors, smart thermostats, and smart lighting, which can all be easily controlled right from the RTI system.

“Plus, the scalability of RTI is absolutely unparalleled,” Magee states. “Without a doubt, it’s my control system of choice.”

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