How Third Wave Coffee Brought 700+ Cafe Digital Menu Boards Live Nationwide with Pickcel
Third Wave Coffee deployed Pickcel's cloud-based digital menu boards nationwide, replacing a slow, store-by-store update process with one centralized system that keeps every location's menu and pricing current.
Third Wave Coffee, a fast-growing specialty coffee chain expanding rapidly across India, needed seasonal promotions and pricing to go live consistently across every store as its network multiplied faster than a manual, store-by-store update process could handle. The chain's cafes ran on a mix of Android media players and Samsung and LG commercial displays picked up as new stores opened, and the operations team had no centralized way to confirm a given store's board was actually showing the current campaign. Pickcel, a cloud-based digital signage platform that manages screen content from a single dashboard, replaced that store-by-store process: one centralized update now pushes menu and pricing content to Android and Samsung/LG hardware alike. Third Wave Coffee brought more than 700 screens live nationwide in under a week.
Industry
Specialty coffee / cafe
Screens deployed
700+
Geographic scope
Nationwide, India
Deployment timeline
Under one week
Hardware
Android + Samsung/LG
Content management
Centralized cloud dashboard
Manual, store-by-store updates couldn't keep pace with growth
Mixed hardware. No central visibility. Promotions that couldn't launch nationwide at once.
Manual, store-by-store updates couldn't keep pace with growth
Before deploying Pickcel, Third Wave Coffee ran menu and pricing updates store by store as its cafe network expanded across India. Seasonal promotions and price changes needed to go live at the same time nationwide, but the manual process meant every store update happened on its own timeline, with no way to guarantee a promotion launched everywhere at once. That gap grew more noticeable as new stores kept opening every month, each one adding another location the marketing team had to update manually.
Mixed hardware across stores complicated every update
The chain's screens were not uniform either. Stores picked up Android media players and Samsung or LG commercial displays as they opened over time, and updating content meant the operations team had to account for whichever hardware a particular location happened to be running.
No central way to confirm screens were live and current
There was also no reliable way to check whether a store's board was actually live and current from a central point. During high-traffic seasonal campaigns, that gap made it difficult to know how many locations were still showing outdated pricing or an expired promotion.
“Seasonal promotions and price changes needed to go live at the same time nationwide, but the manual process meant every store update happened on its own timeline.”
One Dashboard, Every Cafe, Any Hardware
Pickcel replaced Third Wave Coffee's store-by-store process with a single cloud dashboard that manages menu and pricing content for every cafe location from one place — across Android, Samsung, and LG hardware alike.
One cloud dashboard for every cafe
Pickcel replaced Third Wave Coffee's store-by-store process with a single cloud dashboard that manages menu and pricing content for every cafe location from one place. Store teams and head office both work from the same platform, so a national promotion can be scheduled once and pushed to the entire network rather than being entered store by store.
Android, Samsung, and LG side by side
The platform is built to run Android media players and Samsung and LG commercial displays side by side, so Third Wave Coffee did not need to standardize on one hardware brand before rolling Pickcel out. Content is managed centrally through Pickcel's digital signage software, with the same update reaching every screen regardless of which device is driving it, and automated scheduling handles campaign rotation so a promotion starts and ends on the intended date without someone manually swapping content. That structure also gave the operations team one place to check whether a store's board was live, instead of relying on individual store managers to confirm updates by phone or email.
New cafes join the same network, not a new workflow
As new cafes opened, each one was added to the same centralized system rather than being set up as a one-off. That let the operations team bring new locations into the existing menu board network without building a separate update workflow for every store that came online. Because Pickcel already supported the Android players and Samsung and LG displays Third Wave Coffee had in stores, IT did not need to replace or standardize hardware before rollout could begin.
Hours Became Minutes, and Blind Spots Became Visibility
700+ screens live nationwide in under a week
Third Wave Coffee brought its menu boards live across every cafe in one coordinated push instead of installing market by market. The platform didn't slow down or need reworking as the store count kept climbing.
Menu and pricing updates that used to take hours to roll out across the network now take minutes, since a single edit on the Pickcel dashboard reaches every cafe's screens regardless of whether they run on Android, Samsung, or LG hardware.
The operations team also gained visibility into screen uptime and reliability across the network, something the previous store-by-store process could not provide. Instead of waiting for a store manager to flag a dark screen, the team can see which locations need attention directly from the dashboard.
Pickcel is a cloud-based digital signage software platform trusted by 9,000+ businesses across 70+ countries, managing 150,000+ screens. Certified ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. In quick-service and cafe deployments, Pickcel also powers McDonald's digital menu board network and Amazon's 850+ screen mall kiosk rollout, giving multi-location food and retail brands the same centralized control Third Wave Coffee uses across its stores.
FAQ“The overall experience with Pickcel is that the setup and configuration of the solution is super easy, and doesn't require any assistance.”
Questions About Third Wave Coffee's Rollout
Does Third Wave Coffee need to standardize on one display brand for stores it opens in the future?+
No. Pickcel's dashboard already runs Android media players and Samsung and LG displays side by side, and that flexibility carries forward as new stores open. IT does not need to pre-approve a single hardware brand before a location goes live, the same way the original rollout did not require standardizing hardware first.
Does a new seasonal promotion still need to go out store by store, or does it launch everywhere at once?+
It launches everywhere at once. A seasonal promotion or price change is set up once on the Pickcel dashboard and reaches every cafe's screens the same day, replacing what used to be a slow, store-by-store task, regardless of the launch date or how many locations are live at the time.
How does the operations team catch a dark screen across 700+ locations without visiting each store?+
The Pickcel dashboard gives the operations team a live status view across every cafe, so a dark or frozen screen shows up centrally instead of depending on a store manager noticing it and calling in. At Third Wave Coffee's scale, checking each of 700+ screens by phone was not realistic, which is the gap this visibility closed.
Did Third Wave Coffee need its own IT staff on-site to get the platform running, or outside technical support?+
Neither. The chain's own deployment team described Pickcel's setup and configuration as easy enough to complete without outside assistance. That mattered for a 700+ screen nationwide rollout, since it meant configuration did not have to wait on a vendor's technical team or a large in-house IT project to get every cafe live.
If a new cafe opens with different screens than existing stores, does that slow down bringing it onto the network?+
No. Because Pickcel already runs Android media players and Samsung and LG displays side by side, a new cafe's screens connect to the same centralized dashboard regardless of which brand it's running, with no separate hardware-approval step or custom setup process for that store. Growth adds a location to an existing system rather than a new integration project each time.
See What Pickcel Can Do for Your Cafes
Join fast-growing cafe and QSR chains running centralized, hardware-flexible digital signage with Pickcel.
No credit card required
See How Others Use Pickcel
McDonald's Digital Menu Board Case Study
How McDonald's runs its nationwide digital menu board network on Pickcel.
Read case study →
Amazon's 850+ Screen Mall Kiosk Case Study
How Amazon manages 850+ mall kiosk screens centrally with Pickcel.
Read case study →
Digital Signage for Restaurants and QSR Chains
How Pickcel powers menu boards and customer experience screens across the restaurant industry.
Read more →