Christopher BarrettAll Points East festival saw a UK festival industry first with bars and event solutions specialist Peppermint installing a grab and go bar at this year’s event.
Developed alongside Levy, which took a 50% stake in Peppermint in 2022, the Frictionless Container was designed to look like an East London corner shop.
Using technology that has previously powered frictionless bars and retail outlets in venues and at events such as the Wimbledon Championships, the installation enabled festivalgoers to walk up, tap their card – which takes a pre-authorisation – and then walk into the container, select items and leave. The system uses a combination of AI and cameras that track the movements of customers.
Peppermint founder and director Adam Hempenstall said that the objective of the technology’s roll out at the 50,000-capacity London event was to prove the concept in a festival environment, with the next steps being to expand the offering to draught beer and cider, snacks, festival goods and merchandise.
“The possibilities are endless,” he said. “We’ve always been obsessed with making bars faster, smarter and more fun. Our Frictionless Container is the next step: the festival industry’s first walk-in, tap, grab and go bar. Quicker sales for our partners, less time at the bar for everyone else.”
AEG Presents commercial & ticketing director Leonie Wakeman said, “We work closely with Peppermint for all our bar operations, and quite recently discussed whether we could bring anything new and different in that isn’t a traditional bar. I have heard it is four times faster than the service on our regular bars, which is great because when it gets really busy we want to keep people flowing through. Anything that makes the crowd experience quicker, so they can go and see some music, is ovbiously better for us and better for them.”