Inovasi Installs Message Board to Illuminate Menu Offerings

is lighting up the downtown area this holiday season, but on a much smaller scale.

The restaurant recently gained a green light to install a permanent digital, changeable menu message box outside the restaurant upon approval of the text amendments made to the village zoning regulations, which prohibits signs of this type.

allowed a temporary version of the digital menu box to be displayed in early June so that members of the Architectural Review Board, Zoning Board of Appeals and Village Board would get a realistic grasp of the sign’s presence.

During the time the restaurant was given the temporary accommodation, which can be determined a “probationary period,” it has been displayed to the public without incident. There have been no formal complaints by Lake Bluff residents and, according to owner , there has been nothing but positive feedback.

“A couple who are very seriously into food and wine came in two weeks ago,” des Rosiers said. “The husband looked at the sign, came in, dined and fell in love with the restaurant. We gained a lifetime customer because of the way that we communicated our message, and you just can’t do it with a static paper sign. It (the menu box) gets people to come into the restaurant, but it also gives people a solid impression of what differentiates us.”

New Technology for Suburbs

Inovasi is not a pioneer of this type of restaurant marketing technology, but it may be one of its few early adopters in the suburban area.

Digital menu boxes were popularized in 2007 when the company, aptly named Digital Menubox, arrived on the restaurant scene. According its website, “digital menu boxes stop five times the number of people and they look three times as long at the menu,” which is precisely the type of results that restaurant owners like des Rosiers seek.

said he saw a menu box in downtown Chicago and was as much interested in its use as the way people reacted to it.

“I saw small crowds form at each one,” he said. “It’s easy to put a piece of glass up with your menu behind it. As I walked up and down the street though, I saw that the ones with the biggest crowds had the digital menu signs. A physical medium like a paper menu limits you.”

Trial Period Eases Transition

Initially, when Inovasi brought forth its petition back in early spring of this year, there was some resistance because the language of the governing section of the village zoning code specifically prohibits this type of signage in the Central Business District.

However, after many discussions and motions later, spanning three months, the Architectural Review Board suggested that if the village and Zoning Board of Appeals sought to grant the petition under limiting circumstances, then the Architectural Review Board recommended the consideration of roughly 13 technical specifications ranging from sign size limits, aesthetics, and sound prohibition, to name a few.

Inovasi Chief Financial Officer Ron Oesterlein said in reference to the sign’s assembly, “As with every improvement that Inovasi has undertaken, our continued overarching aim is to create a first-class product, establishment and environment. The intent of the menu is to help strengthen our business through increased patronage and profitability which in turn benefits the village.”

The menu box also will serve the secondary purpose of promoting community awareness since 10 percent of the menu board will feature messaging to promote public safety and welfare initiatives through timely posting of village announcements.

Other Inovasi Improvements

Beyond the permanent installation of the digital menu sign outside the restaurant, Inovasi will be undergoing some changes inside the restaurant as well, such as:

• The replacement of its tables with hand-made, custom-built, bamboo tables, which will eliminate the use of tablecloths altogether;
• Growing the menu to make room on Mondays for North Shore classics, such as Cobb salad, tomato basil soup and club sandwiches.

Also new to Inovasi is the addition of burger nights on Tuesdays, where more than 10 burgers are featured, and Wednesday nights are now tapas nights.

“We definitely have our style, and that’s never going to away, but we have no problem adjusting ourselves. We understand that we live in a community and that is something that will always guide our thinking and decision-making,” said des Rosiers.