‘Growing pains’ with Taste of Cayman’s digital payments

Taste of Cayman returned for the first time in four years over the weekend with an array of great food from vendors across Grand Cayman, but also with the usual complaints about long lines at some of the more popular stalls, and, for the first time, technological issues with a new payment system.

This year, instead of the paper tickets used at previous festivals, Taste of Cayman organisers introduced a system whereby attendees could pay for their meals and drinks with a wristband that was pre-loaded with digital currency and could be topped up.

As at the Capella Music Festival earlier this month where the same wristband payment system was used, attendees at Taste complained about some vendors apparently having difficulty using it and long lines forming for those who wanted to top up the miniature cards on their wristbands.

A common complaint among attendees was the long waits to put money on the wristbands, and that, at most of the vendor stations, only one person was available to do the transactions, making the wait for food longer than anticipated.

In response to queries from the Compass, Jay Ehrhart, executive director of the Cayman Islands Tourism Association which organised the festival, acknowledged that “some people experienced frustration with the ‘growing pains'”.

He said that the association would be using all the feedback provided “to continue to provide guests the experience they’ve come to expect from Taste”.

Ehrhart added, “We will be reviewing the payment process for 2024 and all options are currently on the table.”

He noted that digital wristbands have become a mainstay of concerts and large events worldwide, “and with a large-scale event such as Taste of Cayman, the decision to transition to a new payment system was a must for any event seeking to advance and stay current”.

He outlined some of the reasons why organisers this year opted for the digital wristband, including “being more environmentally friendly, providing a more secure and contactless purchasing process and accurate reporting for our vendors with considerable less time spent by our vendors and volunteers having to count paper tickets”.

Ehrhart added, “While we do recognize that some people did experience some hiccups, and that the lines for topping up the booths were particularly long between approximately 7pm and 8.30pm,  the majority of the almost 5,000 people that attended the event had a smooth and enjoyable experience.”

User error

EventPro, which provided the wristband-payment system, said it worked correctly, and issues with the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers occurred because staff at vendor stations may not have been using them properly.

A spokesperson said complaints about long lines at top-up stations should be handled by the organiser, as EventPro supplied the wristband and readers, but those stations were manned by people put in place by the organiser.

The spokesperson said she had personally walked around the Festival Green to check on vendors throughout the day to ensure that they knew how to work the RFID system.

“One vendor had an issue earlier in the day,” she said, but after checking, she found that the staff member handling the system “was doing the transactions incorrectly”.

“She had not had any previous training even though they had the same device at Capella,” the spokesperson said.

She added that while the transactions could not go through, the vendor affected was giving away food.

EventPro said it had not been made aware of any other vendors who had been unable to complete transactions.

The spokesperson said EventPro had held training sessions for vendor staff to ensure they know how to work the RFID system properly, but in some cases, the employees who were trained were not the ones who were dealing with the transactions on the day.