High-profile, Michelin-star awarded Agern restaurant and high-traffic, adjacent
Great Northern Food Hall have deployed an integrated IP video security and
services network, solving unique installation requirements.
The Challenge of Historic Sites
The Summer of 2016 saw the opening of the fine-dining restaurant Agern and
Great Northern Food Hall, both in the landmark Vanderbilt Hall of Grand Central
Terminal, New York. Agern, which means “Acorn” in Danish, is on a mission to
share the culinary flavors and ambiance deep-rooted in the culture of the Nordic
countries. Great Northern Food Hall consists of eight pavilions presenting casual
food styles based on fresh local goods and influences.
Agern’s beautifully designed spaces incorporate elements of Scandinavian
aesthetics with a mix of organic shapes and natural elements from sleek,
mid-century furniture to mosaic tile work and natural wood in warm, earthy
colors. In mid-November 2016, Agern received a Michelin star, recognizing the
restaurant’s quality, mastery of technique, personality and consistency of food
and the dining experience
“Both the restaurant and Great Northern Food Hall have been well received
by New Yorkers and tourists alike; there’s nothing esoteric in our approach,”
said Claus Meyer, CEO of MeyersUSA. “We serve great coffee, we bake stunning
breads and pastries just behind the walls of Vanderbilt Hall, and we work hard
to offer selections that pay respect to the local market.”
Meyer points out that this is not just a commercial business to make money.
There is also a focus on sharing knowledge, building expertise and innovation,
and exploring the depths of local and regional flora and fauna. For example,
they grow Nordic heirloom grains and offer baking classes and foraging tours.
Bustling Historic Building: Installation Demands
More than 750,000 people pass through Grand Central Terminal every day. In
addition to operating 24/7, and being one of the most visited tourist attractions
in the US, the terminal is a historic landmark with much of its structure over
150 years old. These factors presented challenges for the installation of a new
video monitoring and services network.
“The terminal presented unique challenges with all the different security
requirements and the historic nature of the landmark,” said Chris Kossifos,
Managing Member of CK Technology Group, the integrator and installer for
the system. “We were not allowed to install wires permanently anywhere.
Everything in the hall had to be completely moveable.”
The team could not drill any holes or touch the walls. Even more challenging was
the stipulation that anything installed had to be able to be removed with one
week’s notice, leaving the space looking exactly as it has for the last 100 years.
Top Systems = Healthy Business
“The restaurant serves 4,000 to 5,000 guests a day,” said Kossifos. “For the
business to stay profitable in a space like this, it has to have very good and very
reliable systems in place.”
Kossifos explained that when it came to the video surveillance system, the key
functional requirements include coverage for liability, theft control, and the
ability to monitor daily operations with Point of Sale (POS) system integration.
He emphasized the importance of being able to capture and store video data
from the many areas in the restaurant and food hall and to have local as well as
remote access to viewing the video.
“We wanted the ability to overlay video with the POS system so we can see
data in real time as bartenders, servers, and cashiers ring up transactions,”
said Kossifos. “We can compare system transactions with video of what’s being
handed to the guests. If there’s an issue, managers can use the easy search
commands to review the video, narrow it down to a certain area at a certain
time, so they don’t waste time looking at tons of raw footage.”
IP Network Runs Cameras, Video Platform and POS
To combine resources and minimize the physical footprint of the installation,
Chris Kossifos and the CK Technology team deployed a single IP network to
integrate and transport six distinct systems: Milestone XProtect Corporate
video surveillance software managing Axis network cameras, MICROS Retail
Systems POS terminals and printers, computers that access the internet,
WiFi for guests and staff, digital signage and audio. Each service shares the
bandwidth of a single network cable to each station, which was important
because there was no space to run more.
“People often talk about how IP cameras are great because they have better
image clarity, but that’s just one of their strengths,” said Kossifos. “The real
strength is in ease of use and ease of installing on an existing network, and
most importantly, you can run power, video, and data — everything — over
a single cable, through a single switch.”
Utilizing this unified network approach, the system also incorporates wireless
Axis cameras with access points through a Ruckus wireless system and their
wireless LAN management server, the ZoneDirector. With ZoneDirector,
Kossifos was able to set up hidden wireless networks (protected service set
identifiers, or SSIDs) exclusively for the wireless cameras.
“The wireless cameras operate like the wired cameras with zero impact
on the system performance for guests, staff or other networks. It all runs
simultaneously and is an elegant solution,” said Kossifos. “Having 80 or so
ultra-high-definition Axis cameras in the system creates a lot of network
traffic. Knowing that we had to run five other systems together with the
video, it’s important to make sure the systems don’t trample each other.”
Video surveillance is one of the most bandwidth-intensive services on
a network. At Great Northern Food Hall, the system uses ultra-high-
megapixel, 360-degree cameras, so bandwidth was a big concern. By
using various Axis cameras with their Zipstream technology, the data is
compressed and efficiently sent over the network.
Customizable Software Options
Milestone XProtect video management software (VMS) also provides a
robust set of options for setting frame rates, video quality, and recording
parameters. For example, perhaps managers only need to record three
frames per second until an event happens, when the frame rate can be set
to increase. This ensures the activity needing to be captured is prioritized
with regard to image quality.
“There’s a lot of flexibility in the Milestone software for bandwidth
customization based on activity, motion, and time of day,” said Kossifos.
“XProtect is by far the easiest software to use and most reliable video
management platform we have ever come across in our 20 years of deploying
digital surveillance solutions.”
The team installed a variety of Axis cameras, including Axis micro cameras in the
POS areas and 360-degree cameras hung from overhead trusses constructed
to avoid wall installation, also providing space for marketing signage. Each
360-degree camera can cover a lot of area with a small footprint.
“Milestone has an amazing feature to support this technology which is a kind
of virtual fisheye lens that breaks down the video data into 12 distinct views,
and this brings excellent value. We can use a lot fewer cameras to see more
angles, and do less wiring, too,” said Kossifos.
Technology Served to Order
In the food service industry, a lot of events and seasonal business make
it necessary for a restaurant to scale staff to meet the need. Logins and
permissions can be a struggle when dealing with changing users.
“A majority of tech support calls have to do with passwords,” said Kossifos.
“So rather than having to laboriously set up individual employees with new
credentials all the time, administrators can assign them into pre-existing
groups that are managed through the Microsoft Active Directory server, which
assigns roles and access without having to modify each user. It’s so beneficial
that Milestone leverages this.”
Since management takes place across the organization, this means that a
single directory change updates not only their access to the Milestone VMS,
but access to the PBX System, their computer logins, their email, etc.
“Once we set up an Active Directory link, we can add people directly to our
domain and then easily go right into Milestone XProtect and select the user
who is already part of the domain,” explained Kossifos.
With the historic nature of the facility, the high-bandwidth multi-system
requirements, and large user-base demands, this has been a challenging
installation for many reasons. With the proper tools in place, they look forward
to expanding the system to other facilities within the Claus Meyer enterprise.
“As we add new retail locations, bakeries, and commissaries, we’ll be able to
add cameras without having to build a larger VMS. We’ll just add cameras and
have them record over our private network, back to our main server storage
in New Jersey,” said Kossifos. “Milestone has been a fantastic partner in this
project: their service and support have been great, and as far as the product
is concerned, the Milestone VMS is the best choice for our business.”
In April of 2017, MeyersUSA opened its newest venture, Restaurant
Norman. Located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Norman is a contemporary
restaurant and café, with an in-house bakery and bar. Norman has
started with seven IP video security cameras installed, all managed with
the Milestone VMS, and connected to the MeyersUSA shared IP network
through a secure VPN.