Case Study

How SSA Group consolidated menu design and digital signage, saving 50% annually.

Industry
Cultural Attractions & Guest Experience
Locations
75+ across North America
Use Case
Digital Signage Menus
table 28

About SSA Group

SSA Group is one of the largest operators of food service, retail, and guest experience programs at cultural destinations across North America. From zoos and aquariums to museums and attractions, SSA serves millions of guests each year across a growing list of venues. Behind every guest-facing menu and display is a team of operators responsible for keeping content current, on-brand, and running smoothly — often across venues with wildly different concepts, audiences, and seasonal rhythms.

cup & pint store

The Challenge

Two platforms causing constant friction.

Before MustHaveMenus, SSA ran menu and signage operations on two separate systems: Canva for menu design and Neon for digital displays. Every menu update meant working in one tool, exporting, and republishing in another. Operators had to be trained on both. Costs, vendor relationships, and support channels were duplicated. And with no unified publishing workflow, corporate had limited visibility into which locations were current and which had drifted off-brand.

Key friction points:

  • white x Two software subscriptions and vendor relationships for one workflow
  • white x Operators trained on two disconnected systems
  • white x Design drift and inconsistent workflows across 75+ locations
  • white x No visibility into rollout progress across the network
  • white x New venue onboarding slowed by duplicated setup
Pier3 cafe Patio Roar cafe African outpost

The Solution

One platform managing all menus, design to display.

SSA Group selected MustHaveMenus as its enterprise platform, replacing Canva and Neon entirely. Menu design, brand templates, and digital signage publishing now live in a single system. Operators design, update, and push to displays in one workflow — no exporting, no republishing, no second login.

A unified system built for distributed teams

  • check Centralized menu design with locked brand templates
  • check Digital signage publishing with playlist management
  • check Role-based permissions for 140+ distributed operators
  • check A structured rollout framework built to scale across the network

The Rollout

arrow Phase 1 — Pilot and workflow validation

Initial locations came online to establish brand templates, test publishing workflows, and validate operator training before wider deployment.

arrow Phase 2 — Display deployment and activation

Displays went live venue by venue, with activations continuing across the network toward full deployment of SSA's 400+ display footprint.

arrow Phase 3 — Menu onboarding and operator expansion

Additional menus, new locations, and expanded enablement brought 140+ operators onto the platform — each with the right level of access for their role.

50%
annual savings
70+
hours saved weekly
65%
faster menu updates
400+
displays consolidating onto one platform
*Based on internal estimates from the SSA Group team
Before

The Old Way

  • x Two platforms (Canva + Neon) for one workflow
  • x Design in one tool, publish in another
  • x Duplicate subscriptions, contracts, and support channels
  • x Operators trained on two systems
  • x No network-wide visibility into rollout or brand compliance
After

With MustHaveMenus

  • check One platform, design to display
  • check Update once, publish everywhere
  • check Single vendor, single support channel
  • check One system for all 140+ operators
  • check Corporate visibility across every venue

What’s Next

With the phased rollout continuing across the network, SSA’s menu and signage operations are built to scale with the business — new venues onboard onto an established framework rather than a patchwork of tools. As SSA grows, every new zoo, aquarium, and museum joins a system that already works.

Shannon Torphy headshot
“MustHaveMenus has created meaningful cost savings and operational efficiencies company-wide, streamlining and scaling what was once a fragmented process.”
Shannon Torphy
Director of Brand Creative Strategy, SSA Group

See the platform behind the story

The same centralized menu system used by SSA Group is available for restaurants, hotel groups, and food-service brands of every size.
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