The Celler de Can Roca incorporates augmented reality into the tasting of a chocolate

Girona - The Celler de Can Roca has incorporated augmented reality into the tasting menu from an immersive experience while customers try a Casa Cacao chocolate. At the end of the meal, the dining room team distributes mixed reality glasses to the diners and they interact with each other but also with a virtual environment. This digital space transports them to a civilization that celebrates a ritual in honor of cocoa. 'Magical Travel trought the cocoa' is the continuation of the initiative presented at the Mobile World Congress of 2023 and is a project made with the collaboration of the Mobile World Capital Foundation in Barcelona.

In February of last year, Celler de Can Roca and the Mobile World Capital Foundation in Barcelona announced an alliance to explore the role that technology could play in fine dining. On that occasion, conference attendees could taste chocolates in a digital and physical setting at the same time. Now, the project has evolved to lead to 'Magical Travel trought the cocoa', a new immersive experience that the Celler de Can Roca has incorporated into the tasting menu.

It is done at the end of the meal, at the time when diners have to eat a Casa Cacao chocolate. At that point, diners put on glasses and can interact with physical and virtual reality. In the digital world, they become gods who witness a civilization's ritual in honor of cocoa.

This ritual features offerings and an explosion of colors that is combined with the actual tasting of the chocolate. To do this, the restaurant offers customers to wear Meta Quest 3 glasses. In addition, an advanced system of calibration of the glasses itself has been made that eliminates the need to use QR codes to enable virtual reality. Only a shared point cloud is used. This system allows complete immersion regardless of the conditions of each site.

The control of the glasses is done from a tablet that the restaurant team will have. This way you can synchronize the experience in an agile and efficient way and make all diners have a fluid and coordinated experience. In addition, the glasses have been modified to ensure optimal hygiene.

Jordi Roca explained that this project "can only be lived and explained but not documented or shared on the networks" and that is why they are interested in offering this unique experience. He considers that it "opens a wonderful door" in haute cuisine restaurants.

For his part, the CEO of Mobile World Capital Barcelona, ??Francesc Fajula, explained that the project aims to be an example of "how technological innovation can enrich everyday experiences".