Three Elements Design, LLC is a small software development company based in the Austin, TX area. We started the GrapePad service in late 2010 shortly after the introduction of the iPad. We have close contact with all our customers and work to keep them happy. Our customers include small and large independent restaurants, a chain of high end restaurants, hotel restaurants, and country clubs around the US and Canada. Many of our original customers from 8 years ago are still with us.

GrapePad is what is commonly called a web-app and does stay loaded on the tablet and runs in full screen mode. It is not an iPad app and is not limited to running on iPads. To the user, it looks like an app and they do not see or use any web browser features.

As part of the GrapePad service, images and descriptions are made available shortly after you add the basic wine/spirit information to the list. Each wine/spirit is researched and appropriate images and restaurant centric descriptions are added to the wine database by our company. You can use your own images and descriptions if desired.

The GrapePad service is hosted on our web server and is managed by restaurant staff from any computer or device with web access. The software can be managed from anywhere with internet access. Inventory of wine stock can be done on tablets with or without WiFi present in the cellar areas.

No. Our software service runs on servers in a facility in Dallas Texas. The facility we use hosts many thousands of websites. It has redundant network infrastructure, backup generators and 24 hour on site staffing. The servers themselves use redundant disk drives and are backed up regularly for reliability of software and data. We have had no customer down time in over 5 years of operation. Other solutions that require a "server" in the restaurant are exposed to restaurant traffic, repair calls if the hardware or software fails and general maintenance. The "server" in these cases is usually a PC with a single disk drive. Hosting our service in a central facility also allows easier software upgrades, feature changes and assistance in wine list maintenance. All wine data and images are also stored on the tablets and GrapePad will continue to run on the tablets even if internet connection to server is lost.

GrapePad is sold as a software service and the cost is on a per restaurant basis independent of number of devices. The restaurant wine list can be accessed from unlimited number of restaurant tablets or customer web browsers if desired. Costs are based on the number of wines on the list. See our Cost section for more info.

If your restaurant is closed for several months out of the year there will be no monthly charge as long as your customers are not using the in restaurant tablets. You still have ability to access the management side of the software.

No long term commitment is required. GrapePad is sold as a service on a month to month basis with discount for quarterly up front payments.

A new wine list is set up by sending us an excel spreadsheet or text file of basic wine information (categories, name, vintage, price, cost, region, type). As part of the setup fee, this list is imported and descriptions and images for the wines are added by our company. The time for this process varies based on current workload and size of the list, but a preliminary wine list is usually available in two days and all images and descriptions within a week.

The restaurant needs to have Wi-Fi coverage, internet access and the iPads or other tablet devices. Because the software is hosted on our servers, no other equipment is required in the restaurant. This eliminates need for hardware installation and maintenance. Backups and software upgrades are handled by our company.

GrapePad includes a complete inventory management system with reporting and tracking of wine inventory and sales. Wine inventory can be adjusted manually or can be updated via sales report files from the restaurant's POS system. When the stock count of a wine goes to zero, it is automatically removed from the wine list presented to customers.

GrapePad generates a ready to print PDF file from the wine information with the click of a tab. The format of this list is restaurant customizable as part of the setup process.