A sports café lives or dies by atmosphere. Fans don't just come for a drink and a screen, they come for the energy, the anticipation, the feeling that they're part of something bigger when the team they love is on the pitch. Everything about the venue contributes to that feeling, from the lighting to the layout to the way information and visuals fill the space between the action.
Café Dug Out came to Castit looking to push that atmosphere even further. They had a loyal community of football fans, a venue built around the sports experience, and a clear sense that digital signage could help take the energy of game night to the next level. This is how the rollout helped them do exactly that.
About the Client
Café Dug Out is a Belgian sports café built around the community of supporters of one of the country's prominent football clubs. The venue serves fans before, during, and after matches, hosting the kind of crowd that turns a regular café into a stadium-adjacent experience. Game nights bring cheers, conversation, shared celebrations, and the camaraderie that only a real fan community can produce.
Like all great sports cafés, Café Dug Out is part venue, part community space. Patrons aren't just customers, they're regulars, supporters, and friends who keep coming back because of the atmosphere as much as the food and drinks. Building on that atmosphere, and giving fans even more to engage with throughout their visit, was at the heart of what brought Café Dug Out to Castit.
The Challenges
The team behind Café Dug Out wanted to take the sports café experience to the next level, and identified a clear opportunity to do that through digital signage. A few specific goals were behind the move:
- A desire to enhance the existing atmosphere. The café already had a buzzing crowd on game nights, and the team wanted a way to amplify that energy with dynamic visual content that fit the moment.
- A more engaging experience between key moments. Sports nights have peaks and lulls, and the team wanted something compelling on the screens during the quieter stretches as well as the high-energy ones.
- A user-friendly system that wouldn't get in the way of running the venue. Whatever solution the team chose had to be straightforward to manage in a busy hospitality environment.
- Flexibility for ongoing growth. The team wanted a platform that could expand as the venue's vision evolved, with room to add more screens and more content over time.
What Café Dug Out was looking for was a digital signage solution that would lift the in-venue atmosphere, engage patrons throughout their visit, and integrate cleanly with the kind of practical hardware setup a busy sports café needs.
The Castit Solution
Café Dug Out discovered Castit on the Google Play Store, reached out through Castit's support system, and confirmed the fit through an online demo. From there, the conversion to a paying user happened smoothly.
- Chromecast integration that just works. The team chose Castit specifically for its user-friendly interface and the way it integrates with Chromecast. The combination kept the technical setup simple while giving the venue full control over the screens.
- Dynamic visual content that builds atmosphere. The primary content on the screens revolves around dynamic commercials and visually rich material that adds an extra layer to the venue's vibrant ambiance. The screens contribute to the energy of the space, complementing the sports broadcast rather than competing with it.
- A platform built for hospitality realities. Castit's content management is designed to be manageable by people who aren't technical specialists, which suits the pace and staffing of a sports café environment. Updates can be made quickly when something needs to change, with no specialist intervention required.
- A foundation built to expand. Castit's setup leaves clear room for growth. With the initial screen working well, the team is preparing to bring more screens online, with the content strategy for those still being shaped, an exciting prospect that points to a more immersive experience ahead.
The Results and Impact
The new setup has produced meaningful results across atmosphere, customer behavior, and sales.
- Customer engagement has gone up noticeably. The dynamic, visually rich content captures attention during both peak game moments and the quieter stretches between them. Patrons engage with the venue more fully, and the screens have become part of the experience rather than background.
- Dwell time has increased. Customers are staying longer, which speaks directly to how the atmosphere of the venue is feeling to them. Longer visits translate into more conversations, more orders, and a richer overall experience.
- Sales during peak hours have risen. The combination of better atmosphere and longer dwell times has lifted sales when the venue is at its busiest. The screens contribute directly to commercial performance, not just to ambiance.
- Casual viewers are becoming regulars. The immersive sports experience has turned first-time and occasional visitors into part of the community around Café Dug Out. The venue is building a stronger fan base in part because the experience inside it keeps getting better.
- Plans for further expansion are in motion. With the success of the initial rollout clear, the team is preparing to connect two more screens, opening up the next chapter of the venue's digital signage journey.
Digital Signage Works for Sports Cafés, Bars, and Hospitality Venues
Café Dug Out's experience reflects something true for sports cafés and hospitality venues across the board: atmosphere is the product, and visual content is one of the most direct ways to shape it. The right screens, with the right content, lift the energy of a venue without ever feeling intrusive. The wrong setup, or none at all, leaves the atmosphere relying entirely on whatever's happening live, with no support during the lulls.
For sports cafés, bars, restaurants, and hospitality venues with a community-driven crowd, the value of digital signage is in combining branded content, dynamic visuals, and game-day energy on screens that complement the live experience. Visual content sustains atmosphere through the quieter moments. Promotional content drives orders during peak hours. Branded screens reinforce the identity of the venue at every visit. And because platforms like Castit work with everyday hardware like Chromecast, the technical setup stays simple while the impact compounds.
If your sports café, bar, or hospitality venue is looking for a smart, simple way to lift the atmosphere, increase customer dwell time, and grow peak-hour sales, Castit is worth a look. The platform is affordable to start, easy to manage in busy venues, and designed to scale as the experience grows. Visit Castit to learn more, or reach out to talk through what a setup would look like for your venue.
More works
Digital Menu Boards for Restaurants: Alter Your Dining Experience
Our digital solution helps restaurants boost sales, enhance customer experience, and streamline menu management—all while reducing operational costs.
Digital Signage Players
Digital Signage is an important communication tool for many companies. A reliable digital signage player is an important part of this.
E-Paper Displays for Instant Opening Hours at a European Holiday Park
Printed signs replaced by 13 e-paper displays, all managed remotely from one platform.