For a real show business experience, nothing beats Planet Hollywood, the Hollywood-themed restaurant/café chain started in New York in 1991 by movie stars including Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. The chain now has dozens of restaurants around the world.

The London restaurant (www.planethollywoodlondon.com), which opened near Piccadilly Circus in the mid 1990s, is one of the largest and most popular with the restaurant seating up to 430.

You can see endless film clips as well as Rocky’s motorcycle, Lancelot’s suit of armour from Excalibur, the dress that Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz and enough other star-studded paraphernalia to make you remember every movie you’ve ever seen. To add even more star power, adults can choose from a menu developed by celebrity chef Marco Pierre White. The busy bar serves up drinks like “Terminator” and “Die Hard Daiquiris”.

According to General Manager Alex Garland, the restaurant had previously used a Micros system but found it outdated. “It was not fast enough,” he says. “The credit card authorisation was very slow and we couldn’t use it to order desserts and appetisers. There was no compatibility with the kitchen and we couldn’t switch from our small bar terminals to the main terminal.”

As he already knew of Aloha EPOS, he tried it out and was immediately impressed. “It’s operationally
excellent and easy to use,” he says.

“We needed a system that could handle our high volume requirements as we do up to 2,000 covers every day.”
The system was installed by NFS Hospitality in the bar and restaurant in mid-2004.

“The installation was very smooth and NFS gave us very good training,” Alex recalls. “We have ten terminals in Planet Hollywood and all the staff find it reliable and user-friendly. The system maintains its speed whatever the traffic.”

The benefits include fast and easy tab opening without changing screens and preauthorisation of credit cards. “I like the fact that in the bar we can open a tab and call it after the guest, such as ‘Joe’s tab’.”

All food and beverage orders are automatically put through to the kitchen and the Aloha system interfaces with Planet Hollywood’s accounting system. This makes business processes like stock control much more efficient while providing a range of useful information, Alex says. “The reporting is very good,” he notes.

“Our weekly stock take is easier with Aloha. You can see who’s selling which wines, beers, champagnes, or who is selling the most Absolut or Smirnoff.”

Alex particularly likes using Aloha staff clock-in and has the hours worked printed out for individuals as well as management. “This is a big advantage in our case as we have different hourly rates for part-time bartenders and administrative staff,” he says. “So this takes the hassle out of hourly work.

We give staff a five-minute window to clock in early or late and there are no arguments as you just look at the printout.”

Food orders are also easier. “You just type in any specifications like ‘no cheese on the nachos’,” he says, also noting that the Marco Pierre White menu was added in 2002 to “add British foodie style to an American restaurant”.

Looking ahead, Alex will be assessing the way that Aloha EPOS has helped streamline business processes at Planet Hollywood and exploring new ways to use Aloha functionality to speed service and reduce costs.