Following a stylish renovation, the Rose and Crown at Essendon in Hertfordshire is enjoying its reputation as a venue that offers local people London quality without having to travel into the capital.
With a new Head Chef with Michelin stars under his belt, the pub and restaurant has roared back from the pandemic with a fantastic offering for guests – and a new tablet EPOS system from NFS.
It’s all paying off brilliantly, according to General Manager Rebecca Starling.
“Our owners Debbie and Charles Davis found our Head Chef Alex Parker, who came out of Claude Bosi at Bibendum at Chelsea, and he has created a fabulous a la carte menu,” she said.
“We’ve completely revamped and stay true to the ideology of being a country pub. We have the pub side and the restaurant side, so we need an epos system that can handle both.”
NFS Tablet EPOS
A highly flexible and capable system was needed – and the answer came in the shape of the tablet EPOS from NFS, leading providers of hospitality technology across the UK.
Rebecca said: “Our heavy footfall means we need to be speedy on the till on the pub side when people want to come up to the bar and pay for a single drink.
“On the restaurant side, you need to be able to really hone things down if people are having a drink in a certain way or the food in a certain way.
“You need to be able to add different options – even in areas such as the coffee menu where we have three different coffees to choose from. So we’ve had to create almost two separate sites and two separate approaches.”
Stringent selection process
Debbie and Charles’ son Glenn, the company Director, decided on the NFS tablet EPOS after a stringent selection process.
“He didn’t want to go for a huge system, he wanted something that was a little smaller and more intimate,” said Rebecca. “We wanted one-on-one time with people, rather than just telephone helplines or a company based in America.
“The whole ethos of this place is growing more intimate relationships with businesses, and that’s one of the big reasons we chose NFS.
“We were also pleased with the option NFS offers to have 4G back-up in case our wi-fi goes down. I’ve worked in so many placed where the wi-fi packs up and the whole till system goes down – so the 4G offering really stood out for us.”
Next steps for the Rose and Crown
NFS swiftly carried out the deployment of the tablet EPOS system and trained up the Rose and Crown team to make the most of it. The new system is working well at the busy venue, and the leadership team are now considering further developments with the NFS tablet EPOS.
“We’re very pleased with the way everything has gone, and particularly with the direct support we’ve received from the NFS team – it’s been really good,” said Rebecca.
The famous Balans Soho Society group of restaurants and bars was about to open its seventh restaurant, in Ealing, London.
With a particularly demanding clientele – its slogan is: “A haven for the convivial” and the group numbers many celebrity guests – Balans decided to continue its relationship with NFS and deploy the Aloha restaurant management system that has already proved its worth at their other branches.
The deployment has paid off – and the group is particularly impressed with the loyalty programme it has been able to set up, with loyalty customers spending more than 40% more than non-loyalty guests.
At a glanceWho? Balans Soho Society’s new Ealing restaurant Where? London What? Aloha Table service EPOS software from NFS Why? Operational efficiency and great customer service, loyalty When? 2019 at the new Ealing branch
Balans Soho Society
Balans has always been ahead of trends. First started by business partners David Taylor and Prady Balan in the 1970s as a sandwich outlet, the group has become famous for hosting celebrity hangouts and delicious late-night dining.
Balans (now run by David Taylor) now has no fewer than seven restaurants across London and beyond, from Soho to Stratford City. Attracting the most up-to-date and savvy clientele, its menu is big on breath-taking brunches, quintessentially Balans mains and fabulous cocktails.
The challenge
Opening a new restaurant in Ealing – in the extraordinarily competitive London market – this famed group bills itself as a “haven for the convivial”.
So it knew it was crucial to deliver the same impeccable standards of operational efficiency and delicious customer service that have made its other six restaurants and bars such a celebrated three-decade success.
The results
The Ealing restaurant got off to a great start and is proving a real hit with customers with the help of its Aloha EPOS software.
“The system does exactly what we need – we find working with NFS very smooth thanks to having a key account person allocated.” – Kieran Crosby, Operations Director, Balans Soho Society
The benefits for Balans
As well as keeping operations streamlined and customer service moving effortlessly, Balans has had great success using its Aloha EPOS software to create targeted loyalty schemes and offer gift cards to enhance the customer experience.
The company believes the restaurant management software has created a big uplift – loyalty customers on average spend up to 42% more than non-loyalty customers.
“We’ve created an online loyalty programme where our customers are in control of how they use it, and that’s really helping to drive repeat visits,” says Kieran.
Balan’s staff also use Aloha Mobile to take customer orders and payments at tableside, using iPads. It means orders go directly to the kitchen for swift delivery, without any chance of human error.
Aloha EPOS software can integrate with kitchen automation to streamline food production, and the intuitive interface means it’s simple to get staff up and running on the system.
“Our FOH staff find Aloha very easy to use – the system is common in the restaurant industry and many have used it before, so they have familiarity with it.” – Kieran Crosby
Aloha has moved well beyond simple EPOS, and now creates a better-connected workflow within the restaurant and throughout the customer journey from online reservations through seating, dining, paying and loyalty – it even monitors social media reputation.
Like other users of Aloha, Balans also benefits from the business insight provided by the system. For restaurant groups, it gives an unprecedented end-to-end view of operations, with comprehensive reports including sales, labour and stock control, and accurate forecasting.
Why NFS?
NFS has a long-standing relationship with this prestigious restaurant chain, which made Aloha a natural choice when Balans was getting ready to open the new Ealing branch.
“We chose NFS because Aloha is working well in the rest of our estate,” says Kieran.
“Aloha does exactly what it needs to do – and we find it very reliable. We’d recommend it.”
What’s next?
Balans anticipates that using Aloha Mobile will increase efficiency, table turn and revenue during the coming summer months.
After a highly-successful first UK opening in Cardiff, Coyote Ugly has just opened its first bar in England in Liverpool. With venues across the US from Las Vegas to New Orleans, the bar’s eyecatching saloon concept is based on the real New York bar made famous by the movie of the same name.
Customer service is naturally high on Coyote Ugly’s agenda, and the company is using restaurant technology including theAloha EPOS management system from UK-based NFS Technology to keep operations at peak efficiency.
Coyote Ugly General Manager Chris Young
, said: “EPOS is vital for everything from stock control, employee performance, incentive monitoring and cost control.
“We like the way live data gives us an overview of multiple sites with up-to-the-minute analysis of sales, wages, like-for-like data versus last week and last year. It helps streamline the business by using data.”
NFS Technology is an international provider of software including EPOS management systems and hotel PMS. It’s currentlyGold Sponsor of the Restaurant Association’s 50th birthday celebrations.
Coyote Ugly finds Aloha EPOS has helped them improve speed of service, keeping customers happy, and NFS’s 24-hour support desk is crucial for a late-night operator.
“The flexibility of the software, which has with tabs / tables service functions, allows us to provide a better customer experience,” said Chris.
And Coyote Ugly also uses its Aloha EPOS management system to encourage customers to come back again and again.
“We’ve an excellent loyalty card scheme in place via the integrated EPOS software that encourages repeat business,” said Chris.
“There’s huge flexibility to run bespoke offers for loyalty cardholders – and the excellent data capture by the system gives me the opportunity to direct market effectively to my regular customers.”
Luis De Souza, CEO of NFS Technology, said Coyote Ugly is not alone in discovering great benefits from using an EPOS management system.
“In a highly competitive and challenging trading environment, the bars and restaurants who have the edge are those that make great use of the advanced technology at their disposal to make operations seamless,” he said.
“Coyote Ugly has a fantastic reputation for customer service, and we’re proud that Aloha from NFS is helping them with their expansion in the UK.”
Dishoom, the exclusive Bombay café in London has chosen NFS Technology’s specialist Aloha POS software as its management system of choice to enable a smooth running service at all its prestigious London locations.
London based Dishoom, with café sites in Shoreditch, Kings Cross and Covent Garden, draws upon the heritage and tradition of old cafés with all-day menus paying homage to the food of Bombay.
As the business is growing, its management team looked to adopt a software system to enable tighter control and mobility alongside organising staff and maintaining a positive guest experience to ensure each café was running at optimum capability.
NFS’s Aloha system was selected due to its all-encompassing nature to enable full management, including measurements and reporting capability in real time. Aloha has also allowed Dishoom to monitor social media activity and customer engagement to ensure any comments are acknowledged and responded to as quickly as possible.
Says Brian Trollip, Dishoom’s Head of Operations: “Dishoom’s philosophy is steeped in the traditional values of Bombay, bringing the culture, vibe and eating styles to London and we are really thrilled with how it has been received, leading us to grow and establish a further two cafes with more in the pipeline.
“However, with growth, we have to be careful not to lose this essence, which takes intensive management control and focused mobility.
Aloha has proven to be a powerful standalone POS software solution that provides all the information and more to ensure the smooth running of our cafes. We especially like the link of social media so we can see all the feedback from our loyal customer base.”
Aloha from NFS is proven to optimise real time restaurant management and actively increases revenues. With NFS Aloha Orderman, Dishoom can optimise hand held devices specifically designed to deliver orders straight from the table to the kitchen.
In addition, using, Dishoom is using NFS specialist hosted solutions including Restaurant Guard, Gift Card, Loyalty and Insight alongside specialists CFC software to enable management of all three Café locations from just the one unique system.
Luis de Souza, CEO of NFS Technology Concludes:
“Dishoom is a unique dining concept that has paid particular attention to recreate a Bombay café experience in London. With such a specific formula to follow, the focus must be on creating the right vibe to remain successful using a combination of highly reliable technology to run the restaurant operation and great customer facing solutions such as mobile ordering integrated credit cards and social media which deliver a total experience for both the restaurant operator and the guest.”
If there’s one thing that’s appreciated at Luigi Malones, it’s a loyal customer. And with a new loyalty programme provided by Aloha EPOS from NFS Hospitality, the customers are returning in droves – and enjoying a range of rewards as well.
The Irish chain has restaurants in Dublin, Cork and Limerick. Named after an imaginary Italian who loved spaghetti, Luigi Malones is a very popular family-style restaurant.
To build business, a loyalty programme was set up a few years ago, but there was no link to the chain’s in-house till system. As a result, customer transactions and points were sometimes lost. So in April 2006, Aloha Enterprise was installed on a hosted basis, saving the chain any new investment in IT and assuring complete reliability.
The Hosted Solution
According to Luis DeSouza, Managing Director of NFS, the hosted solution represents a major trend in hospitality software: outsourcing of head office IT. “This solution allows any client to link its loyalty programme to its EPOS. The client saves significant money as no investment in IT is required. It also saves on administration time at head office and, as Aloha Enterprise is an online system, it provides access to information from any point in the world,” he comments.
Peter Darragh, Day Manager at the Temple Bar restaurant in Dublin, says the linked system has exceeded his expectations. He also appreciates Aloha’s flexibility. “It’s completely configurable,” he says. “If we want to link it to a particular printer for the use of waiting staff, it’s no problem. It’s also easy to make any seasonal changes to our menu.”
“I used to work for a hospitality software company so I know POS systems,” continues Peter. “Installing Aloha was the smoothest transition I have ever seen – it took only two days. And as it’s a hosted system designed for head office use, we get an overview of all three restaurants without having to contact them separately. This saves a lot of admin time.”
The Customer Royalty Card – for Rewards and Promotions
Luigi Malones’ new programme is called the ‘Customer Royalty Card’, with customers accumulating ‘royalty points’ each time they pay their bill. The card automatically tracks and updates expenditure and customers may use the cards at all three restaurants.
In just a few months, the Temple Bar restaurant alone attracted more than 500 customers to its loyalty programme. “We have a good clientele and they can see the benefits,” Peter says. “With the loyalty card they know exactly how many points they accrue with each visit as it’s right on the bill. They don’t have to wait for the statement.”
For the chain, the biggest benefit is that all the data capture is done by Aloha. “The loyalty programme does not increase our workload at all,” notes Peter. “It’s a totally streamlined system.”
In addition, Luigi Malones runs a lunch promotion: the 10th lunch is free – and it’s shown automatically on the card.”The customers are really happy and we’re happy as well. Not only are we getting lots of new and return business but the system is great for training purposes. Aloha is very intuitive so it takes only fifteen minutes to train a new employee. It really is user-friendly.”
Peter stresses how much he likes the support he gets from NFS. “The tech team really know their stuff,” he says.
Next Step – Corporate Loyalty?
Going forward, Luigi Malones is considering the introduction of a Corporate Royalty Card. “We’re starting to look at it,” says Peter. “We’re already making a list of companies and we plan to start tasting evenings soon. As the customer loyalty card works so well, we believe that companies will also be interested. And we know we can rely on Aloha Enterprise to handle all the new business we can generate.”
