“Implementing Tabology has been a really pleasant experience, which is definitely something you can’t always say about tech companies. We’re really impressed not just with the software, but with the service and support around it.”

With the majority of beer products changing on a frequent basis, and a range that differs from site to site, Tabology’s core product management functionality has delivered significant benefits, says Steven. “We now have a multi-site dashboard, where we create new product listings and push them down to each site. With the previous system, although we could create products, it became really clunky to use.

“Now, we can see the range in each business individually, as well as take an overview. For me that’s been a godsend, as it’s my job to generate those reports.”

As a new product becomes available, it’s entered onto the system, priced, and added remotely to the EPOS at the appropriate venue. Just as importantly for efficient stock management in a craft beer business, products can be easily taken off the system.

“We’re able to have a view for each site of all the products we’re holding at any time, and remove them when they’re no longer in use. Some are one-offs and won’t be coming back, but some are repeat products, so we can easily hide them, and then bring them back as needed.”

With Tabology able to access information on beers from the popular Untappd app, “now that Tabology is in use at all our sites we’ve started to link more to Untappd, which is good for repeat products. We tend to be one of the first operators to get new brews, so we’re sometimes ahead of Untappd.

“We do stocktakes and generate stock reports through the Tabology back office, which has proven to be more streamlined than systems we’ve used previously. The GMs really like the fact that they can count physical stock directly onto the stock sheet, through their iPads, rather than have to manually count and then enter the total onto a spreadsheet. It cuts out an entire step, which saves time.

“I also really like the reporting function, which makes it very simple to drill down into the individual stock reports, as well as to get a view across the business. All the information is in one place. Previously using Lightspeed, we would have to have generated five separate reports and then compile them into the single report we need.”

With Tabology’s support, Mother Kelly’s is now also trialling the transfer of stock between venues, while maintaining a clear overview of stock levels. “We held a company-wide event, a sour beer festival. We had a large delivery of beer from the US which was delivered to one of our sites, and was then distributed around the business. Tabology were able to support us to make sure it all worked in terms of the stock being properly accounted for and allocated.”

Front-of-house, customers place orders at the bar, which are processed on-screen via the Tabology terminal, “which is very straightforward to use, it’s simple to navigate, and it’s easy to tailor options such as spirits and mixers, which are all on the system. Once we’ve set everything up right in terms of the options and drop-down menus, it’s very smooth.

Food orders are transmitted to a printer in the kitchen, Tabology’s functionality also enables customer to run tabs, as well as to split the tab when individuals within a group want to pay separately.

Mother Kelly’s also plans to implement further Tabology functionality. “Managers don’t always like change, so to an extent we’ve been drip-feeding functions that we know we’re going to use more, such as pre-booking tables, and the loyalty scheme function.”     

Overall, says Steven, “there have been very few problems, and when something does happen, it’s very easy to rectify. The real-time support has been one of the biggest plusses of switching to Tabology. It’s never more than a few minutes until we get a response, which was very useful to me when I was setting everything up, and the managers can access support when they need it.”

He sums up: “I’ve been in the industry for 25 years, and trying to find an integrated POS and stock management system that actually works has been difficult. To find one that does work has been great.”