“The fact that it’s a well-integrated platform was a big part of the appeal. It didn’t feel like we had a whole load of add-ons that had been bolted together from third party sources, and didn’t really gel together. I definitely felt that with Tabology, somebody who understood the bar trade had pulled together the various functions. It’s all geared towards enabling us to make the right decisions, with the relevant data at our fingertips, as opposed to having to go hunting for it.”

No more death by spreadsheet

Right decisions are the key when it comes to getting staffing right. It’s a delicate balance between having enough staff to cope if it gets busy, and not having too many on and losing money.

Bar Manager Dave Millard, who joined RedWillow just after they implemented Tabology's EPOS and management software in early 2024, immediately felt the benefits of a staff scheduling system that does the hard work for you.

"With previous systems I've worked with, you had to input the rota on one sheet, then work out sales forecasts and wage percentages separately. I was using three different apps. Now, it's all in one place, so I avoid messing around with spreadsheets and jumping between apps."

“Made life easier…”

This connected system not only saves RedWillow time – it also helps them optimise their rotas and reduces costs, all while saving managers time and freeing them up to achieve more.

"It's easier to compare wages and sales with previous years – it tells you when you're heavy or light so you can plan more accurately. You can see real-time wage/sales percentages in the iPad EPOS without having to go to the back office, and the clocking system is built in with the sales data, which saves you having to use separate systems."

“The longer you have it, the more accurate it becomes, and it gives you the ability to check back and explain why you were under or over forecast.”

Tabology’s EPOS staff scheduling tools even do the little things for you: “Staff automatically get notifications when the rotas are live. As soon as the manager is happy with it, we hit a button and the emails go out straight away.”

“It’s definitely made my life easier in terms of staffing. It’s much more streamlined and easier to use than any other system I’ve worked with,” Dave says.

A truly all-in-one EPOS for bars

While Tabology’s staff scheduling system has helped RedWillow streamline, they’re also taking advantage of a host of other features.

Part of Tabology’s initial appeal to RedWillow was its loyalty and marketing module, which has enabled their memorably named Not So Pointless Loyalty Card scheme. Customers can sign up for membership online or in the bars using a QR code, then collect and redeem points for discounts and offers in either venue, as it’s centrally managed.

Toby adds: “If we have a product that is proving particularly sticky, we can push out promotions, and as we’re gaining more information about the styles of beer that individuals are drinking, we can tailor marketing towards them. We can segment customer information 100%.”

New beers are continually in development at the brewery, and when a beer is ready to go on sale, the GP and pricing are set centrally, and sent out to the tills in both venues via the Tabology system. “We use the shift notes feature on the till to push information about new beers out to staff, including tasting notes, and how to describe it to customers. We also use Tabology’s integration with the Untappd App to upload information on our beers for consumers.”

Beyond its own products, RedWillow uses Tabology’s back office stock management system to log deliveries and generate order recommendations based on sales. “The stocktaking module in the system works perfectly. In fact, I think it works better than the staff sometimes – it’s easy to make mistakes when counting manually. I also like the way that the managers can annotate their reports at the end of the week, with commentary on why revenue is up or down, and if they have any concerns. 

“One of the things I appreciate with Tabology is their openness. For example, we had an issue with trying to upload sales forecasts. We raised it, they confirmed they could see the issue and fixed it quickly. With our previous system, you’d raise an issue and it could be a couple of days before you hear anything.”

“I’d recommended Tabology to other operators without a doubt. The time and money we invested in doing that with Tabology has been very well spent.”