“That was why we chose Tabology initially. We wanted something cloud-based rather than an on-premise system, because various people need to be able to access the back office, and we want to be able to operate it remotely. The thing I initially liked most was that we immediately had control of the stock”.

“The integrated nature of the Tabology system means that as well as being a till, the back office functionality enables us to manage stock, and also to get our pricing right. We’ve seen incredible cost increases come though the supply chain in the past six months, and we can make sure we’re charging at the right level, not making a loss, which has been really important.”

Sue is able to use the stock management feature to generate a list of the pub’s key products, check supplier prices, and move ordering from one wholesaler to another according to which has the best pricing.

With the addition of food, The Mardale Inn has introduced table ordering using an iPad, with food orders automatically routed to the kitchen, and drinks to the bar. “This has significantly improved our efficiency and speed, as the chef gets the orders immediately,” says Sue. “Staff and volunteers all use the till system, which they find easy to use. We’ve done some basic till training, and Tabology has screenshots of key tasks, which is helpful.“

We also use the Staff Scheduling functionality not only to record the hours worked by employees as they log on and off the system, ensuring the payroll is accurate, but also those worked by volunteers.

The Mardale has also implemented Tabology’s Gift Card and Loyalty Card options. “Our volunteers are signed up to the loyalty scheme, and we give them discounts through their membership that they can spend in the pub, based on the hours they work, which we can top up through the EPOS.”

The Gift Card option has also proved very popular. “We communicate a lot on social media, particularly as some of the people who invested in the pub have links with the area, but aren’t based locally. We were approached by a number asking if we could do gift cards which they could buy for relatives in the Valley,” say Sue.

“The timing was perfect, as Tabology was about to release their new Gift Card functionality. We got it up and running, and we loved it. People also buy them locally to redeem in the pub, so we sold loads over Christmas.”

Overall, says Sue, “the support from Tabology is brilliant. We have used it a number of times for help when we’ve started using new features such as ordering, and also if issues arise, such as when we needed help to understand the offline mode following an internet issue. Tabology has always responded incredibly quickly, even in the middle of a busy session like New Year’s Eve! 

“We would definitely recommend Tabology to other operators – and we have. The system is easy to use, and covers so many parts of the pub business.”