The Queen's Head, Canterbury
“Tabology are at work when we’re at work, which is perfect. You can’t be in this industry and not have the support there when it’s needed." Claire Hammond, Licensee.
Located close to a busy road on the route through Kent, the Queen’s Head offers a welcome to locals, visitors and travellers, with freshly cooked pub food, daily specials, and a drinks offer including cask ales from Kent brewer Shepherd Neame.
Licensee Claire Hammond took on the tenancy of the 16th century pub, located in the picturesque village of Boughton-under-Blean, in 2021. In autumn 2023, the existing EPOS was replaced with Tabology's Bar EPOS system. “Our old system Square just couldn’t keep up with the volume of sales,” says Claire. “It would crash, and it would constantly lose signal even though it was connected by ethernet and Wi-Fi. It would typically crash at busy times, such as a Saturday night when we had an event on.
“I was looking for an alternative, and when I read the reviews of Tabology, I thought we should give it a go.” The Tabology system now supports the busy pub well beyond just EPOS, and is used for staff scheduling, stocktaking, managing orders and deliveries, running the 'Team Queens' customer loyalty programme, as well as to manage food orders through the kitchen.
“The integration between different functions makes life so much easier, because everything is literally all in the same place,” says Claire. “I’ve also integrated our card machines from Dojo with Tabology, so all our card payments go through the system.”
In terms of customers, “we have a really supportive group of locals, and people also seek us out because of the good reviews we’ve had for our food. We also offer motor home stops for tourists on their way to and from Dover, they can park overnight and will come in for dinner.”
With a regularly updated menu, including the specials, as well as seasonal beers becoming available. “it’s very straightforward to add new products and pricing,” says Claire. All sales alter our stock levels in real-time, so the back office automatically flags up when products need to be reordered.
Customers can order at the bar, where there are two fixed iPad EPOS devices, with two more iPads used to take orders at tables in the pubs two restaurant areas, and two more screens in the kitchen, using the kitchen management system.
One of the kitchen screens is “for front-of-house staff to use, to see where the orders are going without having to ask the chef, while the other is for the chef, and even though he’s been in the business a long time and loves paper, he’s happy to read the orders on screen. All the staff find the Tabology system very straightforward to use.”
The Team Queen’s membership programme, managed through the Tabology loyalty feature, “definitely encourages customers to come back. They get a point per pound they spend, and are always asking what their points balance is. It has the most appeal to regulars, but we offer it to everybody. All they have to do is tick the box to opt in for birthday and other offers sent to their email.” Customers are sent a member pass to add to Apple or Google Wallets, so they never forget it and staff can quicly scan it when they place an order.
In terms of support, “Tabology are at work when we’re work, which is perfect. You can’t be in this industry and not have the support there when it’s needed. For example, I had an issue during a busy service, I messaged Tabology via Telegram and within minutes they message back telling me how to fix it – but because I was so busy they were able to sort it out for me remotely.
“Tabology and Dojo as an integrated service work really well together, and will support each other when needed. I’d happily recommend Tabology to anyone - in fact, I regularly do.”
To find out more about our pub EPOS and how it could work in your venue, get in touch with our team of hospitality experts, to arrange a demo or free trial.
