The Wheatsheaf, Crowborough
"If we put in the cost to us of a product, and the selling price, the system tells us what GP we're making, so we can adjust if needed." Peter Randall, Licensee.
The Wheatsheaf in Crowborough is, says licensee Peter Randall, “an old school, classic boozer.” He adds: “We’re a small pub in a fairly small town, and it’s nearly all local trade. Our business is mainly wet-led, and we do a little food as well.”
The Wheatsheaf has used the Tabology pub EPOS system for five years, managing food and drink sales to customers, as well as the integration with Xero (the pub’s cloud accounting system) to simplify the accounting process.
The pub, run by Peter and Becky Randall, serves traditional cask beers from Sussex family brewer Harvey’s as part of a broad drink range. “Our food and drink are all on the till, so when we we get a new guest ale in, it’s very simple to add a new code to the till, and our food menu also changes more-or-less daily. It’s straightforward to add something, or to make a change to prices on the till,” says Pete
“It’s great from the back end as well; if we put in the cost to us of a product, and the selling price, the system tells us what GP we’re making, so we can adjust it if needed.”
Additional features of the Tabology pub EPOS system proved invaluable to the Wheatsheaf when the initial COVID lockdown in 2020 shut down the hospitality sector. In response to regulars who were anxious to show their support, the pub set up a customer account system.
“When we were shut, we enabled customers to buy vouchers, which we added as a member balance to their account on the EPOS. It generated cash flow for us while we were essentially taking no money, and allowed regulars to support their local.”
When the pub reopened and was initially required to log contact information, the fact that so many regulars had opened customer accounts streamlined the process. “It was easier to just check them in and out on their members’ account, than to have to worry about taking their contact details each time.”
The customer accounts have continued to proved their worth, says Peter. “What happens now is that people will come in and stick, say, £100 on their account, and when it’s gone we can just give them a nudge and they can top their balance up again.
“Through the membership system on the EPOS, we can track when people have been in, what they’ve purchased and how much they’ve spent. Also, if we haven’t seen a customer for a while, we can check with them that everything’s all right. We’ve done that a few times.”
The Wheatsheaf was also able to use the EPOS system to manage table service and outdoor-only trading when required by COVID regulations. “One member of staff could be in the garden with an iPad taking orders, which would appear on the iPad behind the bar, where another staff member was pouring the drinks, which the first member could collect and deliver to the table. It all worked brilliantly,” The pub is now back to taking orders at the bar, but knows the option for table service is there if needed.
Peter adds: “The Tabology system is very easy for staff to pick up. I love the fact that Tabology is always expanding on it – a few times, I’ve emailed them to suggest something, and they say they’re already working on it!” One example was the table plan function. “Now, we can bring up a plan of the whole pub, showing the layout of the tables, and we know which have a tab running on them, which are free, and so on.”
Stocktakes are made easy with the EPOS, by keeping track of deliveries, sales and any waste.
“We can do all the stocktakes through the till. I can log on and it will tell me how many bottles of Peroni I should have, for example, so I can see straight away if anything’s not right.”
To find out more about our Pub EPOS, and how it could work in your venue, get in touch.
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