Thai time, Sussex
“Tabology's support is amazing. They have the same small company ethos as us, and you get the personal service that you wouldn't from a larger company” Mark Williams, Co-Owner - Thai time.
Promising its customers no compromise and no substitutions, just 100% honest, authentic Thai cuisine, made using fresh local produce, Thai time operates two popular restaurants, in Arundel, West Sussex, and Forest Row, East Sussex. The business is now using Tabology’s Restaurant EPOS to manage both the eat-in and takeaway sides of its business.
Mark Williams, co-owner of Thai time, explains that ensuring that all its customers enjoy their meal at its optimum in terms of food freshness and quality has been one of the key benefits of switching to Tabology's Restaurant EPOS system, by allowing the business to manage demand.
“We have a strong takeaway trade alongside our restaurant business, and customers need to book early to get a collection slot, especially at busy times. We initially introduced the slot system during lockdown to manage social distancing, and it works well for us.
“When you’re cooking and serving fresh food to a high standard you can’t have orders coming in willy-nilly, because everyone would want the most popular time slots, which are likely to be the times when the restaurant is also busy, and the kitchen just doesn’t have the capacity. Tabology’s EPOS manages the process. We take a telephone order, so the collection slot we give the customer is recorded, and the kitchen knows when the food needs to be ready. That’s all managed through the till.”
Thai time implemented Tabology’s EPOS after looking to replace a previous system, “which served a purpose, but it was clunky. It was an adaptation of a system that had been developed for pop-up food businesses and market traders.”
After speaking to several recommended providers, Mark felt he developed a rapport with Tabology, and was impressed by both its willingness to adapt, and the speed at which changes could be implemented.
“While some of the software wasn’t exactly what we needed at first, as soon as we started suggesting features we’d like, they’d put them in the development pipeline. While with some companies, that pipeline would be very long, with Tabology what we’d asked for came through very quickly.”
An early win was the introduction of a ‘Mains Away’ button on the till. “Once we’ve cleared the starters, we need to let the kitchen know that we want the main meals. It’s much easier to press a button than to run in and tell them, and that was implemented quickly.”
Tabology’s Table Plan function on its Restaurant EPOS enables Thai time staff to see a graphical layout of the restaurant rather than simply a list of table numbers. “It means staff can find the tables easily, which is helpful when they’re new or if you’ve had to reconfigure tables, such as turn two fours into an eight. That often happens at Arundel in particular, when tables in the garden are moved or reconfigured, and we can make the change on the till very easily.”
Thai time staff have no issues with picking up the nuts and bolts of the EPOS, such as the printer routing function, which ensures that food orders print in the kitchen and drink orders go to the bar.
In addition, ”the payment side is very easy,” says Mark. “At Forest Row in particular, there are a lot of youngsters who want to split the bill, not equally but in terms of just paying for what they’ve had. Using our old system it was complicated – we would have to void certain items, ring others up to take the payment, and then bring back the voided items – which would print an order in the kitchen, so you’d have to go and tell them it’s not a new order! With Tabology, we can very easily select just the items we want to take payment for, and if someone needs to leave early, the tab continues for the others in the party.”
Overall, says Mark, “Tabology’s support is amazing. They have the same small company ethos as us, and you get the personal service that you wouldn’t from a larger company.
“All our key members of staff are part of the WhatsApp support group. They can ask a question at any time, and there’s always someone on hand. If it’s a more complicated problem, they ring us. Things do go wrong in a busy restaurant. For example, if the wi-fi goes down and you need help to restore the system when trading is busy, those are the times when you really need the support.”
To find out more about our Restaurant EPOS, and how it could work in your venue, get in touch.
