Octepos hospitality EPOS system at The White Hart better manage stock and staffing

United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland -- Free-Press-Release.com-- Apr 15, 2010 -- Situated in old Headington, a pleasant Oxfordshire suburb, The White Hart pub offers a homely, rural feel in the village centre, opposite the medieval church. Served by lively staff, a mix of regulars and occasional visitors enjoy a broad selection of real ales, such as Tiger Bitter, Pitch Black Stout or Burton Bridge’s Wonder Wully. The pub also offers bar snacks and traditional pub food, from starters to sweets. In October 2008, Dan Smaje acquired the premises and spared no effort in organising special events. In May last year, a beer festival took place a beer with more than 20 casks ales and delicious barbecue throughout the day.


Some months later, Dan assessed the performance of The White Hart and noticed several deficiencies. First he saw that stock-control process was regularly problematic. “Certain stock would be very up, whilst other stock was very down.” Indeed he couldn’t prevent both over- and under-order and he obviously needed a closer control to reduce potential ordering errors.


As he sought a solution, Dan noted a second issue; in fact the main cause of the first one. The pub’s till had become obsolete and faulty. It led to harder staff training, errors recording the take and supply mistakes as well. “The till we had was archaic, it was an old system and every button needed to double up as something else. This meant it was a slow, time consuming process for staff to use it, and even harder for our part timers who would often struggle to remember where things were,” says Smaje.


Dan decided that the best way to overcome these problems was to invest in a new cutting edge hospitality EPOS system ; a swift, easy to use till, and an easy way to keep on the top of the stock movements. Dan chose the Octepos hospitality EPOS solution. “When I met Octepos and they showed me the features of their system I was very impressed. Price wise, it was in the same range as a standard touch screen till, but its additional functionality over other EPOS systems we looked at meant it exceeded my requirements, and I could see the additional features would be a big bonus to my business.”


The London-based EPOS company provided the White Hart with a comprehensive solution, including integrated hardware and software. The equipment consisted of Toshiba ST-A10 touch screen till, a thermal receipt printer, and a bar code scanner. As regards the software, the in-house team implemented Accounts, Loyalty, Bookings and Table Planner modules, installed by default in every Octepos hospitality EPOS system. It enabled the White Hart to stay in control of stock and accounts, as well as raising customer satisfaction with personal promotions, efficient bookings and a well run front of house.


To better serve customers, Smaje also chose to sell mobile E-Top-Up. This meant another advantage for him too. “I was keen to maximise the bottom line of the business. The benefits from incremental revenue streams such as the mobile top-up market seemed too good an opportunity to pass up,” he comments. On average E-Top-Up retailers in the UK earn £700 per annum from commission paid by the mobile networks, and the service is free to offer through Octepos’ hospitality EPOS system.


According to the owner, results were striking. Gross profit rose within weeks of the installation, and has increased again since. The most notable contribution to profit came from the wage pool, due to a reshuffling of staff hours around the trends of takings per hour shown in a chart produced by the EPOS system.


By connecting key business operations through EPOS till, Octepos helps the White Hart run more effectively. Against any technical issues, the expert support team gives the pub direct assistance.


“It is a system I would definitely recommend to others; its ease of use, especially going into the back office to put on new products which I find it pretty easy, especially with little computer knowledge. If I do have any problems, I give the support engineer a call and they just talk me though it, and if they can’t talk me through it they just do it themselves using remote access though my broadband – so it’s all pretty simple,” concludes Dan.


Octepos is a unique EPOS partner, integrating all payment, transaction and business services into one easy to operate system. Combining a wide range of services including EPOS, card payments, stock management, customer loyalty and globally accessible business reporting, Octepos frees customers from the burden of managing multiple suppliers by seamlessly coordinating diverse technologies on their behalf.


The Octepos system is built on sister company CES Software’s EPOS platform; a technology developed over 10 years and now found at the heart of some 30,000 businesses in the UK and overseas. Robust and flexible, our systems are supported by a dedicated team of EPOS specialists, software developers and account managers; all of whom would be delighted to speak with you and help with your questions today. Please call 0845 053 5318 or learn more about our hospitality EPOS systems.

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