iPad Point of Sale Saves Time at Fish & Co and Scarlett Begonia4 min read
The two restaurants are just about as different as they can be – one a fast casual restaurant chain, the other a single location, full-service bistro. They are in two very different parts of the world – one in Singapore, the other in sunny Santa Barbara. One serves lunch and dinner and is open from 11:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. seven days a week; the other serves breakfast and lunch, opening for coffee at 7:00 a.m., but only offering its full menu from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., Sunday through Wednesday. One serves unique Mediterranean-style fish and seafood in a pan, the other seasonally-based gourmet American fare. One has been in business for almost 14 years, the other for barely 4 weeks. And, while both restaurants use iPad point of sale devices and share the distinction of being the first restaurant in their respective market to integrate those systems with a backend POS, they use those systems very differently – one provides iPad menus to its customers and lets them control when and how they order and how they pay, the other equips each of its servers with an iPad menu to facilitate wireless tableside ordering. But, despite all of their differences, both restaurants are seeing great results.
Fish & Co, a leading restaurant chain in Singapore, began using iPad point of sale system earlier this year. The restaurant has reported significant benefits; of special note, customer-controlled ordering has cut ordering time by 50% and freed servers to focus on hospitality and customer service.
Fish & Co also reported increases in food sales, especially dessert cakes. The company attributes that, at least in part, to a feature on their iPad point of sale system which recommends side orders to accompany a selected dish and prompts guests to order beverages and desserts with their meal.
Fish & Co, which began using 30 iPad menus at its flagship location at The Glass House earlier this year, is the first Singaporean restaurant to wirelessly integrate the iPad point of sale to a POS system on the back end.
Fish & Co customers can search by ingredients, customize their order, and send their order directly to the kitchen. The integrated iPad point of sale system also let customers connect to social media sites, Twitter and Facebook, where they can leave a comment or post a picture of the dish they’re eating right from their iPad menu.
The restaurant’s marketing manager, Jayss Rajashwary, says the company plans to expand the iPad point of sale program to its other restaurants in the near future. In addition to its flagship store, Fish & Co has 15 other locations in Singapore, 3 in Malaysia, 3 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 6 in Indonesia, and 5 in the Philippines.
(See how “POS iPad Cuts Serving Time at The Curve for Conveyor Belt Sushi” in this previous blog post.)
In California, a new café, the Scarlett Begonia, opened in Santa Barbara’s Victoria Court last month to rave reviews. It is reportedly the first restaurant in Santa Barbara to use an iPad point of sale system. The local, organic, and sustainable food-focused breakfast and lunch spot serves what can best be described as a gourmet reinterpretation of contemporary American cuisine.
Servers input orders directly into a handheld iPad point of sale device, right at the table, without having to waste time going back and forth to a stationary POS terminal. Food and beverage orders are wirelessly transmitted to the kitchen and entered into the queue in real time — reducing waiting time for guests and enabling the wait-staff to handle more tables.
The European-style bistro is also dog-friendly, with not one, but two, dog-friendly patios (one upstairs, one downstairs). Another first: while the Scarlett Begonia doesn’t offer a canine menu, rumor is that your dog is welcome to order a biscuit, too, which the server can request via the mobile iPad point of sale device. Each canine guest does receive a complementary biscuit and a bowl of fresh water while they wait.
Disclaimer: This is an independent report sourced from one or more news articles and or press releases; none of the company’s, entities or technologies digressed in this report are affiliated with or a client of Aptito.
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