Impact magazine

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 9 Winter/Spring 2010

Green’s invests in best of British TopGolf embraces smart technology spudulike sees the big picture EAT appreciates flexibility

Welcome to Impact 9 A warm welcome to Impact. Inside we highlight several account gains. These include the new prestigious Green’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar in London, south west England cask-ale specialists, Bath Ales, innovative transatlantic TopGolf concept, famous for its smart computerised microchip golf balls, and spudulike, the national fast food takeaway chain, where deliciously filled steaming hot baked potatoes are selling like hot cakes. Although all four are vastly different hospitality businesses with their own unique requirements, they share the need for fast, accurate and reliable EPOS and the associated business reporting and intelligence benefits synonymous with IBS. Like our clients, we’re always looking to enhance our proposition with our own innovations. Our new kitchen video system and an interval drinks module immediately spring to mind. Both these new developments have evolved through customers identifying a requirement and challenging our development teams to find the best possible answer to help them build stronger, more effective enterprises. If you want the same, simply ask us. Like EAT did when they wanted to use Stocklink.net to interface elements of its business together.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover: Green’s Restaurant & Oyster Bar in London. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by AFC (www.afc-uk.org, 0161 798 8810). If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail me on deeP@ibs-systems.co.uk. We’re always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS Green’s banks on IBS technology for new restaurant launch

Green’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar, one of London’s most prestigious fine dining names, has appointed Intelligent Business Systems to install a full EPOS solution at its new Cornhill site, located in the grade II listed former Lloyds Bank headquarters.

The critically-acclaimed restaurant, originally established by Simon Parker Bowles in the early eighties in London’s west end, has installed a combination of POSLink touchscreen technology, PC POS bar and waiter station terminals, with biometric fingerprint log on, and multiple kitchen printers for different areas of the two kitchens. StockLink online has also been installed to give the management a virtual head office and a customised online loyalty solution.

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This is the second Green’s opened by Simon Parker Bowles, who has the backing of fellow shareholders, Lord Daresbury and Lord Vestry.

“Green’s effectively has two operations on the one site. We have a 250 capacity banking hall bar called ‘The Runner’, a reference to the bank ‘runners’ who ran Bank of England bonds up until the eighties, and a 136 cover mezzanine restaurant. They are serviced by two kitchens and two bars and over 60 staff,” said Green’s business development director, Shane Munro.

“While the restaurants have rightly built their reputation on fine dining, fresh seafood, exceptional wines, whiskies and champagne, service is equally as important.

Not just from the customer experience but also in terms of the accuracy and speed of taking and delivering orders. IBS has helped us achieve this as well as giving us the necessary business tools to build on our successful launch, including online loyalty and account cards,” he said.

“Green’s is a superb, proven brand and we’re delighted to be involved in this exciting launch. Our EPOS solution will help provide the Green’s team with the tools for an efficient and effective front of house operation, whilst also giving them the ability to add value to their customer relationship activities through POSLink’s promotional and loyalty module,” said Gareth Powell, managing director of Intelligent Business Systems.

News from IBS

Swinging into action with TopGolf TopGolf, an innovative, high technology transatlantic golf concept, has teed up IBS to upgrade the EPOS solutions for its three UK golf games centres. The new solution includes static and Wi-Fi handheld terminals, POSLink touchscreen software and a loyalty module to reward members at the revolutionary new sports entertainment complexes. “Our golf balls have computerised microchips so we can track accuracy and distance while awarding points for hitting targets. Golfers can practice their skills, receive tuition and compete with one another from a choice of half a dozen great

games that test skills and nerve in equal measure,” said TopGolf operations director, James Jenkins. Part of the total experience includes a fully licensed food and drink offering delivered by ‘caddies’ to the golf suites. Originally launched in 2000 in Watford, north west London, TopGolf now has additional UK facilities in Chigwell, East London and Addlestone, Surrey.

TopGolf operations director, James Jenkins, writes about the innovative new sports entertainment concept on pages 4 & 5

Video system smash hit with spudulike IBS has developed a bespoke paperless food preparation video system for spudulike, the national fast food takeaway brand serving up freshly baked filled potatoes in many of the UK’s leading shopping centres. The module strips out the elements of the order not relevant to staff preparing food and drink and provides both realtime and historical sales statistics that can be viewed at each site and by the head office, allowing management teams to measure and monitor sales through the path of potatoes sold per half hour. The food preparation video module is an integral component of the core IBS EPOS touchscreen solution, which revolves

EAT eliminates variances thanks to IBS integration

around a combination of POSLink and StockLink software. A nutritious, healthy alternative to other quick service concepts, spudulike is a finely tuned small footprint concept. IBS built its solution around a microtill complete with an inbuilt thermal printer to save space. Each terminal runs POSLink touchscreen software with one per unit also hosting StockLink for reporting and stock control. spudulike, originally launched in the seventies, adds tasty fillings like beans, chilli, cheese, chicken tikka and tuna and sweetcorn to baked potatoes. It currently has 54 sites and is looking to add more as it expands its estate.

Perfect Pitch at Hawth

IBS has integrated StockLink.net into the existing IT capability of the EAT fast food chain to eliminate variances and introduce good practice workflows. It was selected as the most appropriate partner for the project after a thorough audit of the EPOS market by EAT head of IT, Rene Batsford. He said: “IBS was more than happy to be flexible and do the integration work unlike many of its competitors. The team could demonstrate they’d done this sort of work before and could look after all our needs.”

EAT head of IT, Rene Batsford, explains why flexibility is important to the fast food chain on pages 8 & 9

Bath Ales taps into IBS Bath Ales, an award-winning craft brewer and independent pub group based in the south west of England, has commissioned IBS to install EPOS systems at two of its pubs in Bristol, The Wellington and the Graze Bar & Chophouse. The solutions use PC POS terminals, POSLink touchscreen technology, kitchen printers and StockLink for business sheets, stock control and a virtual head office. As well as a superb brewery, Bath Ales operates a bottling plant and a brewery shop alongside ten pubs in the cities of Bristol and Bath. The pubs offer a selection of ales, great food and a welcoming, friendly atmosphere. Robin Couling, retail operations manager, said:

“We’re delighted with the installation of the new EPOS systems as this will give us a greater insight into our business and allow us a fantastic platform for improved efficiency and growth, as well as the potential for customer loyalty schemes.”

IBS has won a four-way pitch to install a new touchscreen EPOS solution for Crawley Borough Council. The new system, which networks the food and drink operations at Crawley’s Town Hall, the popular Hawth theatre and arts centre and the Tillgate nature park, includes PC POS touchscreen terminals, POSLink and StockLink software. As part of the contract, IBS designed and developed an intervals drinks module for the busy theatre, which has multiple performance areas and hosts numerous corporate events and special functions throughout the year.

Steve Riddlington talks about the prefect pitch on pages 6 & 7 3

RIGHT ON TARGET WITH TOPGOLF TopGolf has taken the concept of the traditional golf range and transformed it into an exciting entertainment leisure venue for families, friends and businesses complete with ‘caddie’ waiter service and loyalty schemes, as operations director, James Jenkins, explains exclusively to Impact.

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At the heart of TopGolf is a computerised golf ball, originally developed by three golfnut guys from Watford to help them practise on the driving range. As well as being addicted to golf, they also loved technology and came up with a unique concept. They developed and planted a small, ingenious microchip at the core of an ordinary golf ball to enable the distance and accuracy to be tracked and recorded when it was hit at targets on the outfield.

While this was, and still is, a fantastic aid to conventional golf practice and tuition, we quickly appreciated this really smart patented technology had massive potential to revolutionise what a driving range could deliver to its customers. After all, if we can pinpoint the exact distance from the intended target of every ball hit and who struck it, we can also introduce scoring and have golfers competing against one another in the same way as bowlers do when they go ten-pin bowling.

And this is exactly what we’ve done with the technology. We’ve created half a dozen great fun games to test people’s chipping, accuracy, versatility, consistency and competitive spirit.

Up to four or five players can go head to head in spacious, comfortable all-weather golf bays, or golf suites as we like to call them. Their scores are shown real-time on large screens, just like ten-pin bowling. They hit balls at a number of colour-coded targets (which are the same size as conventional golf greens), each colour representing a striking distance from twenty yards up to 250 yards. One of the games is even based on the principles of snooker. Once golfers have hit a red target they can select a colour of their choice. If they succeed with that shot, they then pick another red and then another colour and so on. The golfers score ‘breaks’ in the same way as snooker players. It really is great fun. All the games are designed to entertain and give endless hours of pleasure.

By transforming what golfers can do, we’ve changed the perception of the golf driving range as a limited venue for players to hit balls by themselves with little or no interaction. In its place, we’ve created a revolutionary sporting experience with the focus on atmosphere and top class entertainment for family, friends and business colleagues.

Integral to our proposition as a leisure complex is a fully licensed food and drink offering for guests and members before, after or while they play. Delivering refreshments quickly and efficiently enhances the occasion and turns hitting golf balls into a memorable event.

Corporate hospitality and parties are proving to be very popular, especially for stag and hen parties who want to do something different and truly memorable.

The first TopGolf complex was opened in Watford earlier this decade. Since then, we’ve opened two more TopGolf complexes in Chigwell, East London and Addlestone, Surrey.

IBS outscored the competition as it ticked all the right boxes with the most appropriate solution, most notably on the Wi-Fi and loyalty fronts.

Chigwell recently celebrated its one millionth golfer, giving him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit a hole in one and collect a cool million quid.

We’re looking to open more and have funding in place for two or three new venues once we can find the right locations. Our criteria is simple: the complexes must have plenty of room with at least eight acres of reasonably priced land, be close to large cities with the right demographic mix and have sympathetic planners willing to grant permission for a twostorey building that can accommodate up to sixty bays. We’ve recently been looking at sites in Scotland, Birmingham and Newcastle, as well as closer to home around the M25 corridor.

There’s room and demand for at least half a dozen TopGolf complexes around the outskirts of London.

Further afield, the concept has also gone transatlantic with sites opened in Washington, Dallas and Chicago in the last couple of years.

Plans are also afoot to export the idea to mainland Europe and Asia when we find the right business partners.

Our commitment to getting things right extends to every aspect of our business, including the EPOS solution necessary to drive our food and drink operations. We’ve used Intelligent Business Systems since we opened and recently upgraded our system to give our golfers an even better service and added value benefits. We looked at the market to see what it had to offer only to find IBS outscored the competition as it ticked all the right boxes with

the most appropriate solution, most notably on the Wi-Fi and loyalty fronts.

The IBS solution gave us standalone terminals and Wi-Fi handhelds, the latter are crucial to us achieving the high levels of service for a fast food operation. Waiters and waitresses, or caddies as we’ve dubbed them, take orders for food and drink from the teeside and serve direct to the golf suites.

Our best sellers are the Proburger at just £8 and the £10.95 Kobe burger, although all the finger food is popular. Throughout the process, what I like about IBS is the ability to resolve issues. Wi-Fi over a large area like a golf range was a potential problem but the project team, led by Justin Atkinson, has helped us achieve trouble-free transmission.

Loyalty is really important to us as we market memberships to our customers ranging from £2 for a month up to £40 per month for Premier Unlimited, which includes 10% off all food and drink alongside numerous benefits. The loyalty package from IBS enables us to encourage additional spend and give something extra back to our members. We’re currently seeing spending levels at 50% of fee income. Our ideal situation is to double sales so F&B matches fees. The IBS solution should help us achieve this as we’ve already seen an increase in spend per visit with the new system in place.

We’re looking forward to untapping the full potential of the loyalty solution over the coming months and continuing our golfing revolution.

It’s a great challenge for us all.

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Drama? No drama..

Steve Riddlington is the catering manager for Crawley Borough Council, responsible for the food and drink operations at three venues in the town.

Here he describes how IBS was selected from a shortlist of four to install a new EPOS solution.

We decided a couple of years ago we needed to update to touchscreen technology to improve the speed and accuracy of the service we give to hundreds of thousands of people using our facilities every year - whether they are visiting the busy Hawth theatre for a show, concert or a function, having a bite to eat in the Town Hall or stopping for refreshments while enjoying the Tillgate nature park.

I should know, I was a fully trained chef in a previous life.

Before briefing our IT department to draw up the specification, we had a good look around at other similar public and theatrical venues using touchscreen solutions. We wanted to be clear what was out there in the marketplace and how the technology could benefit us.

Then the council could put the project out to tender.

All four of us marked each presentation and system out of 150 without any conferring so a fair and transparent decision would be reached. Each of us would do our scoring away from one another. It could have been a real drama, appropriate for a theatre that hosts an eclectic range of events from theatre, musicals and concerts to dance, comedy and performance art. However, there was none of the controversy you’d find on the X-Factor or Strictly Come Dancing.

We had also chatted extensively with everyone involved within the food and drink operation to get their perspective on how the new EPOS solution could help them be more effective in the workplace. For instance, our four chefs want front of house orders to be quick and easy to understand when they’re cooking over 40 individual meals in three quarters of an hour. Any confusion over orders inevitably slows things down and causes confusion.

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A short list of four of the country’s leading EPOS providers was drawn up and invited to demonstrate their recommended solutions to us. To ensure everyone was competing on a level playing field, we created a panel of four people representing the council, including theatre manager, Kevin Eason and myself.

Intelligent Business Systems came top, even though the quote from the team led by Gareth Powell, Mark Bagnall and Levi Bodra was neither the cheapest nor the most expensive. However, from my point of view, the IBS team recommended a system that more than met the requirements of our specification.

Thanks to IBS and our own catering team working together so well, we’ve considerably improved the way we do and approach things.

Our decision, taken earlier this year, was well founded, judging from the ease of the installation and the acceptance of the new technology by our front of house and back office staff. The system was up and running much faster than we expected, with staff picking it up very quickly. Initially, we’d give them half an hour before the start of a shift for them to get used to the system, because the vast majority are computer literate, it was a very smooth process.

they had to go to one location for food and another for the drinks.

Already, the new fully automated system is benefiting all of us working in the council’s catering department. Thanks to IBS and our own catering team working together so well, we’ve considerably improved the way we do and approach things.

A one-step interval drinks module has been developed for us, enabling drinks to be ordered by the audience before a performance so they are ready at a preagreed location during the intermission. This is a much less time consuming process and is a lot more accurate. Bar staff know when to prepare drinks and where to deliver them.

Even better, till receipts are easily read with none of the issues associated with poor handwriting or hastily scribbled notes when there is a rush at the bar. The only difficulty with legibility would be dropping it into a bowl of water - even then the order can be recalled through the touchscreen software.

Visitors to the Hawth can order drinks and food from wherever they want. Previously,

The flexibility of the system is also one of its chief selling points. As well as the theatrical

shows and concerts, we also cater for weddings, corporate functions and other special events so we can create many different permutations with the terminals depending upon on our requirements.

As well a creating as system to give us the control we want across three different locations, IBS lived up to its promises on the project management front. The installation team, led by Levi, was excellent. He was always available to ensure everything ran smoothly. Inevitably, there are one or two teething problems, but they are always quickly resolved. Indeed, for a venue synonymous with drama, there was a remarkable lack of it when were installing the system, a tribute to the professionalism of IBS and the project team.

..not when it comes to EPOS! The Hawth theatre is an active, popular hospitality venue, attracting close to 200,000 visitors every year. Facilities include an 850-capacity theatre and a 150-capacity studio, which can also cater for events and functions for up to 300 people. It’s also a successful cafe and restaurant in its own right, open Monday to Friday during the day and in the evening when there are performances. A team of four chefs offer a regular menu and a whole host of tasty specials where they can pick what they want to cook. In addition, they provide a wide range of catering for special functions and events at the Town Hall and other venues and locations throughout the town.

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Flexibility is key to improving EAT processes Rene Batsford is responsible for IT at EAT, a fast-food chain with the clear-cut objective of giving customers the best, freshest food, soup and coffee at the most reasonable prices.

Quality behind the scenes is equally important, as Rene explains to Impact.

EAT was founded 13 years ago with the ambition of providing the best food, soup and coffee in London...at reasonable prices. The two founders, Niall and Faith MacArthur, launched the first in Villiers Street, WC2. They were bundles of nervous energy without any industry experience except a determination to adhere to the most impeccable standards.

Today, the less nervous but equally enthusiastic couple are still at the helm, only one store has evolved to one hundred as we roll out the EAT brand. Although the vast majority are still in the capital, we are now operating shops in Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester and Brighton as well as flying the EAT flag at Heathrow, Gatwick, Glasgow and Edinburgh airports.

The reasons for EAT’s success? Customers appreciate the one-day shelf-life of our delicious sandwiches handmade in our own kitchens, using imaginative recipes and top quality, fresh ingredients. Likewise, baguettes are baked in the shops every morning. Soups, pies, salads, wraps, sushi and desserts are all made by hand for maximum freshness and to satisfy every eclectic taste. Chicken Pho, Chilli & Ginger Pho, Prawn Tom Yum and the vegetarian option, Gyoza Dumplings, are just a few of the numerous seasonal simple or bold offerings on our menus. We’re just as passionate about drinks. Our coffee is extracted through traditional espresso machines for 24 seconds by trained baristas and finished to order.

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that I had spent seven years with cosmetics producer and retailer, Molton Brown. While manufacturing and selling shampoos and lipsticks and producing sandwiches may appear to be worlds apart, the IT principles for evolving brands are the same.

My specific brief was to improve our back office processes as we were often getting two versions of the truth. In other words, we were struggling to get our financial position to match our sales and stock in our shops. It was entirely understandable. More often than not, the discrepancies were a result of human error.

Unfortunately, our incumbent back office system was responsible for all manner of blunders. Unless you were an expert at using the system, it was very easy to make mistakes. As an expanding business, we had to tackle these processes, eliminate the opportunity for variances and introduce good practice workflows.

We had gone out to have a look at the EPOS market to do a comparative study of the various providers who had the capacity and professionalism to work with a busy, expanding chain like EAT. Although we had an open mind, the one thing we didn’t want to do was junk our existing tills. They had plenty of life left in them and an investment of £1m in new hardware and till licenses didn’t make economic sense even before we were hit by the worst financial crisis in living memory.

Nobody wants to spend for the sake of it.

And while EAT may be a bigger proposition than ever before with more openings in the pipeline as we take our message further afield, the company continues to strive for the highest quality of food, service and shop standards. Equally, the work we do behind the scenes is just as important, especially with our expansion plans.

Inevitably, most of the people we spoke to wanted to change our entire estate and adopted a ‘take it or leave it’ attitude if we didn’t want their off-the-shelf package.

Admittedly, while most retail EPOS systems have elements that work really well, they often don’t in their entirety. After all, it’s no good having a Rolls Royce of a system if it doesn’t do the complete job you want.

I joined EAT a couple of years ago with a retail IT background. Previously, I had been the IT director at the 02 Arena and before

After a while it became clear we wanted systems integration work, rather than reinventing the wheel.

A more flexible approach was needed, which is where Intelligent Business Systems came in.

While they weren’t a large corporate, Gareth Powell and his team did have a considerable reputation in the market place and the experience in the hospitality sector of working with several clients who ran similar operations and business models to us. They could demonstrate a proven track record of integration work with clients and showed a good mix of technical and people capabilities. Critically, they were willing to listen objectively to what we wanted to do, assess it and give us a fair response about its achievability.

What’s more, Gareth was almost visionary in his approach, enthusiastic and progressive, willing to change processes, and work with other developers, to give us the best end result. It’s a measure of the person and the business that those outstanding qualities are shared within the rest of the IBS team, from the project managers to the software developers.

Without slipping too much into sales speak, they are very focused on the customer. Just like EAT is all about the customer. The initiatives they recommended were in line with what we wanted to achieve so there was a clear synergy between the two businesses.

There was common ground from an IT perspective too. The developers, like us with our current solutions, used an SQL database. A standard Microsoft framework

was at the heart of IBS’ StockLink.net enterprise solution. This would greatly benefit the development work if we were both using the same infrastructure.

It was a great decision to use IBS. The development work they’ve done, and the introduction of StockLink.net to our IT capability, has allowed us to introduce good practice by technology.

Staff at the shops find the system’s workflow processes so much easier and clearer than before. They cannot complain about a complicated system.

Now, prior to closing up at the end of the day, they have to complete specific tasks such as write offs, labour quotas and claims. This rigid, meticulous approach means we’re far less likely to have variances as the data is automatically polled into our financial system. This has allowed us to remodel processes by eradicating wasted resources, human error and inefficiencies associated with double entry and the way we used to do things.

We’re far more focused with our approach, our workflow tolerances, extractions and alerts are now first class. Bespoke ordering and business reporting has considerably improved the way we operate and we appreciate Gareth and his team’s flexibility to cultivate modules within the software to meet our requirements.

By investing in IBS’s integration talents, StockLink.net software and a flexible approach, we have the right processes in place to accommodate our current estate and future expansion plans.

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Software

Contactless payments increasingly attractive This year is the 350th anniversary of the first ever cheque being signed, although it’s highly doubtful there will be many more, especially as many of the UK hospitality retailers look for viable alternatives to this archaic, labourintensive method of payment. Increasingly, it costs more to administer a cheque than the net profit value of small transactions. One increasingly cheaper, faster and more secure alternative is the concept of contactless payments, which has become readily available for consumers and retailers alike, writes Francois Anseau, who works for chip'n'pin specialists, Commidea.

The contactless payment market has come a long way since the launch of MasterCard’s PayPass and the Visa PayWave in 2007.

Last year was critical for the technology.

High-profile retailers began to offer contactless payment options to their customers, supported by innovative financial initiatives from financial institutions. At Commidea, we anticipate 2010/2011 will see adoption really take off.

Our view is supported by many leading industry players. The major banks are leading the way. Barclays followed up its high-profile “water slide” TV advertisement with an announcement this year that new or reissued debit cards will have contactless technology as standard. This will bring more than three million customers into the contactless fold by the end of the year.

For the customer, contactless payments make a lot of sense. They are easier, quicker

and more convenient than cash, perfect for everyday purchases such as coffee before or after work, a newspaper for the train or bus, car parking or any other relatively cheap transaction under a tenner. There’s no need to worry about whether you’ve actually got the right amount of cash on you or if you’ve received the right change.

What’s more, there’s no more searching around for a cashpoint machine (which can sometimes feel like waiting for a bus) and nervously withdrawing your money, especially when it’s busy or dark!

It makes equally good sense for the retailer, who can carry out faster transactions, reduce the length of queues, increase customer convenience and improve the

quality of the service given to the customer.

These benefits inevitably lead to an increase in transaction volumes and value.

Even better news, it’s all very easy to use and perfectly safe. All you need is a contactless payment reader connected to a chip'n'pin terminal and you can accept payments for total transactions less than £10. Your customers simply ‘tap’ their contactless-enabled credit or debit card against the reader. If it’s more, the sale becomes a normal transaction. Security is enhanced because after ten contactless payment transactions, a customer must enter their PIN code to limit the risk of lost or stolen cards being used and to prove the card is with its rightful owner. It really is that simple.

POSLink gains EFT accreditation POSLink, the intelligent touchscreen software solution designed and developed for numerous hospitality environments, has gained EFT accreditation from credit card processing chip'n'pin specialists Commidea and YESpay. The Commidea accreditation covers standard purchases and transactions as well as a Wi-Fi and contactless. YESpay involves the independent purchase of equipment and a sliding scale of charges on a per transaction basis.

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What’s new?

POSLink adds kitchen video solution A kitchen video monitor system to either complement or replace the traditional kitchen printer has been launched by EPOS specialists, Intelligent Business Systems.

Designed to run in conjunction with POSLink touchscreen software running on a standard TCPIP network, the solution can be used to control the path of food orders through a busy kitchen and to also provide a wealth of statistical data for clients.

The latter is configurable to the specific requirements of any business that runs a kitchen and offers food to its customers.

Statistics are provided within a flexible timeframe, which can be 15 minutes, half an hour or the entire session.

They can also be viewed in real-time at head office and back office using StockLink.net. Historical statistics can also be recalled and analysed.

The kitchen video can be viewed on a wide range of wall-mounted touchscreen terminals from 10” to 21”. Orders can be pegged or finalised as food is prepared and dispatched. Completed orders can also be recalled.

Starring role for POSLink interval drinks function A clever module designed to beat congestion at the bar and enable customers to pre-book interval drinks has been added to POSLink touchscreen software by Intelligent Business Systems. Ideal for the theatre, concert halls, sports stadiums, conferences and corporate events, the preorder drinks function allows customers to pre-pay for drinks prior to the entertainment or function starting. A consolidated report is created for bar staff so they can prepare drinks ten minutes or so before intervals, half-time and breaks. The solution has deliberately been designed to cater for even the most complex multiple-theatre venues

IBS Profile...

Levi Bodra

Name: Age: Job title:

Levi Bodra 30 Epos engineer: Installation and servicing of EPOS hardware and software Education: Five years of Information Technology at secondary high school in Hungary Status: Married Children: None, yet Fav’ film: Hunt for the Red October Fav’ book: The De Vinci Code Fav’ place: Italy

where several shows and performances run to different time schedules within the same building. For instance, one bar can take the order but the drinks can be dispensed in an appropriate area, or at other bars, for the event. The solution also includes a repeat order function to speed up the purchasing process and to encourage staff to up-sell.

“Interval drinks typifies the flexible functionality of POSLink so it can be configured to the needs of hospitality professionals while at the same time making selling easier and faster for operational staff,” said Dee Powell, IBS’s commercial director.

Q1: How long have you been with IBS? A1: Three years now but it only seems like yesterday when I was being introduced to the team. Time really does fly, especially when you’re enjoying yourself.

systems in Ireland for Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) and also the Hawth theatre in Crawley, as I was involved in the project from start to finish. They were great people to work with.

Q2: What is your day-to-day role at IBS? A2: In simple terms, it’s maintaining the functionality of our EPOS systems at the premises of our customers, either face-to-face or distance support through broadband or the internet.

Q5: What’s your most difficult professional moment?

A5: It was in Ireland when I was in danger of missing my flight as a job was taking longer than originally anticipated.

Fortunately, my experience enabled me to complete the job to the satisfaction of the client and make the flight back to England. It was touch and go but when I was on the plane, I thought to myself, that was a job well done.

Q3: What is your approach to your job?

A3: I’ve always been up for a challenge.

Mine is to make sure each customer gets the best operation from an EPOS system. I also consider myself very lucky because my job is also my hobby. IT has always fascinated me. It’s almost in my blood, as you say over here.

Q4: What is your biggest professional achievement?

A4: Two projects spring to mind immediately.

The successful roll-out of full EPOS

Q6: What makes IBS special?

A6: There is a mutual respect for each other’s professionalism and knoweldge throughout the company, a great team spirit and a very good morale. We’re busy even in these difficult times and we have a good client list with some great venues.

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FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides EPOS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA.

al’s Choice n io s s e f o r P The Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

We do it for the likes of the BBC, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Peach Pub Co, Fat Cat café bars, Geronimo Inns, Revolution, EAT, Bath Ales and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

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The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 8 Spring/Summer 2009

Nice ‘n’ easy for Eco and Esca POSLink shows loyalty pays StockLink just the ticket for top ski resorts The right ingredients for Moleface Pub Co

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Welcome to Impact 8 A warm welcome to the Spring/Summer edition of Impact, which is designed to show you why we’re the professional’s choice for epos and enterprise management solutions in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors. As everyone knows, we’re all operating in unprecedented economic circumstances and we can either react by doing nothing and hope for the best or we can proactively seek to improve the way we do things in our businesses. At IBS, we’ve got the tools to help you do the latter. We’ve launched POSLink to great acclaim and introduced innovative ways to help our clients increase sales and turnover without having to invest small fortunes in marketing. You can read about them in this magazine, visit our new website (www.ibs-systems.co.uk) or see us in person at the forthcoming BAR 09 exhibition at Earl’s Court, London (June 23/24 2009). Elsewhere, our contributors cover the great British gastro pub, skiing in Europe and eating out in London. We’re grateful as always for their contributions. We hope they and we continue to give you plenty of food for thought.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover: Sami Wasif, owner of London’s Eco and Esca restaurant, takeaway and retail chain. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by AFC (www.afc-uk.org, 0161 798 8810). If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail me on deeP@ibs-systems.co.uk.

We’re always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS POSLink gets professionals big nod of approval POSLink, a fully integrated, feature-rich touchscreen solution, has been acclaimed by hospitality and catering industry professionals as one of the easiest to use and manage since its launch at the end of last year. It’s already proving to be a hit with several IBS clients including Cantaloupe, Benugo, Clapham House and MYA Consulting. Feedback has been extremely positive with many epos professionals looking forward to untapping the full potential of its various modules. Clint Welsh, IT manager at the Cantaloupe Group, which runs top London venues like Camino, Cargo, the Market Place and the Big Chill Bar, said: ‘Our business is all about giving our customers incredible value for money so we’re always running plenty of promotions. These are made a lot easier and more effective with POSLink managing and tracking our discounts and numerous other exciting offers.’ These sentiments are echoed

by Carlos DeAbreu, who is responsible for epos systems at the Clapham House Group,

the chain responsible for the GBK, Real Greek and Tootsies brands. ‘We’re looking to cut the amount of work needed to be done by the front of house staff by at least half, a considerable saving in time and resources through using POSLink’s loyalty module,’ says Carlos.

See page 10 to discover the many benefits of POSLink’s loyalty module 2

ECO & ESCA gives IBS adaptability thumbs up

A Clapham-based restaurant, takeaway and retail chain responsible for the Eco, Esca and Absolutely Starving brands has installed an IBS solution to run, manage and report on three different elements of the business. Charmaine Wasif, who runs the business with her father, Sami , said: ‘Our expectations are very high because we run a very complicated business that includes eating in, taking out and retail as we’re a restaurant, a supermarket and a takeaway all in one. Fortunately IBS more than rose to the challenge, proving to be adaptable and very good at understanding exactly what we were after.’

Charmaine Wasif writes about the benefits of IBS adaptability on pages 4 & 5

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Rocca puts IBS on the menu Rocca, an exciting new Pizzeria housed in part of Christie’s former auction house in South Kensington, London, has installed a complete epos solution from IBS including POSLink touchscreen terminals, StockLink software and kitchen printers. The restaurant, named after a small village in the Alban Hills south of Rome, is designed to capture the essence of Italy with its live charcoal grill giving the food incredible flavours. All pastas, pizza bases and breads are prepared in-house. Joint owner Pablo Ramis said: ‘We want the front of house experience to be close to perfection. That means getting everything else spot on, including the reporting and business sheets and support from our epos consultancy.’

BAR 09 DATE FOR IBS

TUI Ski resorts pick IBS IBS has installed StockLink professional software and a head office solution for TUI Ski, a division of TUI Travel, one of the world’s leading international leisure travel groups.

The installation took place at the end of last year in time for the current skiing season.

Systems were installed in the busy resorts of Tignes, Meribel, Val D’lsere, Les Deux Alpes, Alpe D’Heux and Val Thorens where TUI Ski has bar brands like Crowded House, Dick’s Tea Bar, Foret Bar, Secret Bar, Sphere Bar and Viking Bar. Christophe Avoine, the resort bars accountant for TUI Ski, picked IBS for the levels of service and accuracy of its reporting. ‘Together, we have improved our performance and accuracy on our GPs. We are still training and encouraging our managers to correct and adjust the settings (for example, product versus PLUs and prices) - but just like skiing it’s a matter of starting on the easier runs before tackling the

IBS will be highlighting its acclaimed POSLink touchscreen technology and the versatility of its StockLink software suite when it appears at the Bar 09 exhibition at Earl’s Court, London later this year (23/24 June 2009) on stand number C33. ‘Bar 09 is a great chance to show visitors to the exhibition exactly why we’re the professional’s choice for the hospitality industry. Not only do we have the best combinations of software and technology currently available on the market but we also have the knowledge and experience when it comes to deploying systems in busy hospitality environments,’ said Dee Powell, IBS’s commercial director.

IBS LAUNCH NEW IMPROVED WEBSITE

more difficult slopes. The good thing about using a professional outfit like IBS is the quality of the support they offer from recovering data to amending reports and clearly and definitively identifying areas for improvement.’

See pages 6 & 7 for more about the IBS and TUI Ski partnership

Award-winning Moleface pub co goes with IBS Moleface, the new Nottinghamshire pub co which champions buying locally grown seasonal produce, has asked IBS to install a complete epos solutions for its three pubs, the Larwood & Voce, the Lord Nelson and the recently opened Wollaton. Managing director, John Molnar, said: ‘While we rightly source our food locally, we went further afield to make sure we picked the right epos provider, commissioning IBS to specify and install our system. We did have an advantage with the selection process as two

IBS...in brief

of my partners, Matt Saunders and Simon Patterson of Fat Cat Group, already use IBS for their cafe bar chain.’

John Molnar explains why IBS were the natural choice for his gastro pub chain on pages 8 and 9

MOD deploys StockLink at new OCS Bristol facility The Ministry of Defence’s new OCS facility at its Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) complex in Abbey Wood, Bristol, will be deploying StockLink throughout its catering operation, writes Carla McKenzie of MYA Consulting. The system has been designed to strict security standards and uses handhelds to control wastage, stock deliveries, transfers and purchasing.

IBS has relaunched its website (www.ibssystems.co.uk) to give hospitality, retail and leisure professionals the best possible insight into the versatility and flexibility of its epos and enterprise management solutions. The easy-tonavigate www is designed to provide visitors with all the necessary answers about IBS’s impeccable credentials as the professional’s choice for cuttingedge systems for the hospitality, leisure, catering and retail sectors. ‘The epos market is extremely competitive and it’s well worth businesses doing desk research first to see who is out there and what they offer. Our aim is for the site to be more than just a brochure on the web.

It will be regularly updated to showcase all our latest news, product developments, solution innovations and client case studies,’ says Gareth Powell, IBS’s managing director. ‘Once you’ve had a look, tell us what you think. We’re always delighted to have feedback about what we do.’

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It’s a family affair with all the right ingredients

Charmaine Wasif enjoys the hustle and bustle of a busy, successful family restaurant, takeaway and retail business so much that she turned her back on a career in architecture.

Here she tells Impact about the involvement of IBS in their family affair.

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My father, Sami Wasif, came to this country from Egypt and initially worked in the busy, bustling London hotel trade, although it was always his ambition to open and run his own business. Like many immigrants of his generation arriving in England, he had a huge amount of energy, a thirst for knowledge and a commitment to succeed - no matter what he decided he wanted to do. That his chosen entrepreneurial career revolved around food and hospitality was perhaps inevitable. After all, Sami was born into a large family where generosity and hospitality are second nature.

Whatever business he ran, it would reflect the true spirit of the values he held so dear. Not surprisingly, Sami chose to buy into and run an existing pizza business, learning all the nuances and intricacies of preparing and cooking on the job. Being Sami, he was only interested in providing the best he possibly could when it came to satisfying the taste buds of his customers. Fortunately, he has a natural curiosity that drives him to constantly challenge and push the boundaries of people’s expectations of food. The word ‘satisfactory’ is not acceptable in any of our restaurants and delis as that falls well below our own expectations. That’s why my father constantly interrogates the way we do things like questioning the flour, recipes and toppings to ensure our food is always exciting and memorable. And has widened our offering way beyond the pizza - though it still remains at the heart of our proposition.

When customers eat with us, it has to be an event that they will tell their friends about in mouthwatering detail. After all, word of mouth

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‘Sometimes I want a hundred different things at once but they kept our feet on the ground with realistic schedules and objectives.

Others, less committed to their own standards, might be less scrupulous.’

Charmaine Wasif Two of a kind - Charmaine and Sami Wasif.

is the best form of advertising. Not only must the food tickle the taste buds but the ambience inside should be warm, welcoming and hospitable, suitable for both larger groups and more intimate gatherings. The success of this approach is reflected in the popularity of our Eco and Absolutely Starving restaurants. We have several across London although our spiritual home remains in Clapham where Sami opened his first Eco. Clapham High Street is also the location for Esca, a delicatessen serving a variety of European delicacies for breakfast or lunch with the emphasis on healthy, tasty, imaginative food. Esca is my baby and I hope the ingredients that make Eco and Absolutely Starving so popular are mirrored here. Certainly, I think my commitment to excellence is in the genes because it drives everything we do since we’ve launched Esca. Although I am a trained architect by profession and adore the practice, the hospitality, catering and retail industry has got a real hold on my imagination. To be honest, nothing beats the buzz and full-on excitement of running your own catering and retail operation.

Personally, I love being loud and having the chance to express myself - through our staff and our whole concept. It must be in the blood.

Anyone visiting Esca can see the passion that drives both my father and myself. My goal with Esca is to create an Aladdin’s Cave packed full of specialist foods from across Europe, great cakes,

Brilliant bespoke hampers are just one of Esca’s mouthwatering highlights.

pastries and coffee. Shelves up to the ceilings are crammed full of wonderful temptations - from exotic tins, oils, coffees and numerous other treats like bespoke picnic hampers.

Just as important as getting the brand concept spot on is the need to have the necessary business controls in place to make sure our efforts produce optimum profit and eliminate waste and inefficient practices. Originally in our early days we had those wonderful tills which were great for music with their lovely tunes. A few strobe lights and it would be party time although they weren’t very effective business management tools!

For this we need an effective epos system that gives us the information we need to run a better business and our first stab fell short of our expectations because we run a very complicated business that includes eating in, taking out and retail. In short, we’re a restaurant, a supermarket and a takeaway all in one. Fortunately, we hooked up with Intelligent Business Systems. Gareth Powell and his excellent team not only had a first class tried and tested solution but just as critically, the experience of what an operation like ours required.

What I personally like is the adaptability of IBS. They take on board many of our comments and appreciate that we are the experts in what we want our system to do for us. At the same time, Gareth's wisdom and vast experience in this industry means that he really picks up on and adds value to our comments. By making this real for us, IBS adds huge value to the system for our new and existing clients.

They knew how to accommodate three different sets of sales, eating in, taking out and retail. Knew what real time information we needed to be able to make genuinely educated decisions. Knew how to de-complicate a complicated business. They understand the hospitality industry inside out and took a very methodical approach. Sometimes I want a hundred different things at once but they kept our feet on the ground with realistic schedules and objectives. Others, less committed to their own standards, might be less scrupulous. They follow their own processes, explaining the solution is only as good as what you put in to it.

Their approach, especially in such difficult trading conditions, is to be applauded.

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The French Alps is one of Europe’s busiest, most upmarket skiing regions.

Busy resorts like Tignes, Meribel, Val D’lsere, Les Deux Alpes, Alpe D’Heux and Val Thorens attract millions of holidaymakers every year where the off-piste atmosphere at bars like TUI Ski’s Crowded House, Dick’s Tea Bar, Foret Bar, Secret Bar, Sphere Bar and Viking Bar is just as important as the dramatic, challenging ski runs. And when TUI Ski wanted to install a more effective epos solution they called upon IBS - who quickly sped into action.

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The Client TUI Travel plc, the result of a merger between First Choice Holidays and the Tourism Division of TUI AG, is one of the world’s leading international leisure travel groups operating in over 180 countries with more than 30 million customers. Its ski division includes Europe’s biggest ski operator, Crystal. It also includes the First Choice Ski and Thomson Ski brands. The division caters for all types of customers and budgets from families seeking affordable ski breaks to the luxury end of the market.

Popular destinations include France, Austria and Switzerland. Top ski resorts for 2009 include Whistler, Canada, Formigal, Spain, Ischgl, Austria and Ylläs in Finland.

TUI SKI RUN JUST THE TICKET FOR IBS ‘I’ve been working for TUI UK for several years since moving from the Mountain Trading Company to work at Dick’s Tea Bar Meribel and Val d’Isere.

I was already a great fan of StockLink having worked with the epos solution for three years with the Mountain Trading Company and knew what it could do and how it was an essential aid to decision making and extensive accurate reporting. However, TUI UK selected a local system which hasn’t been as effective or accurate with its reporting. Fortunately from my point of view we returned to IBS and StockLink at the end of November 2008.

We have invested time and energy training managers and have a manager within the team who can handle a lot of the internal assistance and issues.

The good thing about using a professional outfit like IBS is the quality of the support they offer from recovering data or amending reports to clearly and definitively identifying areas for improvement.

Together, we have improved our performance and accuracy on our GPs. We are still training and encouraging our managers to correct and adjust the settings (for example, product versus PLUs and prices) - but just like skiing, it’s a matter of starting on the easier runs before tackling the more difficult slopes.’

Christophe Avoine (left) is the resort bars accountant for TUI Ski, which is a division of TUI Travel plc.

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‘As you would expect, I like the IBS system a lot. It has all the gears for a manager to analyse the business in depth and enables them to take operational decisions based on fast accurate reports.

We’ve only really explored its potential this winter. I am looking forward to seeing its impact once we are able to organise and engineer the setup, where all the deals and the PLU's managers want are created, thought about and developed before the season starts.

Next season I’m looking forward to a quicker accounting system, better control and easier decision making thanks to the reports as we build on the good and very efficient support we’ve had from IBS.’ Davide Pontini is responsible for The Secret Bar (Les Deux Alpes) and the Sphere Bar (Alpe d'Huez).

‘TUI Ski is involved in running some of the most stunning resorts stretching across one of the most prestigious skiing areas in the world - our challenge was to install completely new systems including software and hardware terminals and associated kit without interrupting the flow of its business.

Although it was a tough ask, we actually love this sort of project because it genuinely tests our organisational abilities and our professionalism.

Our job, which includes liaising with both the client and the data cabling contractor and setting up StockLink solutions at eight sites with a head office to manage them all, means we have to be at the top of our game.

Obviously driving 3,200 miles across Europe means we had to have everything we could possibly envisage with us when we travelled, so we were carrying duplicates and triplicates of every possible spare part. Although we’re working, it was great to see such incredible sights. Not that there was too much time for sightseeing. We were running to a very tight time schedule where every minute counted - and it was like our very own black run.’

Justin Atkinson, IBS project manager.

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Serving up

the perfect recipe for the great British Gastro Pub When it comes to sourcing food for his new gastro pub chain, John Molnar, far right, managing director of the award-winning Moleface Pub Company, champions buying locally grown seasonal produce. However, the same rules don’t necessarily apply when investing in an epos solution as he exclusively explains to Impact.

8

The ethos of the Moleface Pub Company food policy is pretty simple really. Buy quality local produce so we can use the freshest available ingredients, adapt our menus to accommodate seasonal changes and minimise the time between taking produce from field to fork.

Our approach to food encapsulates our drive to reinvent the customer experience in and around Nottinghamshire so they can enjoy the atmosphere of the good oldfashioned pub with an exciting, adventurous menu that wouldn’t be out of place in London’s traditional Gastro equivalents.

We’re lucky that our pubs have so much great food close to hand. From the thriving pork industry in Nottingham to Leicester’s famed dairy production and Derbyshire’s sheep and arable farming, our region is abundant with fantastic produce.

As the former Exec Chef of the awardwinning Bluu group, I’ve seen first hand the value of having a good relationship with local

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farmers, growers and producers. We’ll work really closely with them and take full advantage of their immense knowledge and experience. The result is that our menus at the Larwood & Voce, Lord Nelson at Burton Joyce and the newly opened Wollaton virtually write themselves, showcasing the very best produce currently in season.

This commitment to sourcing local produce sees the teams at the Larwood & Voce, The Lord Nelson and the Wollaton embarking on a West Bridgford allotment project where our establishments’ vegetables will be grown within striking distance of their kitchens.

Already this philosophy is paying dividends with a batch of awards being scooped at our pubs. The Larwood & Voce won a hat trick of top awards at the Nottingham Restaurant Awards including 'Best Pub Food', 'Best Local Produce Menu' and 'Nottinghamshire Young Chef of the Year'.

The winner of the latter gong, Nichola Thompson, heads our team at the Lord Nelson, which we opened last year. The pub has already been a beneficiary of a superb accolade from Glenfiddich Food & Drink Awards Restaurant Critic of the Year, Terry Durack, who says we serve the 'best chips' in the UK. Terry said: ‘Memorable versions were plentiful, but deep down, I like my chips a little less perfect, a little misshapen, cooked in beef dripping and tasting of potato. The award goes to Nottingham’s Lord Nelson, for its £2.50 enamelled-bucket of “chips & gravy”.’ Our award was one of only 12 published in Terry's yearly round-up, ‘The Terry's' in The Independent on Sunday.

The freshest possible produce is just part of our proposition to really major on the very best elements of the traditional British Gastro Pub. Our offering is designed to tempt and tantalise the taste buds, whether it’s served in a glass or on a plate. We’re talking here about homemade bread and food, chutneys, premium spirits and beers with a whole host of guest real ales and

‘One of the major reasons we can charge such good prices is thanks to the quality of our epos solution that gives us the necessary business controls and intelligence to run a tight ship at the pubs and at head office.’

John Molnar hand-pulled beers available throughout the year. We’re also offering an extensive wine list and signature cocktails as well as the choice of dining indoors or alfresco in the summer months.

What’s more, we’re focusing on good prices and premium standards. Inside we’re creating a truly comfortable relaxing environment with a uniquely retro feel where customers can enjoy a casual lunch or a boozy dinner.

One of the major reasons we can charge such good prices is thanks to the quality of our epos solution that gives us the necessary business controls and intelligence to run a tight ship at the pubs and at head office.

However, while we source our food locally, we went further afield to make sure we picked the right epos provider, commissioning IBS to specify and install our system. We did have an advantage with the

selection process as two of my partners, Matt Saunders and Simon Patterson of Fat Cat Group, already use IBS for their cafe bar chain.

IBS is an international epos player and we’re glad to work with them, accessing their experience and knowledge of the pub sector. The epos solution will ensure we remain lean, effective and cost-efficient as an organisation and that we won’t waste time and money doing the same jobs two or three times. Nor do we want to become top heavy at head office when our staffing investment and commitment should be aimed squarely at the pubs. Just as we forge great relationships with local producers, so we have done the same with Gareth and his team at IBS. Their professionalism when crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s is typical of their approach and gives us the necessary controls and intelligence to fly the flags even higher.

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WHAT THE PROFESSIONALS SAY ABOUT POSLink The launch of POSLink has met with considerable acclaim. Here’s what three hospitality professionals say about the easy-to-use, feature-rich touchscreen solution that's quick for staff to pick up and for management to monitor, maintain and update.

‘There’s lots of functionality and it’s really easy to use and brilliantly supported by IBS. The look and feel is great and we’ve customised the layout with our own fonts, colours and pictures on the buttons. Loyalty goes straight to the server rather than the back office which makes life a lot easier. Our business is all about giving our customers incredible value for money and running plenty of promotions. These are made a lot easier and more effective with POSLink managing and tracking our discounts and numerous other exciting offers.’

Clint Welsh, Cantaloupe Group (responsible for top London venues like Camino, Cargo, the Market Place and the Big Chill Bar).

‘We have catering clients across the spectrum so hopefully I’ll be introducing POSLink to a lot of them because from my point of view it’s easy to set up and a lot more user friendly than anything else on the market. In our business it’s easy to forget the importance of keeping technology and systems simple.’

Rebecca Maltby, MYA Consultancy (independent hotel and catering consultancy working with many of the country’s leading independent schools like Marlborough College, Gordenstoun, King’s School and Haileybury).

‘The great thing is the increased flexibility where offers are devised by the marketing department and communicated across the business.

We’re looking to cut the amount of work that needs to be done via front of house staff by half, a considerable saving in time and resources.’

Carlos DeAbreu, Clapham House Group (restaurant chain operating well known brands like The Gourmet Burger Kitchen, the Real Greek and Tootsies).

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The second is the sheer number and range of different promotions and campaigns you can run, from buy-one-get-one-free to discount or cash vouchers to free coffees or a glass of wine with a three course meal. Really, anything goes in terms of being creative with your ideas.

Advertising, whether it’s via television, radio, Offers during televised football matches, early newspapers, magazines or the www, includes bird complimentary bottles of wine, kids eat buying the space and paying for the clever free between four and five...the list of options is ideas to make your proposition stand out. endless. The only limit is your imagination.

Even local campaigns can cost tens of thousands of pounds over a relatively short The third is the sheer flexibility and versatility period without any guarantee of success. of how and when you plan your activity. To Similarly leaflet drops, direct mail and print- extend a successful promotion that’s based in-store promotions and campaigns all working really well is simply a matter of have high costs of production like design, reprogramming, carried out in a number of artwork, photography, print and distribution. minutes. It’s equally easy to change the The answer to the problem of increasing products being promoted from a free coffee turnover while keeping a lid on marketing to a glass of wine depending upon the hour costs can be found closer to home thanks to of the day.

One of the biggest questions facing hospitality, retail and leisure enterprises during periods of serious economic downturn is how to increase turnover without simultaneously seeing a correspondingly dramatic increase in marketing expenditure.

Want to find out more about POSLink and the loyalty module.

Simply contact Mark at IBS on 01280 709 400 or e-mail markb@ibs-systems.co.uk

POSLink - a flexible, powerful & loyal friend increasingly sophisticated top end epos solutions.

Mark Bagnall, IBS’s senior project manager, describes how POSLink’s loyalty module can be used to boost turnover and sales without busting the bank.

At IBS our acclaimed POSLink touchscreen solution has a very neat and clever module called ‘adjustments & promotions’. There are several really great benefits associated with using a The fourth advantage is that you can run and solution like POSLink to run promotions. manage these campaigns internally without The first is the cost. There aren’t any other costs having to resort to external marketing and other than the initial investment in the module as promotional agencies. They can be set up part of the overall epos solution and maybe a little quickly in reaction to trading circumstances extra training for staff to familiarise themselves by individual outlet, brand or estate. with how it all works so it becomes second nature. For instance, the offer or promotional And while traditional forms of communication campaign is simply programmed into the system are going to be wasteful POSLink only targets with vouchers and receipts, and whatever else is existing customers and their friends. Even appropriate for the activity, printed on a thermal ‘recommend a friend’ vouchers are targeted printer straight from the terminal. There’s no at potential customers who will know about expensive artwork to produce and print. The you and your brand. vouchers carry the same weight and authority as any other printed voucher, can be branded with Better still, you can judge and assess the logos and corporate messages and easily results of your activity through the normal authenticated via the system. All the relevant business reporting of your system so you can information regarding validity and use can be quickly measure the success of promotions and loyalty campaigns. printed on the voucher.

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Customer-facing screen IBS Profile... adds new dimension Mikee Ball News that advertising revenues for commercial television stations are spiralling downwards is one of the least surprising aspects of the current economic climate.

Though it’s not just the consequences of the credit crunch that is impacting on the world of television. Increasingly sophisticated dualscreen hardware terminals present new options for hospitality, retail and leisure operators to prompt, advertise and message their customers at the point of sale or service.

Up-selling, special offers and promoting events and packages can be communicated via customer-facing LCD screens.

graphically-strong effective messages at a maximum of ten seconds in length.

Like most successful technologies, it has to be simple and easy to use. The creation and integration of messages and images has to be able to be quickly updated by systems managers either at the individual outlet or through head office.

Embracing the same sort of technology used by powerful, marketing-led supermarkets shows the hospitality, leisure and catering sectors are willing and able to innovate.

The flexibility and versatility of on-screen

Age: Job title: Education: Status: Children?

34 Development Manager School of life A GOD, if the wife lets me.

One wonderful child and another on the way

Q1: What do you do for IBS? A1: I am responsible for managing all aspects of programming and development for all our StockLink modules and the POSLink touchscreen epos software that we’ve just launched. It’s an exciting time because it’s a fast moving industry that’s always looking to improve.

Customer-facing screens are an effective communication tool enabling operators to automatically up-sell and promote special offers and events at the point-of-service through their epos solution, as Gareth Powell, IBS managing director, explains.

The real beauty of the concept is its control and management takes place via the epos system. Operators can focus on delivering precisely the right promotional message at the right time and place to influence purchasing decisions at the exactly the right time. For example, ordering a main course in a restaurant will prompt the system to display complementary starter options specific to the menu item or side dishes (onion rings or mushrooms, for example). Similarly, in a fast food restaurant ordering one item will prompt customers to buy more. The pre-set system automatically responds to various orders so servers can focus on the customer experience without running through a tick box while they are serving.

And when the screens aren’t being used to up-sell, they can carry high impact messages about special events, loyalty schemes and individual beer, spirit and soft drink brands.

These ads aren’t merely showing TV commercials which customers have neither the time or the inclination to watch. Instead, the focus is very much on short, sharp,

technology controlled through an epos system will be considerably faster, cheaper and more dynamic than traditional display methods. The time and the cost needed to implement in-store POP campaigns needs no further explanation - the process from creative through to print, manufacturing, finishing, distribution, installation and mechandising is highly inflexible, expensive and time-consuming. The complete opposite of using the epos system to communicate direct with customers.

These are exciting times within the world of epos as solutions become more versatile and able to accommodate many more functions beyond recording transactions and accounting for stock. Reporting procedures will show the success of promotional onscreen activity, relating sales to specific messages. Real-time data allows systems managers and marketeers to respond accordingly to maximise each and every sales opportunity. It’s going to be great viewing for us all.

Q2: What are your qualifications?

A2: I’ve got a Btec National diploma in computer science and an HND in business and IT. Just as important, is the practical experience of marrying theory with the real life, real-time requirements of clients. As I’ve got a background as a stocktaker and seen StockLink from the client end. I am able to see the widest possible perspective. It allows me and the team to interrogate what we do at a level few of our competitors can rival.

Q3: Previous industry experience?

A3: Like I said, I used to do stocktaking and was an end user of the Stocklink software before working at IBS. Q4: How long have you been with IBS? A4: 10 Years Q5: What’s your biggest professional achievement?

A5: Writing and creating the POSLink epos software. The reaction to it has been excellent to date and I hope it sets new standards for our industry for speed and ease of use.

Q6: What makes IBS special?

A6: A nice relaxed atmosphere for work with friendly work colleagues and understanding bosses.

Q7: What is your approach to your job?

A7: Delegate as much as possible!

Seriously, it’s a team game and we have to trust our mutual professionalism.

Fortunately I’ve got a good team around me who enjoy the challenge of what they do.

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FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA.

s Choice l’ a n io s s e f o r The P Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

We do it for the likes of PizzaExpress, BBC, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 6 Spring 2008

Love Vodka, Love Revolution, Love StockLink London Calling Claude & Claire Educating the Educators StockLink goes On-Line

Welcome to Impact 6 A warm welcome to the Spring 08 edition of Impact, our bi-annual magazine designed to keep you fully up-to-date with the impact we’re making within the fast-moving world of pos technology. Once again we’re grateful to our contributors who cover the entire spectrum of the hospitality sector from the great British pub epitomised by the professionalism of Geronimo Inns to the exciting vodka retail concept Revolution to award-winning restaurants and imaginative educational establishments. So many thanks Ed, Marc, Claude, Mandy, Sara and Walter. On page 11 you can read my own contribution about the introduction of our new strapline, the professional’s choice. We hope this issue shows you why we are the preferred supplier for many hospitality professionals. Enjoy Impact 6. We hope it gives you plenty of food for thought as always. Don’t hesitate to contact us to find out how we can impact upon your business.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover image: Vodka, Revolution, Manchester. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by Creativespace2 (www.creativespace2.com). If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail mail to: deeP@ibs-systems.co.uk. We are always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS Revolution rolls out StockLink Award-winning Revolution bars, named the Publican’s Retail Concept of the Year, has installed StockLink at its 55 UK outlets for stock checking, general sales reporting and production of daily business reports. Marc Dawson, IT manager at Inventive Leisure who owns the Revolution brand, said: “Our end goal is to be able to deliver data to head office in a timely fashion and StockLink is integral to that achievement. Although our bars operate at different closing times depending upon location and the time of the year, our tills are polled throughout the night so at 6am our systems at head office produce management reports. These are automatically sent out via email and PDA to our site managers and head office teams so they get the information they need to be able to drive the business forward.” The launch included training roadshows in Manchester, Bath, London and Derby to introduce managers to StockLink.

Inventive Leisure’s Marc Dawson writes exclusively for Impact about Revolution and StockLink. See pages 6 and 7

IBS adds pos to menu at Hibiscus IBS has installed a pos system at the award-winning Hibiscus restaurant managed by husband and wife team, Claude and Claire Bosi. The couple recently uprooted their two Michelin-starred restaurant from its Ludlow home to London’s Mayfair and installed a pos system featuring StockLink. Claude is famous for his ingeniously inventive cooking but is equally pleased to have added IBS to his menu. “It’s a great shame we never had IBS when we first opened in Ludlow as it would have made life a lot easier and less stressful!” he said.

Claude Bosi writes about his new challenge moving to the capital on page 4 2

IBS graduates at South Cheshire College

IBS...in brief StockLink On-Line goes live

South Cheshire College, one of the country’s leading tertiary and sixth form educational establishments, is benefiting from the flexibility of IBS’s pos systems after installations in the retail shop and large cafe.

Catering for thousands of students, IBS has a long-standing relationship with the college and has recently upgraded the pos system to include pc-based terminals in Cafe Chill. ‘We operate and manage it along commercial lines with the same management information and reports that you’d find in any high street retail operation

so we need an appropriate pos system like the one provided by IBS,’ says head of retail operations, Mandy Malam. IBS has also carried out bespoke work on student cards and StockLink is used by the hospitality faculty to give the next generation of hospitality professionals realistic hands-on experience.

See pages 8 and 9 to find out how we’re stacking up with the professionals at South Cheshire.

Geronimo Inns Timely Arrival at St Pancras Award-winning managed pub chain, Geronimo Inns, has opened a bar and kitchen at London’s newly refurbished St Pancras railway station, the Baby Betjeman. “We’re reinventing customer expectations of the pub when they’re travelling. After all, it’s a stressful experience travelling and our remit is to give travellers a friendly environment where they can relax with great grub and a pint,” says Ed Turner, Geronimo Inns commercial director.

The bar at St Pancras, home to the Eurostar and gateway to the London Olympics, has a number of rooms including a south facing terrace and another underneath the glass room of the station itself with stock control and reporting provided by the IBS pos system.

Geronimo also have three pubs at Heathrow Airport, including the Three Bells.

IBS has launched a www-based edition of StockLink to complement the existing off-line version. Both have essentially the same functionality and are designed to give hospitality professionals greater choice and flexibility.

“Whether you go off-line or on-line really depends upon your own particular preferences. Whichever route you take, you’re guaranteed the easy-to-use, accurate feature-rich business control and intelligence that’s become synonymous with StockLink,’ says Gareth Powell, IBS’s managing director.

With the On-Line version there is no need to physically install StockLink at each individual site. Nor is it necessary to update and maintain on-site databases as everything runs through the web. Database management and updates are carried out real time on centrally controlled servers (either our own or the customers).

‘On-Line will save multi-site businesses a lot of time and resources through operating with one web-controlled database,” says Gareth.

See page 11 for more details about StockLink On-Line

Ed Turner writes about the traditional pub and IBS on page 5

IBS installs pos at Eight at the Thatch IBS has installed a pos system at the Eight at the Thatch, in Thame, Oxfordshire, which is run by Jeremy and Jane Hooper, the winners of The Restaurant, the popular BBC series featuring Raymond Blanc and the Peach Pub Co’s Lee Cash. A second series is being broadcast this Spring with producers looking for up to nine working restaurants.

The restaurants will be hired for between five and 11 weeks in Spring 2008 with a fee paid for each week. The restaurants need to be within a fifty mile radius of Oxford.

As well as the cash, the publicity for featured restaurants is considerable. Interested?

Go to the BBC www for further details.

Hostec Here We Come IBS launches its new StockLink On-Line modular suite at the Hostec exhibition (Stand number H1330, 18-21 February 2008 at ExCel, London).

“Hostec is a great opportunity to meet fellow hospitality professionals from all sectors of industry and update them with the exciting developments within IBS. As well as StockLink On-Line we’re promoting loyalty and promotional modules and on-line customer ordering,” says Dee Powell, IBS’s commercial director.

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Hibiscus’s award-winning French chef-proprietor Claude Bosi and his wife Claire uprooted their acclaimed two Michelin-starred restaurant from peaceful Ludlow to the heart of London’s Mayfair in 2007 because they wanted a new challenge.

Here Claude talks about the move to the capital and his introduction to IBS.

Claire Bosi, Hibiscus’s restaurant manager.

Claude Bosi, landed in Ludlow and collected numerous awards.

London Calling for Claude & Claire Bosi I was practically born in the kitchen because my parents had a restaurant in Lyons. Even though my mother never dared let me near the restaurant kitchen, cooking has always been a passion of mine. I graduated from catering college and did my apprenticeship in Lyons prior to two and a half years as a sous chef in Paris. I moved to a restaurant in Ludlow, England in 1997, meeting Claire, my future wife and business partner. Together we opened Hibiscus (named after a beautiful flower we both love) at the start of the millennium. I was chef and Claire looked after the front of house. We collected two Michelin stars, were named restaurant of the year by Egon Ronay and the Good Food Guide and opened a pub called the Bell Inn in Yarpole (run by my brother Cedric). Although we’re proud of our achievements we wanted a new challenge.

We decided to move Hibiscus to new premises in London’s Mayfair. They were located by myself and one of our investors, Tim Woodcock. It’s certainly a challenging area to launch a new restaurant as the district has some of England’s best restaurants, all within stepping distance of one another.

Our biggest challenge since opening last year is demand. Every session has been full with the private room also incredibly busy.

This time of year in Ludlow we’d be busy at weekends but less so at the start of the week. One of the big differences is Ludlow’s 4

essentially a gastro leisure and pleasure market while in Mayfair there are lots of business customers, especially at lunch sessions.

With the move we’ve increased the number of covers from 36 in Ludlow to 48 in Mayfair and employ approximately two dozen staff, split evenly between the kitchen and front of house. Although we could have more covers, Hibiscus is the type of restaurant where customers need to have space to dine in comfort.

Being busy throughout the week (we don’t open at weekends as it’s important for Claire and myself to balance work and quality of life, especially as we have a beautiful young daughter) means we have to have high levels of business controls.

Tim was invaluable again, introducing us to Intelligent Business Systems. Gareth and his team were recommended because Tim had used IBS for his own restaurant businesses. We’re delighted with the pos system and support. It’s a great shame we never had IBS when we first opened in Ludlow. It would have made life a lot easier and less stressful! Like most people, we’ve had to learn the business side of running restaurants through practical experience. I remember at the end of the first week in Ludlow the staff hanging around after they had finished. I’m thinking why are they waiting behind? It was for their wages. I had not thought about them!

Room to eat – spacious surroundings are essential to the Hibiscus experience.

Those days are long behind us and our communication between the office and the restaurant is better than ever before. Good stocktaking and communications have never been more important.

Consistency and attention to detail are very important to me. It’s why we limit ourselves to six starters, six mains and six desserts to maximise the fresh produce ordered daily by me and my head chef Marcus McGuinness. It’s why I love fish, line-caught like sea bass and organic salmon, because of the precision involved. And it’s why we have an eclectic range of 550 wines ranging from £16.75 for a bottle of house wine to £3,000 for a 1982 Bordeaux to complement our food. And it’s why we’re working closely with IBS, because one of the beauties of the system is our option to upgrade as our business matures.

And our next challenge? It could another pub or a bistro. But first there’s six nations rugby. I love England and the call of London but when it comes to rugby I’m very much for the Frenchmen at heart.

Geronimo travelling on the right path Geronimo Inns was named best Managed Pub Company with under 100 pubs by the Publican magazine last year.

Here Commercial Director, Ed Turner, discusses his love affair with pubs and the involvement of IBS in Geronimo Inns’ long-running success story Love pubs. Always have done since I was old enough to drink in them and I think it’s going to be a lifelong affair. They are essential to our heritage, the foundations of our culture. I’ve been lucky enough to work in the pub industry since leaving Exeter University, working as a business development manager with Bass and then Mitchells & Butler, which had over 7,000 managed pubs at the time.

When I joined Rupert and Jo Clevely, who launched Geronimo in the nineties, I had the opportunity to help redefine what we mean by the pub, which was a great challenge.

Where we score as a business is our positive outlook on everything we do. For instance, the smoking ban is a fact of life.

Rather than moan, we’ve responded in the best way for our customers. We’ve supplied ’Gone for a smoke’ beer mats, Nintendo games, umbrellas, sexy gardens and more to make both the smokers and the smoking widows feel at home.

For the anthropologists, we’ve even identified a new behavioural human pattern, “smirting”... flirting in a smoking garden!

Joking aside, our goal is to manage popular large, truly British pubs with a great heritage and a modern twist. An essential part of our offering is to be very creative with our interpretation of what this means.

Perhaps our approach is encapsulated by our pubs at Heathrow and St Pancras.

We’re reinventing customer expectations of the pub when they’re travelling. They are in unique locations and open 5am to 11pm but they still capture the spirit of Geronimo. We want to do our thing much better than it’s been done previously. After all, it’s a

Pub lover Ed Turner (above) is helping to redefine the concept of the great British pub with the award-winning Geronimo Inns.

As well as traditional pubs in and around the capital, Geronimo is making its mark with high profile sites like the Tin Goose at Heathrow and the Baby Betjeman at the inspirational St Pancras rail station.

stressful experience travelling and our remit is to give travellers a friendly environment where they can relax with great grub and a pint. Funnily enough, the chief difference between the rail and airport pubs and the rest is the number of breakfasts we serve, no matter what time of the day.

We’re currently very busy at both Heathrow and St Pancras. At the former we’re opening a third site in Terminal Five, which is a truly amazing piece of architecture and a really exciting concept in modern day travel. The latter is our first Geronimo arrival at a London train station. However, like the advertising says for a certain supermarket brand, this is not your average station but the beautifully renovated St Pancras, home to the Eurostar and gateway to the London Olympics. The pub has a number of rooms including a south facing terrace and another underneath the glass room of the station itself. Stunning.

As commercial director, I’m very much hands-on, much more than in a larger

corporate organisation. I take care of purchasing, training and the pub set up from pos to fridges to marketing to ensure our customers receive the right messages.

When I joined Geronimo in 1999 we had a standalone set up. I wanted a complete pos system and looked at what was in the market. IBS ticked the right boxes and have proved to be a very responsive company, very helpful. They do things with a certain smile and have provided us with a fully integrated system and on-going support.

From our perspective, stock control is critical to our ability to perform. Our management reports tell us where we’re at and how promotions are doing, what are our staffing levels and so forth. The system is essential to helping us understand the impact of our activity and our people.

It’s this infrastructure that helps us constantly perform at the top of our game – and will keep us flying the Geronimo flag as high as we can, wherever we travel with our pubs.

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IT manager and vodka lover Marc Dawson is passionate about the Revolution brand which is planning to host over 100,000 parties at its fifty five bars this year. He’s equally pleased with the infrastructure behind the scenes where IBS’s StockLink software is changing the way the company does things as Marc explains exclusively for Impact.

Revolution is a party paradise with over 100,000 taking place this year

Love Vodka, Revolution, StockLink

I know I’m going to sound extremely bias because I do love vodka and I work for Inventive Leisure which owns the concept. But I’m a genuinely big fan of the Revolution bars brand and its emphasis on quality service and products which enable our bars to deliver an exceptional experience to our customers. Even before I worked for the business, I was converted to the cause as a student in the North West and remember (vaguely) sampling a few distinctive vodkas in the very first Revolution bar, which was opened in Manchester’s Oxford Street in the midnineties.

Like nearly all of the 1,800 plus employees who are helping us spread Revolution to the masses, I’m passionate about the brand.

After all, a success story like Revolution depends upon the 100% commitment and belief of its people. It’s why we as a business are able to focus on great service, great venues and a great atmosphere as our selling points rather than discounting and happy hours like other hospitality competitors. That’s why from our perspective Revolution stands for adding value through service at every stage of the customer experience.

This year we’re looking at hosting over 100,000 parties at Revolution bars, which stretch up and down and across the UK from Aberdeen to Plymouth and Lincoln to Cardiff with hotspots in all the major cities including London, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle.

Whether it’s five or a hundred or more, the variety and number of our party offerings almost match the different core vodkas on sale behind the bar. For fellow vodka connoisseurs its over 30 inhouse flavours lovingly created and tested by revolutionaries at our very own vodka factory where intriguing options include porridge, banana, glacier mint and chilli

Always plenty of choice and always served with a flourish!

complemented by 70 of the world’s very best premium brands ranging from Absolut and Zubrowka to Polska and Ketel One. Our parties are legendary with each one enhancing our reputation still further.

Customers can get all educational (to a degree) with hosted hands-on cocktail and vodka masterclasses or book a vodka ice luge where our favourite drink is poured through a slab of sculpted ice for an unforgettable taste. The favourite ice option is a ski slope but this is a bespoke service and we’ve had some pretty wild requests.

Masterclasses and ice luges are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ll do our best to ensure our customers have the best-ever party with us. At Revolution burlesque showgirls, body-painted girls and boys, live music and personalised DJs, stilt walkers, fire eaters and snake artists are all on tap for our customers when they want to create that once-in-a-lifetime party occasion.

With so much going on it’s essential we stay a step ahead when it comes to controlling and reporting on our business activity, which is why we have our own IT department

headed by Michelle Smart and myself. An essential section within the IT department is managed by our dedicated pos guru Tony Murray.

We currently use a centrally controlled pcbased system using either Uniwell or PC POS touchscreens. StockLink from Intelligent Business Systems helps us control general sales reporting and stock checks and feeds our management team with the business reports necessary to drive day-to-day and strategic decision making.

Historically, the quality of data has been a concern although this is no longer the case.

Through StockLink we have improved the quality and reliability of pos data which enables us to deliver efficiencies across many business processes. By streamlining and integrating systems we have created a positive impact in several head office departments and our sites.

With considerable support and assistance from IBS senior project manager Mark Bagnall, we rolled out StockLink in two phases. The second phase saw us create the business sheets that are designed to interface with our head office management information systems.

Our end goal is to be able to deliver data to head office in a timely fashion and StockLink is integral to that achievement.

Although our bars operate at different closing times, depending upon location and the time of the year, our tills are polled throughout the night so at 6am our systems at head office produce management reports. These are automatically sent out via email and PDA to our site managers and head office teams so they get the information (for instance, revenue, stocktakes and payroll) they need to be able to drive the business forward by individual outlet and as a whole. No matter where they are, they can access the information.

From our point of view, it’s important we don’t drown ourselves in data. That’s why we focus on the key performance indicators that ensure our operational and head office guys are always well read and prepared.

With the right information at their fingertips they can react quickly and effectively to any given business situation.

Flexibility and the capability to deliver consistently accurate information in a timely fashion is one of the key StockLink attributes. We’re also looking forward to taking advantage of new StockLink initiatives. Revolution has developed a cando culture and StockLink dovetails neatly into this philosophy.

We launched StockLink to our managers last summer, hosting roadshows and training sessions in Manchester, Bath, London and Derby. Not only did we show them how we’re constantly driving efficiency and timely reporting but we also received a lot of positive feedback, which is very encouraging and a big thumbs up for StockLink.

One of the really good aspects of working for a business like Inventive Leisure is their commitment to excellence across all areas of the business. This is epitomised by this year’s managers’ annual conference which will have close to 100 of our bar managers and senior head office staff jet over to Las Vegas. It’s also encapsulated by the desire to invest in the best infrastructure possible with the likes of StockLink.

The message that vodka drinkers can clearly identify with

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Educating the Educators Run along similar lines to a traditional university, South Cheshire College is one of the country’s leading tertiary and sixth form educational establishments. Over 3,000 full time students and thousands more part timers and visitors from Nantwich, Crewe and the surrounding catchment areas regularly pass through the college gates.

Many of them use its extensive facilities, which include a shop, fitness academy, nursery, theatre, cafe, restaurant, travel centre, sports hall and hair and beauty salons. The common denominator linking many of these facilities is IBS as three South Cheshire managers explain exclusively for Impact.

Mandy Malam, head of retail operations Supermarkets, naturally enough given their massive resources, were the first to deploy pos systems. At the time this represented a massive financial outlay way beyond the rest of us who could only look on with envy. Later, after large independents embraced similar technology, it was our turn with the likes of IBS offering an affordable and realistic epos investment for forward-thinking educational establishments like South Cheshire College.

We jumped at the chance to take advantage of pos technology because we knew the benefits would be immediate, long-lasting and help us meet strategic objectives.

Our ambition is to create first class onsite retail, leisure and hospitality facilities to encourage students to stay on campus.

After all, it’s tough for students to learn anything and participate in social activities if they’re not in college! If everything they want - refreshments, college materials, places to relax and socialise with their friends – is readily available there is less temptation to look for it elsewhere.

It’s hard to imagine for first-time visitors but when I first managed the shop it was just a basic hole-in-the-wall facility. It has been transformed in the decade or so since I’ve been here.

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Now the shop is an integral part of Student Street. We operate and manage it along commercial lines with the same management information and reports that you’d find in any high street retail operation.

For instance, at the start of the school year, the shop can turn over £30,000 per week.

Our complementary facilities are equally as impressive with, for instance, our on-site ABTA-bonded travel centre attracting many non-student clients who book their holidays direct with us.

Naturally if we’re emulating the high street with our approach to retail and hospitality we want to do the same with our pos systems and management controls which is why we work in close partnership with IBS. Throughout our association IBS has been first class with senior project manager Mark Bagnall and head of development Mike Ball carrying out a lot of bespoke work to meet our specific requirements. They’ve always been willing to understand our needs and recommend appropriate solutions. From my point of view they are extremely flexible and always prepared to listen.

For example, recently introduced pc-based terminals ensure we don’t lose data if our network goes down. Previously if the network crashed it could take a lot of information which we could never get back.

Likewise, our welcome pack to new students includes £25 worth of complimentary vouchers. This is designed

to act as an incentive to use college facilities and part-fund equipment and supplies for their education. Initially we used ‘paper money’ with all the obvious problems, including the inability to give change.

Thanks to IBS this scheme is now fully automated. We manage it via a loyalty package where all the relevant information is stored on the individual student’s ID card.

When they start they are credited with £25.

The money is deducted as and when they spend it.

The system allows us to top up the credits to reward good attendance for students.

Equally important, should a student finish at the college or leave before the end of term, we can instantly stop them accessing the college’s cash.

One of the great spin offs with StockLink is students in our hospitality and catering faculty using the software to gain realistic hands-on experience processing data front of house and in the back office. This is great news as our return on investment through the IBS system not only saves us money, time and resources but also helps train the next generation of hospitality professionals.

Walking around campus, I’m reminded daily of the prowess of IBS’s contribution to the smooth running of our facilities when I notice how quickly our queues shift. Unlike the popular myth, our students don’t see a big queue and immediately join it!

Walter Williams, catering manager

Sara Blundred, shop manager Our retail shop is really busy and has everything from fresh sandwiches, magazines and newspapers to chilled foods, sweets, drinks, crisps, and ice cream to keep students fed and watered when they’re on campus. Just as important, it’s also the place for students to purchase stationery, computer and photographic consumables, artists’ materials and numerous other studying aids.

IBS was introduced to the college via our current head of retail operations, Mandy Malam, who was the previous shop manager before I took over. She had a great relationship with Mark Bagnall and the IBS team and I have too. The support contract we have with them is important and we’re free to contact them whenever we need their assistance or advice.

The impact IBS has made in the shop is visible and immediate. We’re busier than ever before with a massive increase in footfall in a retail space that has remained the same size.

An idea of the sophistication of the operation is the fact we have over 15,000 items on sale, including recently introduced chilled products.

It’s funny but I remember deliveries and stock taking used to be very long-winded processes. Now it’s all automated, including using handhelds for checking stock.

Our pos system is easy to use and explain to my colleagues in the shop. I have three full time staff and one part-time as well as students working with me. We’re able to work a lot faster and be a lot more accurate with everything we do.

Automated student cards have been a revelation. We used to have to put an ID number on the cards manually but this is now done automatically. Students get a £25 credit in September for course materials or anything else they want to buy. The card stores all their transactions so we have a historic record of their purchases in case there are ever any misunderstandings. The downside, and I’m saying this tongue–in-cheek, is we’re incredibly busy for the first couple of weeks when the students spend, spend, spend...

We love it. I’m looking forward to developing the card system so we can run a whole series of promotions like two for one. It’s all part of our constant desire to look at ways to improve and enhance our retail operation.

Cafe Chill is, as the name clearly suggests, the place where students can take time out from studying and chill out.

It’s a busy hub for lots of socialising with students engaging in music, dancing, karaoke and fundraising for good causes.

Our remit is to offer them a whole range of foods from full meals and breakfasts to sandwiches, snacks and hot and cold drinks, including a fully-stocked salad bar as a healthy-eating alternative.

The Cafe used to be a franchise but has been brought under direct college control and we’re currently creating all the necessary databases for the IBS system which was installed at the tail end of last year. The system is based around four pos terminals covering the different offerings in the cafe.

Although it is still early days we’re already seeing the benefits with the stock countdown particularly helpful when it comes to reordering. Feedback is positive from the team with assistant manager Jeanette Lowe (above right) and floor supervisor Linda Vickers using the system to monitor deliveries and cashing up respectively.

Longer term, we’re hoping to operate a cashless option. You’d be surprised at the number of students who forget to bring cash. Actually, if you have children you won’t!

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Why we’re the professional’s choice

StockLink offers the best of all worlds

What’s in a strapline?

Quite a lot actually, as IBS commercial director Dee Powell explains.

We’ve added a new tagline, or marketing message, to our branding to co-incide with our appearance at Hostec. Our phrase, the professional’s choice, works in close conjunction with our IBS logo. It’s designed to create and communicate a genuine point of difference with customers and from competitors.

Like all good slogans we want it to encapsulate our core values as a peopleled business servicing professionals in the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors.

You’ll be familiar with taglines used on household names; Boddingtons (cream of Manchester), Audi (versprung durch technik), Nike (just do it) and McDonalds (I’m loving it) are four classics that immediately spring to mind. These examples are all instantly memorable without ever mentioning promoting beer, cars, sportswear and fast food.

Our line fulfils the same function, communicating that our POS and enterprise management systems are the choice of hospitality professionals without mentioning pos. There’s ample evidence of credentials within Impact where customers write about their businesses and their experiences with us.

The line works on another level, highlighting our own professionalism within our two-tier senior management structure and the numerous choices we offer like on-line or off-line versions of StockLink. While the various merits are discussed by our development team’s Michael Ball and Will Mainwaring on this page your specific answer depends upon your requirements. The important issue is that you have the choice – and always will with IBS.

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IBS launches StockLink On-Line this spring as part of an on-going commitment to offering hospitality professionals a variety of choices.

However, whether it’s on or off line depends upon individual requirements says IBS developers Will Mainwaring and Mike Ball (right).

Our new StockLink On-Line option mirrors the functionality of our popular POS and enterprise management off-line software installed at thousands of sites in the UK, Europe and North America, writes Will Mainwaring.

We’ve taken everything currently in StockLink V5 to create an internet-based product that complements and offers an alternative to our flagship product. Although the functionality is virtually the same there are key differences.

There’s no need with On-Line to physically install StockLink at each individual site.

databases wherever there’s an internet connection, day or night, in the UK or abroad.

Naturally, there are associated time-saving and resource-rationalisation benefits. Time inputting and processing data is going to be dramatically reduced. What’s more, bulkupdating on prices and menus would normally involve amending each site database individually. On-Line a simple tick box procedure allows for multiple site changes with one mouse click.

Of course, StockLink off-line is still very much part of our offering and sits Neither is there any need to update and comfortably alongside the new On-Line maintain databases on site terminals as version. It’s particularly relevant for everything runs through the web. No polling independents and single-site operators who is needed as database management and can look after their own databases on-site updates are real time on centrally controlled (after all, there’s no need to pay to ship the data to us when they can manage it servers (either our own or the customers). themselves).

For hospitality professionals this means having the freedom and flexibility to access From the customer’s point of view, it’s great and work in centralised www-based to have the choice.

What’s cooking with StockLink?

On-Line StockLink modules are an increasingly attractive proposition for clients and we’re responding to their feedback with more new developments this year, says Mike Ball.

Loyalty and promotional modules are already out in the marketplace and attracting new and repeat business for customers. We’re also looking forward to the impact of customer ordering, Amazon-for-food we call it in the development department. Essentially, ordering is hosted by our servers although the end user customer thinks they are still on the operator’s site courtesy of an invisible link. This has been successfully trialled with Fresh Italy in the capital. This module matches pictures and descriptions of the offerings alongside practical easy ordering and purchasing functions. The functionality of customer ordering features design tools so we can emulate the client’s own web pages. There is more in the pipeline, including POS TouchLink, which we’ll unveil in the next issue of Impact. Watch this space.

A Scotsman’s Letter from America John Naismith is a pos industry veteran who has worked in Scotland, England and Canada.

Now he operates out of Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA, heading the IBS invasion of North America after a spell as President of Uniwell USA. Here is the sixth of his letters from America.

easy to read color screens, a small lightweight form factor and a long battery life.

Restaurant handheld products have been around a while but performance, reliability and ROI issues mean they’re failing to make major inroads. According to TriniTEQ, that’s about to change. WaiterPAD uses superior wireless technology ideally suited for the hospitality industry, where high powered microwaves, stainless steel, liquids, mobile phones and wireless laptops are all frequently found. These inhibit handheld In a previous letter, I wrote about the systems that use standard “Wi-Fi” wireless WaiterPAD uses Radio popularity of the drive-thru in American life. technology.

Here you can visit your bank, pharmacy or Frequency, or “RF”. RF is a better choice for liquor store without leaving your car – and in hospitality because it offers less interference Las Vegas you can even get married! Even and fewer drop outs, longer battery life, so, the biggest impact has undoubtedly longer range and improved transmissions been on Quick Service Restaurants, with through solid objects and liquids that tend to 60-65% of total sales coming from their “shield” traditional wireless signals. drive-thru windows.

TriniTEQ also offers WaiterPOS, a Windows While there’s more to hospitality than based restaurant pos system, either speed, fast and efficient service is always bundled with WaiterPAD or stand alone. important. The major claim to fame of our WaiterPOS provides multiple security levels latest US partner TriniTEQ is that they bring (e.g. server vs. manager) and operates in a quicker – and more accurate – service to variety of modes: quick-sale, bar, restaurant and takeaway. It offers advanced reporting casual and fine dining restaurants. facilities and also includes time and TriniTEQ is a global leader in handheld point attendance and loyalty. of sale systems. The company started out in Western Australia 10 years ago and today Located on the Embarcadero, the Waterfront has offices in Australia, the US and the UK. Restaurant is one of San Francisco’s foremost dining destinations. Owner Al Falchi Their flagship offering is WaiterPAD, a transformed an old longshoreman’s bar into a handheld ordering solution designed to three level, 350 seat restaurant featuring improve service, while increasing table turns white table cloth service, indoor and outdoor and average check size. WaiterPAD features dining, a bar and lounge and separate

upstairs dining room for private functions.

I recently had lunch there with Scott Allan, TriniTEQ’s CEO. I’d already seen WaiterPAD in his office, but Scott wanted me to see it in a live environment. I’m glad he chose the Waterfront!

“The WaiterPAD handheld ordering system was the perfect solution for our operation,” said Mr. Falchi. “Directly sending orders from the table side and outside patios to kitchen operations is wonderful. We can have a drink delivered to the guest’s table even before the entire order has been taken. We could not offer that speed and service before.”

We’re now working with TriniTEQ to integrate WaiterPAD and WaiterPOS to StockLink, to provide a true enterprise solution for multi-concept independents and multi-national chain restaurants. We’ll look at how this relationship develops in a future letter, but in the meantime TriniTEQ have other high profile restaurant customers they feel I should visit.

As they say, it’s a hard job, but someone’s got to do it!

IBS Profile...Sheila & Jeanette Name: Job title: Status: Interests: Ambition:

Name: Job title: Status: Interests: Ambition:

Sheila Land (Left) Receptionist Married, two children Cooking, cricket, rugby union, walking To go on a rugby tour of Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand Jeanette Redmond Receptionist Married, three children Cats and gardening Live in Florida

Q1: What is your day-to-day role at IBS? SL: We’re responsible for manning the switchboard, greeting visitors and general administration duties. For many we’re the first port of call so we need to convey the right impression from that initial point of contact.

Q2: Where else have you worked?

SL: I worked at a large manufacturing company for 13 years.

JR: Everywhere!

Q3: What makes a good receptionist?

SL: Treat each customer as I would like to be treated myself while communicating efficiency and courtesy and steering each call to the correct department.

JR: Listen first, speak second.

Q4: What makes IBS special in your view?

SL: There’s a great team spirit and everyone is on first name terms.

That’s not always the case in other larger businesses.

JR: Everyone seems to care about what they do and there is a great family atmosphere.

Q5: And your bad advice for those very occasional bad tempered customers?

SL: Listen and direct them to the department best suited to resolve their issues.

JR: Bite your tongue!

11

FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA.

al’s Choice n io s s e f o r P The Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

We do it for the likes of PizzaExpress, BBC, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 7 Autumn/Winter 2008

IBS launches POSLink University Challenge Animal Magic StockLink Top of the Class

Welcome to Impact 7 A warm welcome to the Autumn/Winter 08 edition of Impact, our bi-annual magazine designed to keep you fully up-to-speed with the impact we’re making in the fast moving world of pos and enterprise management technology. As you can see below and on page 10, we’ve just launched POSLink, our own very own touchscreen pos solution. It’s an exciting new product to add to our growing StockLink portfolio, matching ease of use with numerous clever features and short cuts to give customers the ultimate in flexibility. Versatility is important in our industry as our contributors reveal in this issue. Clients from universities, schools and safari parks show how we make a genuine and positive difference to the way they do business, both operationally and strategically. We hope you enjoy this edition of Impact and trust it gives you plenty of food for thought as always. Remember, if you want to find out more about how we can impact upon the way you run your business, simply get in touch. We’re only a telephone call or an e-mail away.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover image: POSLink is an exciting new touchscreen solution from IBS. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by AFC (www.afc-uk.org, 0161 798 8810). If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail me on deeP@ibs-systems.co.uk. We’re always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS POSLink adds new dimension to IBS software portfolio Intelligent Business Systems has launched POSLink, a fully integrated, feature-rich touchscreen solution designed to help hospitality, leisure and catering enterprises simplify sales, purchasing, reporting and business control while enhancing the consumer experience. Built around a compact Windows WEPOS platform for instant familiarity and extra speed, the pc-based POSLink solution is expected to be one of the quickest front-of-house solutions for hospitality staff to learn and accurately navigate around. Staff new to the solution can expect to familiarise themselves with its functionality within five to 15 minutes.

POSLink can be configured to suit the operational and brand requirements of individual businesses, while helpful features like bill splitting, table management and special requests allow staff to focus on customer service and selling more. As a management tool, it’s equally easy for unit managers and head office staff to update, monitor and maintain. “POSLink aims to be the easiest-to-use touchscreen solution in the marketplace. Our focus is on quick, easy navigation. Which is why the most popular products can be sold using the fewest number of touches while we’ve also looked to minimise the transitions between different screens,” said IBS managing director, Gareth Powell. “Obviously every business is different but they can configure POSLink to suit their individual and often unique requirements.”

2

Gareth Powell talks about POSLink on page 10 and 11.

University of Wolverhampton upgrade The University of Wolverhampton is in the process of upgrading many of its hospitality facilities to pc-based pos systems. It is anticipated that the work will be completed across all the campuses by the end of the financial year. “Even though we’re having more sophisticated technology at our disposal, the touchscreens remain very easy to use thanks to IBS’s understanding of our operational needs.

Our staff can start operating the systems with minimal training, even those who aren’t really

all that computer literate. That’s a big selling point to me. Simplicity is the key to providing excellent service,” says Stuart Rutty, the City campus general catering manager at the University.

Stuart Rutty, the University of Wolverhampton’s general catering manager of its City campus, writes about why the education sector has to match the high street on page 8 and 9.

StockLink increasingly popular with schools StockLink is an increasingly important business tool for many of the country’s leading independent schools like Marlborough College, Gordenstoun, King’s School and Haileybury, writes Carla McKenzie of MYA Consulting. The software package is being used to help schools plan, control and review expenditure while also planning and nutritionally analysing menus to encourage healthy eating. The School Food Trust is introducing new nutrient-based food standards into schools. These standards have to be interpreted and implemented in a way that doesn’t detract from the quality and presentation of the food or greatly increase the cost of providing food and drink for the pupils. StockLink is an important part of managing that process. It is also a vital tool in the constant battle to control costs. With an anticipated 20% increase over the coming months a very conservative estimate, careful scrutiny of prices, stocks and staff time-management are needed to

Flexibility key to hardware selection

protect the balance sheet. By using the software to plan meals, organise portion control and monitor production, schools are finding StockLink offers transparency across all aspects of the catering departments of client schools, while easing the administrative workload of catering staff.

See page 4 and 5 to read more from Carla about how StockLink is making a difference to the independent school sector.

IBS helping to speed up talking to the animals

IBS is helping the West Midlands Safari Park introduce new-style kiosks over the coming months to speed up entrance to the Park so visitors can spend more time with the animals rather than waiting to get in. As part of this process, IBS has been developing an e-ticketing solution so visitors can purchase tickets on-line with printed vouchers scanned in

at the kiosks. “Like the innovation of driver-sided kiosks, e-ticketing will give us the opportunity to boost sales through making purchasing easier and quicker for our customers who come from Wales, Birmingham, Leicester, the Midlands and the north,” says Hannah Price, commercial manager at the popular Safari Park which attracts close to half a million visitors every year. As well as helping design and instal the ticketing system at the ten ticket kiosks at the entrance to the Park, IBS has provided pos and head office management for the busy privately-owned attraction. “Our work with the WMSP highlights our ability to create bespoke software solutions to accommodate each individual’s own unique requirements,” says Dee Powell, IBS commercial director.

Hannah Price writes exclusively for Impact about the WMSP’s relationship with IBS on pages 6 and 7.

IBS really at home at Nottingham’s Home Intelligent Business Systems has installed a pos system with StockLink professional software to help run and manage Home, a brand new chic bar and restaurant opened in Nottingham by former solicitor and entrepreneur Nick Howdle. “StockLink really does give me complete control over the business. For example, the live journal reports provide real time pos sales information. The live update facility means

IBS...in brief

changes can be made during service while my specially adapted business sheet provides the vital figures on a day to day basis,” says Nick, who is planning to roll out the brand to other towns and cities as the concept develops.

IBS has introduced a three-tier hardware portfolio to accommodate the requirements of customers that cover a wide range of sectors from hospitality to retail to leisure to catering and education. “Understanding hardware and the full implications of each model’s specification is essential to ensuring the best return on investment.

Our portfolio offers three different categories of hardware depending upon on a client’s specific needs,” says Gareth Powell, IBS managing director.

Gareth and his team have been busy extensively ‘roadtesting’ all the models within the product portfolio to ensure they are all fit for purpose. They have created a three-tier to categorise the hardware according to whether they are premium, standard or economy.

Oxford Organic Burger Bar goes wall-mounted IBS has installed a full pos system at the newly opened Oxford Organic Burger Bar in Oxford, the third outlet to be launched in the town’s Cowley Road by Clinton Leisure. The others are Coco and Kazbar.

This spacious bar uses only organic food and has wall-mounted terminals to fit in with the relaxed, open ambience of the restaurant bar. “Flexibility is important whenever we approach the design of a new bar. The layout demanded terminals that were easily accessible without being obtrusive so mounting them on the walls was the obvious solution,” said IBS senior project manager, Mark Bagnall.

STOP PRESS: IBS is appearing at the Hospitality exhibition at the NEC Birmingham, 19-21 January 2009. For more details visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk or wwww.hospitality.co.uk.

3

StockLink making a difference to independent school sector

4

Carla McKenzie (left) is the managing director of MYA Consulting, who provide independent hotel and catering advice. As well as specialising in the private schools sector, she has previously been director of catering at the Royal Festival Hall and South Bank Centre. Here she talks about the importance of StockLink software to help schools run more effective catering departments without sacrificing the quality of food served to pupils.

What do famous schools like Gordenstoun, Marlborough College, Haileybury and King’s School have in common - apart from representing the cream of independent schools in the UK and providing the next generation of political leaders and opinion formers who will shape how we live? They, along with dozens of other leading educational establishments, use StockLink to help plan, control and review expenditure - as well as plan and nutritionally analyse menus to encourage healthy eating.

StockLink is our recommended software tool to help schools run and manage their catering departments. Whether it’s internally for pupils or externally for visitors and increasingly popular revenue-generating corporate hospitality events, it’s an integral part of our proposition that has established us as one of the country’s most effective, results-led catering consultancies.

As specialists in the independent school sector, our objective is to make a difference to the way our client schools run and operate their catering departments. Our reputation, built over 15 years, is based upon inspiring and delivering creative change as part of a dynamic solution to ensure our clients have catering operations that combine the best of all worlds with imaginative and nutritious food served in exciting environments while ensuring value for money throughout the process.

This process embraces a whole series of specialist skills and a unique understanding of the legislative and pastoral concerns that revolve around prestigious schools with histories dating back several centuries.

The MYA team will design appropriate and sympathetic interior and exterior spaces to suit the specific requirements of individual schools - while taking in to account the architectural significance and heritage of the buildings. It’s a great challenge to create visually exciting environments for young people without diminishing the character of the schools. It’s one we relish with every project, especially as the presentation of the food is key to tempting the taste buds of children who can be fickle at the best of times. Design will cover everything from kitchen layouts and equipment to food counter displays and decorating the walls of eating spaces with appropriate images and furnishings. The schools may have hundreds of years of amazing history behind them but the children invariably have a thoroughly modern perspective.

Menu development is another major area of expertise where we balance several key objectives. Food, as we all know from our own domestic circumstances, has to look fresh, colourful and exciting. Obviously, it has to be nutritious too as part of healthy diet while meeting legislative guidelines.

The School Food Trust is introducing new nutrient-based food standards into schools.

These standards have to be interpreted and implemented in a way that doesn’t detract from the quality and presentation of the food or greatly increase the cost of providing food and drink for the pupils.

SIX OF THE BEST StockLink is proving to be increasingly popular with schools. Here are six reasons why.

1

Helps plan meals and portion control

2

Gives catering departments better control over prices, stocks and staff time-management

3

Offers catering transparency

4

Positively influences balance sheet

5

Helps interpret food standards

6

Eases administrative workload

Value for money and ensuring every pound is well spent is particularly important in the context of rising food costs - a 20% increase over the coming months is a very conservative estimate - and a stagnating economy. Careful scrutiny of prices, stocks and staff timemanagement all influence the balance sheet.

Fortunately, StockLink gives us the control necessary to make a real and impressive difference to client catering departments.

By using it to plan meals, organise portion control and monitor production, it offers transparency across all aspects of the catering departments of client schools while easing the administrative workload of catering staff.

In fact, StockLink is such an important part of our offering as a consultancy, we have our own full-time specialist to maximise the impact of this powerful MS Windows-based software package. Rebecca Maltby’s natural organisational strength and systems expertise make her an obvious choice to look after the delivery and functionality of

Ready to be served - Andy Snook is the catering manager at King’s School, Canterbury, originally founded in 1541 and built around the famous cathedral. As well as organising meals for over 750 pupils, many of whom are boarders, Andy is busy catering for special commercial events at the school ranging from weddings to conferences.

He and his colleagues work closely with the MYA team on a regular basis.

Rebecca Maltby is MYA’s StockLink specialist with a brief to release the full power of the software, including raising orders, reconciling deliveries and invoices and monitoring consumption.

StockLink. Rebecca is responsible for releasing the full power of the software suite, which includes the ability to raise orders, reconcile deliveries and invoices and monitor consumption. One of the major benefits of the package compared to other systems is the reports it produces. These can be tailored to suit the needs of client schools and integrated with other management and accounting systems.

5

West Midlands Safari Park is an exhilarating and exciting 45 hectare reserve, home to over 600 or so fascinating animals from across the world. These range from breeding groups of white lions, critically endangered African wild dogs and rare deer to enormous rhino, reptiles, bats and jumping rats. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and is a regular star of popular television programmes like Five’s Michaela’s Zoo Babies.

Equally impressive is the pos, head office management and e-ticketing systems provided by Intelligent Business Systems, as WMSP commercial manager, Hannah Price, explains exclusively to Impact.

JUST THE E-TICKET AMONGST THE WILDLIFE “I’ve worked at the West Midlands Safari Park for six years and was delighted to be offered a full time appointment as commercial manager after I’d graduated from the University of Bristol with a degree in Geography. After all, working at the Park is a unique experience where no two days are ever going to be the same. There are new births amongst the animals throughout the year. Whether it’s a new white lion cub or a camel or a giraffe, each birth creates a buzz amongst the staff who work here and the thousands who visit every day. New additions to the Park like Cheetahs from South Africa add to the magical atmosphere, grabbing the attention of families and the media in equal measure.

Obviously, the weather influences the numbers of visitors who drive through the gates. The more sun and blue sky, the busier the queues for the four-mile drive round the Park, which takes about 90 minutes. There’re always special guests popping in as well. Bubbly TV personality and animal lover, Michaela Strachen, was here filming for her show about births in zoos and wildlife parks. We also welcomed

members of the GB hockey squad before the Olympics in China. The unpredictability of each day is part of the attraction - although from a business perspective we don’t welcome surprises, especially when it comes to monitoring what’s happening commercially around the site.

Fortunately, we work very closely with Intelligent Business Systems, who supply our pos technology and ticketing systems for the Park. Our involvement with them helps minimise the risk factor and keeps things running like clockwork.

As my responsibilities include retail, admissions and wristbands, I liaise with senior project manager Mark Bagnall and the IBS team several times a month to ensure the Park runs as smoothly as possible from both pos and ticketing perspectives. It’s a long-standing relationship built on mutual trust and one of the great things about them is that they always respond quickly to queries and issues. I can manage most things on the system but occasionally need help with things like reclaiming VAT or connecting one-off

Seasonal worker Ceri Cowley in one of the new style ticket kiosks designed to speed up admission into the Safari Park. The IBS system accommodates e-ticket sales where visitors pay in advance via the internet.

promotional offers to the journal or creating special reports.

You always get the impression they are genuinely interested in what we’re doing

THE MORE THE MERRIER

Gobi, an eight week old camel rejected by her mother, has an insatiable appetite for milk.

and what we’re trying to achieve. One of the things I really like about them is that they are also very proactive and take a consultative approach to the way they carry out their business.

For instance, IBS designed and installed the ticketing system for the ten ticket kiosks at the Park’s entrance. This system needs to be able to seamlessly accommodate up to 10,000 visitors per day when the Park’s at full capacity during bank holidays and summer season peaks. After all, we are busy marketing the Park throughout the year - and have numerous awards to prove the success of our efforts, which are handled by our internal marketing and creative team. We advertise on television and billboards around the Midlands, send out a quarter of a million direct mail pieces from our database, release numerous press and media stories - and run lots of special incentives to drive repeat business.

One of the beauties of the system designed by IBS is that we have a real time snapshot of exactly how many people are in the Park at any one time and the income we’re generating. The information appears on the computers of senior staff so the likes of General Manager Ashley Gillam and Director of Wildlife Bob Lawrence can see how we’re doing hour by hour.

We’re introducing new-style driver-sided kiosks over the coming months to try and speed up entrance to the Park so visitors can spend more time with the animals rather than waiting to get in. As part of this process, IBS worked with us to help develop an e-ticketing solution so visitors can purchase tickets on-line with printed vouchers scanned in at the kiosks. Like the innovation of driver-side kiosks, e-ticketing will give us the opportunity to boost sales through making purchasing easier and quicker for our customers who come from Wales, Birmingham, Leicester, the Midlands

and the north. Visitors can use the tickets anytime they want during the relevant season.

IBS has also made its presence felt in the Plaza retail area, home to our African Trading Post shop and pizza and ice cream parlours.

We use PC POS terminals and StockLink software in the shop. The system is easy for staff to use so they can concentrate on looking after customers while the sales reporting and stock control informs us about which popular lines to reorder and when. The shop’s packed full of DVDs, gifts and brilliant, high quality cuddly toys, including our own specially commissioned white lions. These are unique to us and many of our visitors like to take away a really special souvenir. After all, we were the first wildlife park to introduce a pride of rare white lions in 2004 - and we were also delighted to have been able to announce the first ever white lion cubs to be born in the UK. The arrival of four cubs then doubled our white lion population, which now numbers 20.

Whether they are real or toys, we’re always striving to reach the highest standards with everything we do. That includes the day to day running of the business. Here the likes of IBS are helping us perform to our potential. However, we know in an increasingly competitive leisure and entertainment market, we can never stand still so visitors can look forward to even more attractions and further enhancements to our technology courtesy of IBS as we grow together.

The West Midlands Safari Park has picked up numerous prestigious awards for its marketing and promotional campaigns, writes general manager. Ashley Gillam.

We’re extremely busy and we need to be.

With over 400 full time and seasonal staff and hundreds of precious animals to protect and look after, we have to maximise the number of visitors at every opportunity. We regularly advertise on television and billboards. We send out mailshots to a quarter of a million loyal customers. We give away free return tickets with full price tickets to encourage repeat business. There are special VIP packages where visitors can get up close to the animals with our keepers.

And we’re always keen to develop corporate business by organising fun days for the families. The Co-Op, Lloyds and Orange are three names that spring to mind who have brought thousands of guests to the site for special events where we set aside areas for lunch and entertainment. Also this activity has to be monitored and controlled which is where the system provided by IBS proves to be so valuable as a business tool.

The West Midland Safari Park first opened in 1973 and covers an area of 200 acres that combines four miles of self-drive safari, a discovery trail, amusement area, live shows, cafes and themed retail shops.

It stages a wide variety of annual events including a summer symphony, summer nights, safari illuminations, bonfire bonanza and santa safari.

7

University challenge aiming to graduate to high street standards!

The biggest, most fundamental change in university catering operations in recent years has been an instinctive almost innate understanding that we have to aspire to the same exacting standards of commercial catering chains and brands operating in the high street. Students, irrespective of their age or whether they’re doing full or part time courses, expect us to deliver vastly improved services compared to say a decade or two ago.

Even though we’re essentially contract caterers, the introduction of tuition fees has put a different complexion on how students view the university catering experience. If they’re paying for their education out of their own pockets they won’t accept inferior standards compared to the other places they visit in city and town centres. This mood change is also indicative of the national trend for people to go to their local university. They feel more comfortable demanding better service on home territory.

But while they want the same quality food and drink and matching service, they also feel educational establishments should be subsidising the price they have to pay.

To be fair, they have a valid point. We should be able to match what the high street commercial operators offer as we share the same vastly improved technology. A decent cup of coffee can be made and served quite easily. Likewise we can access the same pos touchscreen and enterprise management technology and software to emulate the service standards and operational controls.

At the University of Wolverhampton we’ve enjoyed a good relationship with Intelligent Business Systems for several years. We’re using the same pc-based solutions that can be found in national restaurant, pizza and pub chains and fast food outlets. This technology gives us the same mindset as our high street counterparts and helps us move with the times. That’s all part of our obligation to give the 26,000 students of the University of Wolverhampton a service wherever and whenever they are studying.

For instance, our day runs from 8.30am to 6.45pm to take into account full and part time students attending lectures and classes during the day and in the evening.

8

Stuart Rutty, the general catering manager of the City campus, the University of Wolverhampton’s flagship site, has been involved in the hospitality sector throughout his working life. He started full time at the Castle Hotel in Taunton the week celebrity chef Gary Rhodes left. After moving to the Regency Hotel in Solihul, he was the deputy house manager at a Birmingham cinema complex.

Here he talks about how universities have to up their standards as fee-paying students demand catering facilities to match high street food and drink offerings.

Like many high street hospitality businesses, we’re in the process of upgrading many of our tills to pos systems. Hopefully the work will be completed across all five campuses by the end of the financial year. Even though we’re having more sophisticated technology at our disposal, the touchscreens remain very easy to use. Our staff can start operating the systems with minimal training, even those who aren’t really that computer literate. That’s a big selling point to me. Simplicity is key to providing excellent service.

The systems also have to be easy for management to use otherwise they’ll neglect useful features. I’ve seen this sort of thing in the hotel industry where they’ll ignore something that’s too difficult.

Luckily, we’re blessed with a strong catering team at the university. We’ve been together for a considerable length of time and they’ve responded positively to the new kit and the IBS training. We’re using the system for recipe costings, regular sales reports checks and to forecast budgets. It’s a great management tool for us at the university as it speeds up our way of working. This is especially important when we’re adopting a more commercial perspective. We find we’re doing more lucrative extra curricular work during the summer holidays and other vacations. The influx of foreign students influences our workload. Initially it was students from Hong Kong. Now it’s more Italians and Koreans.

I suppose it’s ironic in a way that just as our students demand more from us, we want more from our suppliers. Crucially, as far as I’m concerned, IBS are happy to oblige and are always responsive to our needs. Good relationships are key and it’s great not to have to call our pos supplier and have someone sounding miffed at the end of the phone because there’s an issue. It also builds confidence when you know your supplier is in it for the long term and can provide on-going quality, professional support. The pos market is a cut-throat business and is relatively easy to enter -

though it’s more difficult to attain and maintain top-end status.

Technology within the catering industry is very exciting and is changing the way that we approach our business. IBS has helped us compete on a level playing field with commercial operators with the use of their new pos systems. I’m looking forward to seeing where they take the technology in the future. One direction is a situation where phones will have cash on them and be used as a form of payment or credit card. I’ve read about trials in Australia, where the concept is being tried out.

Branding in catering facilities is graphic, eyecatching - and wouldn’t look out of place in a commercial bar or restaurant.

University of Wolverhampton - home to 26,000 students after value for money.

Impact asks the University of Wolverhampton Q: How long has the university worked catering operations manager, Susan with IBS? Warrender, how IBS influences the A: Off the top of my head it’s been seven or strategic management of the catering eight years. I remember we had a good and hospitality facilities. look around at what was available in the market at the time and IBS ticked all the right boxes. They’re still ticking the right boxes today.

Q: You’ve been upgrading your system with pc-based technology? What’s driven that investment?

A: Changing needs and circumstances of our operation really and the need to maintain tight controls over what we do. We are spread out over a large geographic area, unlike a lot of educational institutions. We have five different sites. Our main campuses are in Wolverhampton but we also have locations in Walsall and in Telford which are 10 and 24 miles from here respectively. StockLink is designed for multi-site operations and is ideal for our needs.

Still ticking the right boxes

Q: What are the key benefits as far as you’re concerned.

A: We use it primarily to manage stock, place orders and control costs. The reporting and business sheets show us

where they are increasing, monitor what’s going on across the catering function, whether it’s the cafes and restaurants or special hospitality events.

It’s also invaluable to make sure we follow the correct processes. For example, managers can only order what’s on the system. Nothing else can be added without prior clearance.

Although managers access the system with a pc, updates and orders are managed by the central office.

Q: Have you realised the full potential of the system yet?

A: I’m sure we haven’t. One of the joys of the system from what I can see is that you can explore its full capabilities as your own operation matures. For instance, we’re adding recipes for greater cost control.

Q: How have your staff taken to the system?

A: Very well although after a while bad habits can creep in. IBS helped us out by organising a special one-off training day to highlight the benefits of the system and ensure staff followed the right way of doing things. That sort of attention to detail makes a big difference.

9

POSLink is the latest addition to the modular StockLink suite that embraces all the tools needed to run and manage successful hospitality, catering, leisure and retail enterprises.

StockLink Professional: users stay fully informed with pos, stock reporting and weekly business sheets on tap, whenever they want them.

StockLink Enterprise: users really do see the big picture and so much more with extensive illuminating enterprise management intelligence.

Crucial not only for operational staff but an essential weapon for head office staff when it comes to making informed, empirical decisions.

StockLink Customer Ordering: users can add a new dimension to their enterprises with real time on-line ordering for faster, flexible, better sales.

A natural progression for anyone looking for extra revenue streams.

StockLink Loyalty & Promotions: used is to communicate directly to customers with cost effective, highly-focused pos-led direct marketing at the fraction of the price of hit-and-miss traditional advertising and expense direct mailshots. Speak to the people who already buy from you or are most likely to want to purchase from your business.

10

POSLINK PACKS A POWERFUL PUNCH The launch of POSLink by IBS gives clients access to a fully integrated, feature-rich touchscreen solution that perfectly complements and seamlessly integrates with the consultancy’s versatile StockLink modular software suite.

The combination will enhance the ability of hospitality, leisure and retail enterprises to run better, more profitable businesses.

IBS managing director, Gareth Powell, (right) is delighted to add POSLink to the product portfolio as it gives clients a complete in-house developed solution from one source supported by extensive sector-specific experience, as he explains here.

POSLink has been developed as a direct response to customers who like what they’re getting with the StockLink modular software suite and want to see it emulated with a touchscreen solution. Every time we’ve been asked, we’ve always agreed it’s a great idea and a win-win situation for everyone concerned. Clients benefit from a top class, high specification solution which is specifically designed to help hospitality enterprises simplify sales, purchasing, reporting and business control. At the same time, they have a front-of-house tool that greatly enhances the overall consumer experience.

So, let’s take a closer look at POSLink. Like StockLink, it’s built around a Windows MS platform for instant familiarity. Microsoft has created an operating system specifically for the retail industry called ‘WEPOS’ (Windows Embedded at Point of Service).

This operating system has all the unnecessary parts, such as games and accessories, removed - which makes the operating platform much more compact and faster to use. Although POSLink can be used on any standard MS operating system, WEPOS will be our standard platform of choice.

From our end, we have what we consider to be the best solution of its kind on the market, created by the same developers responsible for the evolution of StockLink. We know it inside out and how to successfully apply it across a wide range of different businesses. Its versatility and best-of-breed capabilities are going to be key selling points. Our core pos solution can be tailored and configured to the unique needs of businesses that all have their own specific requirements.

What’s more, the initial configuration will be done by industry professionals who are among the most experienced and knowledgeable in the hospitality, leisure, retail and education sectors.

It’s an attractive proposition made even stronger by the fact that it runs on various PC POS terminals. We’ve gone for this versatility because we appreciate that the budgets and requirements for enterprises differ wildly.

Having hardware choices (from economy to standard to premium) gives clients the price and specification functionality to suit their own needs.

As a pc-based solution, we fully expect it to be recognised as one of the quickest front-ofhouse solutions on the market. That’s always been a key goal for everything we do as a

consultancy. Always create solutions that anyone can use in a matter of minutes. Keep it simple.

After extensive testing and research, we expect staff new to the solution to familiarise themselves with its functionality within five to 15 minutes.

IBS Profile...

Anthon Brits

That means they’re selling and interacting with customers almost immediately, rather than being confused by what they have to do next.

We’ve deliberately looked to speed up the selling process. The most popular sales items, irrespective of what they are for different businesses, require the least number of touches. Two or three at most will transform the ordering and purchasing processes.

During special promotions and happy hours, the list of popular sales items can be changed or amended to accommodate additional products that are going to be heavily pushed towards customers. Helpful features like graphical table management, bill splitting, customer re-order and special requests allow staff to focus on customer service and selling more, while the solution can be configured to match the brands of enterprises competing in an increasingly tough market.

Clearly the front-of-house aspect stands out as fast, accurate new business tools. However, we’ve not neglected the equally important back office functionality. As a management tool, it’s just as easy for unit managers and head office staff to update, monitor and maintain as it for the front-of-house staff to use.

Back office options cover extensive reporting facilities, on-the-spot and planned business checks including stock controls and numerous safety and security measures. POSLink can be updated, amended and accessed online, irrespective of the location or the number of sites networked to it. An automatic data backup protects the information it holds in the event of power cuts or server failure. Security includes multi-level password protection and restricted area access.

The launch of POSLink complements the modular pos and enterprise management StockLink software suite marketed by us at

IBS. StockLink is extensively used by many of the UK and Europe’s leading independent and multisite hospitality businesses. The two software modules seamlessly integrate and combine together to provide a complete business solution for hospitality, leisure and catering operators from one pos specialist.

Both are going to be developed and enhanced as the needs of our clients’ change, which is one of the great things about having all our software in-house. We’ve recently added customer ordering and loyalty modules to the core StockLink proposition and there’s much more on its way. Rest assured, we’re going to be upgrading and developing solutions as innovators rather followers. By taking the initiative, we’re focusing on giving customers a more professional choice that they come to expect from IBS. But obviously don’t take our word for it. Ask for a demonstration and see POSLink in action as soon as possible. We think you’ll be positively impressed.

POSlink is a truly versatile touchscreen solution complete with internet-based communications and programming options. It caters for hospitality functions from ‘Quick Service’ to ‘Fine Dining’ while its multiple ‘look and feel’ options allows it to fit in with client brand aesthetics and guidelines. Designed to make HQ terminal programming much simpler, impressive POSlink features also include stock countdown on buttons, right or left hand user screens, table and seat numbers or names, last round recall and super-fast Dutch and split billing.

Age: Job title: Married: Children: Interests:

55 Engineer Debbie Three boys Sport - watching rugby and cricket. I liked to play but my knees didn’t. Guess who won that battle?

Q1: How long have you worked for IBS? A1: About five years. Before I came here I was fixing mobile phones. I was a project manager for a telecommunications company in South Africa.

Q2: What’s your day to day role at IBS? A2: In-house repairs of hardware like POS terminals, printers and kitchen dispensers.

I love the challenge of discovering what’s wrong with things and then making them as good as new again.

I also do some of the programming and sort out the delivery and dispatch of consumables to clients.

Q3: What makes IBS special?

A3: The people who work here are all great. It’s a good atmosphere that cascades down from Gareth and Dee. Everyone takes pride in what they do and it shows with the clients we have.

When I was very ill everyone was very supportive. Gareth and Dee were absolutely fantastic, helping me and my family through it all. It’s very much appreciated by me and rest of my family. It’s a close-knit company - as I’ve learned first hand. And I’m glad it is.

Q4: What is your approach to your work?

A4: Do things as quickly and conscientiously as possible to the highest standards. And always look to improve. You’re never too young or old to get better. Apart from the knees, of course.

Q5: What’s your biggest professional achievement?

A5: In terms of IBS, it’s applying my knowledge of electronics to the epos market. If I can help save money for the company and clients then I’m very satisfied.

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FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA.

nal’s Choice io s s e f o r P e Th Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

We do it for the likes of PizzaExpress, BBC, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 5 Autumn/Winter 2007

GBK seriously serious about burgers Nelson’s Column’s in the shade On-line loyalty’s your flexible friend Andy Price getting it right in Bournemouth

Welcome to Impact 5 A warm welcome to the Autumn/Winter 07 edition of Impact, our bi-annual magazine that shows you the impact we’re making within the fast-moving world of pos technology. When we were researching the features with various clients for this issue, one common denominator that united them was their ability to win prestigious hospitality awards for the quality of their offerings. It’s a tribute to their determination, foresight and the way they run their enterprises. We hope we’ve contributed to the various success stories! Our commitment to help all our customers stay at the top of their games is as strong as ever and is encapsulated by the launch of our on-line loyalty module (see page 10) which is a truly flexible means of encouraging increased spend and profits. Enjoy this issue. We hope it gives you plenty of food for thought as always. Don’t hesitate to contact us to find out how we can impact upon your business.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover image: Nick Wong outside St Paul’s Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by Creativespace2 (www.creativespace2.com). If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail mail to: deeP@ibs-systems.co.uk. We are always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS Geronimo flying high

London-based Geronimo Inns, named the Publican’s tenant/leased Pub Company of the Year, has commissioned IBS to customise stock take results in its 16strong gastro-pub chain’s back office systems and is now deploying StockLink V and real-time polling. ‘The idea is to get right into heart of the existing calculations and re-engineer the results to specifically suit the customer,’ says IBS project manager Justin Atkinson. ‘We can quickly achieve this by using the in-built ‘stock result designer module.’ Geronimo, founded by former Veuve Clicquot international marketing director, Rupert Clevely, launched its first site at the turn of the millennium and has made a significant impact within the hospitality industry. Half a dozen are now Michelin rated with two – the Tin Goose (above) and the Three Bells – located airside at Heathrow Airport. An additional three gastro pubs are due to open in the near future, including one at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 when it opens early next year.

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Are you being served fast enough?

John Lewis, named the UK’s top retailer by Which magazine earlier this year, is developing innovative concepts to capture the imagination of discerning customers. Its newly opened flagship Oxford Street store has just completed a massive £61.1m refurbishment programme, doubling the catering offering to 20,000 sq ft. Here the focus is on the latest eating-trends of London’s West End, where speed-lunching and tackling desserts as the main course are extremely popular. Ensuring everything runs quickly and smoothly is IBS, who have provided the enterprise business management tools at the revitalised Oxford Road store’s catering facilities. IBS supplies all John Lewis's 29 UK outlets.

IBS takes pride of place at Safari Park

IBS...in brief Flexible StockLink on-line loyalty module launched

by IBS

IBS is currently in the process of introducing a real-time easyJet-style internet-based e-ticketing system at the immensely popular 30-year old West Midlands Safari Park. Customers at the exciting park, recently featured on ITV, will be able to purchase tickets on-line. Printed out vouchers can be scanned at the 10-till entrance system. IBS also provides catering systems for the park which takes into account the seasonal nature of its business as catering outlets will open and close depending upon demand. The park uses PC POS terminals and StockLink V5 software.

IBS creating a south coast splash Award-winning restaurateur and south coast entrepreneur, Andy Price, has commissioned IBS to provide pos systems for two new restaurants opened in Bournemouth this year.

Touch-screen and handheld terminals together with StockLink professional management software has been installed at Aruba, located on the town’s Pier Approach overlooking magnificent sandy beaches, and the Print Room, situated further inland in the local evening newspaper’s old printing works. Both venues are looking to emulate the success of Andy’s first venture, WestBeach, named Best Seafood Restaurant in England in 2005/2006.

Andy Price writes for Impact about the launch of his new restaurants and IBS. See pages 4 & 5.

Farmer’s IBS delight Mick Thurlby, an award winning farmer-turnedpublican, is creating a stir in Lincolnshire, revitalising and reopening a string of pubs in the county with the goal of creating ‘pubs where he’d like to drink.’ IBS is providing PC Pos terminals coupled with StockLink software at recent refurbishments, including Stamford’s Toby Norris and Periwing hostelries. PA Justine Atkins is impressed with the support provided by IBS and is planning to convert the rest of the estate.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen Roll Out The Clapham House Group, the ambitious restaurant operators launched less than four years ago, has appointed IBS to roll out StockLinkbased epos systems for its Gourmet Burger Kitchen brand. The brand, one of four owned by the group, was purchased as a six-unit chain.

Clapham expects to open up to a hundred new outlets in the future. Clapham House Financial Director Nick Wong said: ‘We wanted to automate and simplify the entire process, ensure it was 100% secure and accurate and have instant access to the necessary reports to make informed decisions from director level through to our operational managers out in the restaurants.’

Nick Wong writes exclusively about IBS’s appointment on pages 6 & 7.

IBS has added an on-line loyalty module to StockLink, which can be purchased outright or added to Service Level Agreements.

The internet-based module is flexible, versatile and easy to learn and use.

Clients promote their own loyalty membership programmes and marketing activity through specific pages on their own websites with an on-line registration link to the IBS www.

The module can be deployed in any number of ways to suit the client. The same card can be used for discount, loyalty and cashless activity.

Pre-printed, pre-programmed membership cards with random six-digit ID codes are provided by IBS. Customers are invited to register on-line with their details and personal number or to apply direct to the client.

‘The module is a cost-effective, userfriendly, highly-targeted marketing tool that gets results for a fraction of the price of traditional promotional methods like advertising and direct mail,’ said IBS commercial director, Dee Powell.

Queue busters wrap it up with layout rethink Wrap It Up!, the highly original world wrap, salad and soup bar in London’s Bishopgate opposite Liverpool station, wanted to improve sales. Long queues of customers meant missed sales opportunities and a slower than necessary service. Owner Afnan Bashir asked IBS’s Justin Atkinson and Gareth Powell to see if they could come up with a solution as they had installed the pos system. The result is an additional 510% coming through the doors. The next step is to introduce on-line ordering. Time Out magazine was impressed by the new layout: in a review it writes ‘Wrap it Up! does a pretty good job of easing confusion.’

StockLink On-Line Special in the next issue of Impact 3

Three distinctly different offerings, one vision

Bournemouth entrepreneur, restaurateur and the creator of the travel terminus Gamegrid entertainment brand, Andy Price, (above right) leaves nothing to chance when it comes to the restaurant business, including selecting his pos system, as he explains to Impact.

For me the thrill of it all is doing a project well and looking back on it with pride. A great example is my first restaurant venture.

WestBeach offers the finest fish and seafood delivered to our front door on the pier by expert local fishermen and continues to collect awards and applause in equal measure. The popular seafront restaurant has followed up the prestigious AA Best Seafood Restaurant in England for 2005/2006 award with great feedback this summer from the renowned and respected Sunday Times restaurant critic AA Gill. His four star review is a tribute to the outstanding team effort at WestBeach. Great reviews and awards are almost as satisfying as the faces of happy customers after they’ve dined with us!

offers the very best of beach-side dining in Bournemouth with freshly-prepared signature fusion dishes inspired by the best cuisine from around the world and influenced by Polynesian, Caribbean and Pan-European food. Like all my concepts, Aruba mixes stunning cuisine with an equally impressive environment and atmosphere. In this instance guests can enjoy breathtaking 180-degree panoramic sea views taking in Bournemouth’s infamous sandy beaches.

This Autumn saw us move away from the seafront with the launch of the Print Room in the town centre.

The Print Room is housed in the newspaper’s old print presses, which became obsolete in early 90’s following digitisation of the printing processes, hence the name.

Now we’re really focused on emulating the success of WestBeach elsewhere in the town and a busy 2007 has seen us launch two brand new restaurants with exciting plans to open or refurbish others in the pipeline.

When I was shown round the art deco premises by the Echo’s MD I thought that it was the ideal site for a classic French/New York style brasserie and that’s what it has become to stunning effect. The ground floor space divides into two separate areas. The brasserie, with one of the longest bars I’ve ever seen, is in ‘The Print Room’ and ‘Ink’, which is aimed principally at the business market with its fast lunch time food offer and a huge range of wines, beers and spirits. The Print Room provides a classical environment which pays homage to the old newspaper days. Both venues offer an all-day experience if you want it. You can start in the morning with breakfast and work your way through the different areas enjoying the charcuterie, then the patisserie, a bit like the Harrods food court actually!

In the summer we opened Aruba, ideally located on Bournemouth’s Pier Approach and a stone’s throw from WestBeach. Aruba

In all seriousness, I knew exactly what I wanted from the first day that I walked into the building. I wanted a brasserie and took

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inspiration from other brasseries all over the world including London, New York and Paris. The layout of the building worked well and everything was in the right place from the start. The loading bay has remained and is ideal for car launches or fashion shows, providing easy access to the venue.

However, it’s not always that obvious about how to develop a concept. WestBeach came about as a result of the council writing to us about the old WestBeach café. I already knew the building and loved it so we went for it. The original concept, however, was for a tapas bar with a Mediterranean menu. This became more fish orientated because of our location on the coast.

The restaurant business, like any other, involves spotting an opportunity and applying liberal portions of perspiration and inspiration.

For instance, the amusement gaming part of my business, which is a small part of what I do, was a bit of an accident really.

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3 1) Leaving a mark in all good food guides – Andy Price hopes the impact of WestBeach will soon be followed by similar critical acclaim for Aruba and the Print Room.

2) Always tempting at the new Print Room 3) Once busy printing the news, the old Echo print works is now a stunning brasserie and bar inspired

by London, New York and Paris. The Print Room has 40 foot ceilings yet still maintains a great feeling of intimacy thanks to the subtle use of lighting and soft furnishings.

4) Just one of the reasons why Aruba should be emulating WestBeach’s award winning cuisine 5) Aruba has stunning 180 degree panoramic views of Bournemouth’s sandy beaches and blue seas.

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I was working in marketing and advertising and just happened to write to Gatwick airport in the early 90's with a concept and they asked whether we would operate all their entertainment. We still have 300 game machines there as well as a number of other airports such as Bournemouth, Prestwick and Glasgow. Finding restaurant locations can follow the same ‘good fortune’ pattern.

We’ve started to use Intelligent Business Systems as our pos systems provider this year. They came highly recommended from a colleague. The best advertising is always word of mouth. I met up with the team including MD Gareth Powell and project manager Justin Atkinson and was impressed by what they showed us.

A restaurant can easily take a good two or three years of planning and research before you can go forward with it. However, while I’m happy to find locations almost by ‘accident’, I don’t leave the business elements to chance.

Since then they’ve provided us with touchscreen terminals for Aruba and the Print Room and StockLink professional management software to ensure we can exert all the necessary management and business controls across the two restaurants.

We’ve also taken handheld ordering units, which are ideal for taking outdoor orders.

As well as the hardware and software elements, they’ve provided invaluable consultancy advice. They’ve got a wealth of experience within the hospitality sector which we’ve been able to tap in to in order to run efficient restaurants. It’s so easy to lessen the impact of an eating out experience by getting the order wrong or being slow to produce a bill at the end of the meal. That part of the equation is every bit as important as the quality of the food, the range of wines and drinks and the carefully crafted ambience.

Both the Aruba and Print Room launches have created a stir with Bournemouth residents and visitors to the town alike.

Ideally, I wouldn’t mind taking a couple of weeks off but I’m not sure when. Have I mentioned the church project and the hotel in the New Forest…?

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GBK serious about burgers, serious about POS

Nick Wong, a physics graduate from Imperial College, qualified as a chartered accountant with Baker Tilly and specialised in corporate finance. He joined Clapham House to head up the group finance function three years ago and was appointed Group Finance Director a year later. His favourite Clapham House dish is the Pesterella burger from the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Here he talks about the importance of POS and IBS to Clapham House.

We are growing rapidly and have actively looked at all the different POS and enterprise management solutions in the market before committing to IBS as our preferred supplier for the extensive Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) roll out.

With an aggressive roll out programme planned for all four Clapham House brand concepts (we are opening 20 or more GBKs this year) we have to be spot on with key decisions.

Naturally, this review process can be a tough time for an incumbent supplier like IBS even though a lot of our senior management team know the company through personal experience during their time with PizzaExpress and, of course, they supplied Tootsies prior to our acquisition of the brand last year.

As we went out to the market to look at alternatives I could empathise with any unease shown by Gareth and his team at IBS knowing we were looking elsewhere.

However, after our POS review we knew IBS was right for us.

It was apparent, in our view, that there are few POS specialists able to meet the exacting demands of a forward-thinking dynamic company like Clapham House.

Our goals for a considerable POS investment were clear. We wanted to automate and simplify the entire process,

Q: What’s so special about GBK? A: Lots of things. One is knocking the perception of a burger as ONLY a fast food option very firmly on the head.

Q: How’s it done that?

A: Simple. GBK is a concept based around a nutritious sophisticated product and the best, freshest ingredients. Innovative and exotic burger combinations have been designed by internationally recognised chef Peter Gordon.

Q: Surely a burger is a burger?

A: You’re joking! I know you’re joking. At GBK we offer an extensive range of freshly prepared burgers to suit all tastes and appetites, from classic flavour combinations such as Chicken, Camembert and Cranberry, or Beef, Avocado and Bacon, to exciting new combinations like

ensure it was 100% secure and accurate and have instant access to the necessary reports to make informed decisions from director level through to our operational managers out in the restaurants.

Previously, all reporting was manually imported into Excel from an inherited POS system, a labour-intensive and timeconsuming process which delayed decision making.

This process is now fully automated. We have overlayed the StockLink system with our own reporting suite that sends out relevant reports to the appropriate people on a weekly basis to give our senior management team the tools and information to make and implement decisions. The benefits of real-time reporting and identifying the information required to run a successful hospitality business should never be underestimated.

We originally acquired GBK with six restaurants and one of our first initiatives was to implement tight cost control procedures. We first put an IBS system on trial at Ealing. This was successful, I am pleased to report. IBS has worked well with our team to integrate StockLink into our bespoke wide area network infrastructure and embraced the difficult challenge of working with our latest technology.

One aspect of the IBS approach that particularly impresses me is their ability to see the big picture and to understand the nature of our business. Their significant experience in the restaurant industry means they brought a wealth of expertise in business reporting to the table.

We’ve only just started out on what promises to be a great journey but it’s good to have IBS at our side.

Where IBS scored highly was their desire to listen to our demands (and to be blunt we are quite demanding in a highly competitive business environment). We have great ambitions for all our brands, especially GBK. It may be a simple operation as Javed explains below but it still requires sophisticated, easy-to-understand real time reporting. Maintaining and improving cost controls are essential, especially as our longer term ambitions are to have over 100 restaurants nationwide in the coming years.

Chorizo and Sweet Potato, Lamb and Minted Relish, or the vegetarian Portabella Mushroom burger.

Q: Manchester’s a very impressive layout with lots of iconic pictures and a very fresh design. What are you trying to achieve?

A: Ambience, atmosphere and the right environment is critical to the GBK proposition. Our outlets should be seen as places to eat and relax. GBK premises reflect the sheer simplicity of the operation. The décor is clean, crisp and fresh. The kitchen is clearly visible so customers see what they are going to eat.

Q: How’s GBK going down beyond London?

A: They are loving it. Gourmet burgers are recognised as a favoured way of eating for busy people and families seeking good quality convenient food.

GBK Operations Manager Javed Akhtar is a busy man, up and down the country overseeing the roll out of the Gourmet Burger Kitchen brand. Impact caught up with him at the newly launched GBK restaurant in Manchester’s Spinnyfield Left Bank development.

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Using your loaf pays dividends When former jewellery wholesaler Jonathan Cohen left his native Germany to set up home in London with his new family he noticed a lack of good bread on the capital’s high street – so he decided to do something about it with a helping hand from IBS. I moved to England lock, stock and barrel from Pforzheim, Germany, just under a decade ago with the intention of setting up home and starting a family with my wife, a public relations professional who had a great job in London.

Although I’d been a successful jewellery wholesaler, the sparkle had gone from the profession, if you’ll excuse the pun, and I was looking to fire my imagination with other business concepts.

One of the immediate differences between Germany and England was the lack of good bread and I quickly saw an opportunity to move into a niche market retailing and wholesaling special breads.

I teamed up with a baker and used my business and marketing acumen to create a team dedicated to baking the best possible bread on a daily basis. Just as important as the product, our outlets would become focal points for their local communities, a meeting place for customers throughout the day. So as well as retailing bread, we have facilities for customers to sit, stop, have a chat, enjoy something to drink and eat.

We’ve done the job so well that when I visit our St John’s store, I have to enter through the back otherwise I can be sidetracked for hours by friendly customers!

Our brand concept was named the 'Bread Shop' to avoid any confusion about what we did. All the products are made from specially selected wheat, flour and other key ingredients to ensure we always maintain a superior standard and taste.

We even have our own nutritionist as part of the Bread Shop team. Australian graduate Stephanie Driver specialises in nutritional and herbal medicine and dispenses health tips on a regular basis to our customers.

She’s our prettier and less noisy version of Jamie Oliver, who you may know from his work promoting a certain well-known supermarket!

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Not that we were trying to compete with the supermarkets. Our goal was and is to offer the best quality, freshest bread money can buy, which, until now, has not always been readily available. We wanted and still want to turn buying bread into a pleasure rather than a daily chore. When visiting the Bread Shop, we want our customers to enjoy and relish the aromas and be able to taste the freshness when they walk in.

We now have five units with a sixth opening in Bluewater soon. Our breads can also be found in Selfridges, Harrods and other independent outlets, where there is a strong demand for a wide choice and variety of special breads.

In terms of our POS systems, IBS has been involved from the start and we’re grateful for their expertise and the benefits of a longstanding relationship. Gareth Powell and his team were recommended by Formation, the shop designers who provided the distinctive eye-catching, earthy, natural feel of the selfservice Bread Shop high street and wholesale brand.

The IBS till system, which utilises StockLink software, has been essential for business control from day one. It ensures we have the mechanisms in place to run the business effectively and correctly. Without a good system and the on-going support of Gareth and our project team led by Justin Atkinson we wouldn’t be able to manage the business and control our costs on an impressive £1.2m turnover so well.

While I’m pleased with what we’ve achieved to date, one of the beauties of the

IBS system is its modular nature and we’re looking forward to unlocking further tools as and when they are needed.

To prepare for further expansion I’ve appointed an operations director. Deniz Gul is an industry veteran with over 20 years experience and is helping shape the concept ready for expansion. He’s worked with lots of systems but gives IBS the thumbs up for the information and reports it provides to help the decision making process.

Together Deniz and I feel the time is right to take advantage of an increasingly health conscious and more discerning buying public. We’ve got the products, the staff and the business control systems in place so we’re all looking forward to rising to the challenge.

St Martin-in-the-Fields, located right at the heart of London in the northeast corner of theatreland, is very much part of the local community. It's a busy city centre parish church with regular services in English, Cantonese and Mandarin as well as special one-off services (for example, marking the anniversary of the 7/7 bombings). The Connection at St Martin's provides a place of safety and opportunity for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The church is also a music venue with over 350 concerts every year. The Cafe in the Crypt is a vibrant, unique hospitality and entertainment outlet, offering an out-of-theordinary experience in the depths of underground Victorian burial vaults. It’s truly an unforgettable environment.

The church and the hospital facility work together to create a special atmosphere and environment for our 700,000 visitors who come to the church or eat at our awardwinning Cafe in the Crypt or listen to a concert from an extensive classical programme. Whatever the activity, all the proceeds are re-invested to ensure the church makes a real difference to the way people live their lives.

St Martin-in-the-Fields enjoys magnificent £36m rebirth Nelson’s Column may dominate the skyline but centuries before the naval hero rose to prominence the hub of this particular part of London revolved around a church that can trace its origins back to 1222. And it’s still very much an essential element of the community, according to St Martin-in-the-Fields food services manager, Luis Martins, especially as this famous architectural masterpiece is benefiting from a £36m renewal project.

I may be bias, having had the privilege of working here for a dozen years, but there’s genuinely nothing like St Martin-in-theFields, anywhere. What’s more, it’s about to get better as we’re in the midst of a £36m renewal project that will add a brand new chapter to our fascinating history.

We’re re-launching the Cafe in the Crypt this Autumn. Normally we’re open 364 days of the year (with the exception of Christmas Day) so you can imagine it’s been strange working from temporary accommodation while we’ve been closed during the renewal project. Highlights include a clean and classic design for new public spaces. The entrance foyer (which opens next year) includes a striking glass pavilion set into the church path. This stunning addition houses a spiral winding staircase taking you into the heart of St Martin’s.

From my perspective, I’m naturally delighted the much-loved and ever popular award-winning Cafe in the Crypt has increased its capacity from 160 to 225 guests. We’ve created the extra space by moving the shop and the box office to the new foyer and the kitchens to new underground spaces beneath the courtyard.

We're fortunate to have many regular customers, whether for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner by candlelight, and we're pleased that in addition to physical changes they'll see we will also be launching new menus that will continue to fill them up without emptying their pockets.

We’re catering for all needs from a quick stop off for a snack or a longer lingering stay

for guests wanting to explore the gallery or book or attend a classical concert or jazz night.

St Martin’s is a centre for musical excellence. An internationally respected musical programme attracts performers and audiences from across the globe to our 800 capacity venue.

Naturally, a restoration of this significance needs the best of everything, including the right epos technology to run, manage and control our catering and retail operations.

By managing the business operations well we will maximise the funds available to further the work of the church.

St Martin-in-the-Fields has been serving the people of London and beyond for centuries.

The first official record of the existence of a church on the site dates back to the Normans when William, Abbot of Westminster, and Eustace, Bishop of London, argued about who had authority over the building in 1222. The Abbott won and his monks started a tradition for worship that has continued ever since. St Martin’s is also London's first free lending library and the site of the first religious broadcast. The £36m renewal project will see the church restored to its original 1761 specification to maximise the impact of natural light and improve access and facilities for visitors and homeless people. The exterior will also be thoroughly cleaned and restored.

Which is why we’re delighted to open our doors with a new epos system provided by IBS. When we were looking round for an epos system we had to find one to not only cater for our mix of retail and hospitality but also have the flexibility and versatility necessary to meet our requirements on an on-going basis. IBS ticked all the right boxes from the start and have shown they are always willing to listen and work with us rather than provide us with a restrictive offthe-shelf solution. After all, this not an ordinary hospitality venue! Come and experience for yourself. You’ll be impressed.

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A flexible friend suitable for every occasion StockLink’s versatility as an essential POS and enterprise management tool has been reinforced with the release of a new on-line loyalty module, as IBS commercial director Dee Powell explains.

An on-line loyalty module suitable for every occasion has been added to the versatile StockLink portfolio to give hospitality businesses a powerful, cost-effective new marketing tool.

Specifically designed to maximise flexibility and versatility, the on-line loyalty module gives users total freedom to initiate, target, plan, manage and evaluate the success of loyalty activity. As a highly targeted marketing discipline it will produce additional revenue and increased profits at a fraction of the cost of advertising and other traditional marketing activities.

Simplicity is the key to our loyalty on-line module, which runs on the www interacting with a client’s own internet presence and is 10

powered by a back office database residing on either IBS servers or the customer’s own.

The on-line loyalty scheme runs on PC POS and Uniwell terminals and offers a high degree of flexibility and control.

As I’ve already pointed out, on-line loyalty is designed to be totally flexible and can used as • A customer loyalty card where users accumulate points in direct relation to the amount they spend, in much the same way as the major supermarkets run schemes. Points can be redeemed as vouchers or discounts at the point of sale. This scheme rewards and recognises regular customers and encourages them to spend with you as opposed to taking their custom elsewhere.

• A customer discount card where the user can take advantage of any number of highly-focused, pre-programmed schemes to promote and increase sales within a hospitality business. These can range from a free bottle of house wine for diners celebrating special occasions, 10% discount off desserts or starters, 25% off food only or early bird discounts for families eating before a certain time. The choice of promotions and loyalty initiatives is infinite. Each activity is allocated a scheme title and code in the on-line loyalty module and can be changed or updated by the click of a button.

• A cashless card scheme for local businesses who can pre-credit accounts

similar to mobile phone pay-as-you-go top-ups. These cards can be coupled with a cash incentive (buy £50 and get £55 worth of credit).

Whichever scheme you run, you can regularly communicate with customers by e-mail sent via the on-line module. This can be done individually (an invitation to celebrate a birthday or a wedding anniversary at your outlet) or in batches (to promote early bird meals for customers with young families).

So how does it work?

First you need to sign up customers and add their names and details (including birthdays, anniversaries and any other criteria you want to log) to a database. This can be done two ways: either by inviting customers to fill out application forms and then processing internally at head office or asking them to register themselves on-line.

Customers are supplied with preprogrammed branded plastic loyalty cards complete with a random six digit number as their exclusive ID for logging on. Once this has been done, you’re ready to boost sales and profits. It really is that straightforward.

Of course, we’ll project manage the set up process like we do with all the StockLink modules. Prior to the launch of a scheme, our in-house development team will work closely with a customer’s website team to create, publish and go live with a specific section designed to sign-up customers to the loyalty membership scheme.

A Scotsman’s Letter from America John Naismith is a POS industry veteran who has worked in Scotland, England and Canada.

Now he operates out of Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA, heading the IBS invasion of North America after a spell as President of Uniwell USA. Here is the fifth of his letters from America.

Metropolitan Atlanta has a population of over 5 million, having grown by more than 1 million in the last decade. That’s a lot of people and, like most Americans, they eat a lot of food not cooked at home.

A recent food service survey reported that US consumers each spent seven times more eating out than the Brits, French and Germans.

In Japan, where eating out is generally more expensive, they spent only one third as much as their American counterparts. Revealingly, the report noted the US was the only country to spend more in Quick Service Restaurants (QSR) than dining out.

This explains the popularity of the drive-thru to the American way of life. The first restaurant windows appeared in the 1940’s, followed by drive-thru banks, pharmacies and liquor stores. In Las Vegas you can even get married without leaving your car.

(I wonder if they also do divorces?)

Communication America.

products

in

North

ERC also sell systems for bars and table service, but they are best known for their QSR solutions. With 150 employees, and branch offices in Ohio, Kentucky and North Carolina, ERC have installed more than 8,000 sites with POS and drive-thru performance timers.

Their interest in StockLink coincided with Speed of service is clearly a priority, so the addition of Uniwell to their product line QSRs have systems to measure the time to and the introduction of the Uniwell DX915 – take, process and deliver each customer Uniwell’s first POS product with drive-thru functionality. order.

There are conflicting estimates as to the number of QSR units but it’s a lot.

The three largest burger chains – McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s – alone account for over 27,000 outlets.

I’m telling you this by way of introduction to ERC – the latest company to become a StockLink reseller.

ERC’s corporate office is in Kennesaw, about 30 miles north of Atlanta. They started out in 1980 as a distributor of electronic parts to the cash register industry, with a staff of 5. They still carry over 5,000 parts in inventory, but ERC is now one of the largest distributors of Hospitality POS and Wireless

The team in Columbus, one of two ERC sales and support offices in Ohio, were quick to see the benefits of StockLink, and have already booked a number of orders.

Simon has been to Columbus a couple of times to train their support people and help with the first installations and is looking forward to working with them on other opportunities they’ve identified. With ERC’s professionalism and experience of the sector, I’m sure he won’t have long to wait.

I’ll tell you more about ERC and their StockLink customers later but the temperature here is around 33 Celsius so I’m putting the roof down and heading to the nearest drive-thru for ice cream.

Richard Cowell IBS Profile...R

Name: Age: Job title: Status: Interests:

Richard Cowell 39 Support engineer Married, two step-children Motorsports, technology, music Ambition: Base jump off the Grand Canyon or abseil from a helicopter Fav song: “Nothing Else Matters” – Metallica Fav drink: Red Wine Fav food: Authentic Indian Fav film: Blazing Saddles Fav country: USA

Q1: What is your day-to-day role at IBS? A1: To provide support and training for our wide range of customers. One of the great things about IBS is the range of customers in the client portfolio from large multi-nationals to very successful independents. They’re all different so every day is also different.

Q2: How long have you been with IBS? A2: Just over ten months. I’m enjoying every minute.

Q3: What is your approach to the job?

A3: Always learn and progress and increase your knowledge and experience. I naturally seem to enjoy helping others and strive hard to give customer what they want, expect and more importantly, need. It’s very satisfying when a customer says thank you when an enquiry is satisfactorily concluded.

Q4: What is your previous industry experience?

A4: I worked with another epos company installing and training Uniwell and pcbased systems.

Q5: What makes IBS special?

A5: What can I say? A class leading team with a class leading product range.

Seriously, we set ourselves very high standards across the board and work hard to maintain and improve them.

There’s also a great team spirit and work ethic. I particularly like bond sessions when a curry is involved.

Q6: What is your most memorable life/work experience?

A6: Getting married and seeing my daughter graduate. If either had involved abseiling from a helicopter they would have been perfect days!

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FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA.

Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

We do it for the likes of PizzaExpress, BBC, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 4 Winter/Spring 2007

Purrfect solution for Fat Cat Training optimises POS technology benefits Partnership key to on-going Caterleisure roll out Diary of a modern installation at the Tate

Welcome to Impact 4 A warm welcome to the Winter/Spring edition of Impact. Our colourful bi-annual magazine aims to show you the impact Intelligent Business Systems makes in the fast-moving dynamic world of POS. The focus of this edition is very much on people, starting with IBS project manager Mark Bagnall’s diary of an installation at the Tate Modern. There are contributions from clients like Fat Cat’s financial director Simon Patterson and Caterleisure’s IT systems manager Dianne Christie, who write about the influence of IBS on their businesses. One common denominator shared by Simon and Dianne is the role training plays to optimise the effectiveness of POS technology. This is further highlighted with a special training feature from our own Neil Quinn, who reveals the options open to our customers. Enjoy Impact 4. We trust it gives you plenty of food for thought and keeps us at the forefront of your mind when it comes to your next POS or enterprise management investment. Give us a call to see what impact we can make to your business.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover image: Caterleisure’s IT and systems manager Dianne Christie. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by Creativespace2 (www.creativespace2.com). If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail mail to: deeP@ibs-systems.co.uk. We are always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS IBS unveils works of art for benugo

Fresh Italy goes on-line

benugo, the up-market catering inspiration of brothers Ben and Hugo Warner specialising in high-quality high street outlets and internal hospitality offerings for large city of London institutions, has unveiled its latest work of art from IBS. The brothers, recently ranked in the UK’s top ten caterers based on the quality of their food, have taken over the £3m per year catering contract at the newly refurbished V&A, refitting the museum catering facility. IBS has installed a new broadband-based POS system featuring StockLink V5 and PC Pos. The installation, which gives the benugo management team near real-time polling, was commissioned after a thorough investigation of the marketplace. A similar system has also been installed at the Museum of Childhood. Both were carried out overnight to ensure there was no interruption to trading.

See our benugo feature in Impact 5: out later this year 2

On-line ordering is now available from IBS as part of its comprehensive POS technology enterprise management systems and is already being used by Tom Allchurch’s Fresh Italy fast-food concept.

The London-based quality food brand (featured in Impact 1) has three outlets at the heart of the capital and is within easy reach of thousands of businesses.

The on-line option is highly convenient for customers and enhances the range of services offered by Fresh Italy. IBS managing director Gareth Powell says accuracy is of the essence. ‘With this new module it takes less than five seconds for the order to be integrated into the POS system and to print the labels for the food and drink dispense cartons in the kitchen.

The web service module includes data transfer and integration into the POS system and StockLink back office.’

Tate Modern POS upgrade

IBS has upgraded the POS systems at London’s landmark Tate Modern international modern art gallery, installing 14 PC POS touchscreen terminals together with StockLink enterprise management software at the site’s six restaurants, cafes and kiosks. The installation took place overnight at the former power station which is now one of the UK’s most popular tourist attractions with an annual four million visitors.

See Mark Bagnall’s diary of an installation on pages 4 and 5

IBS rolls out more Caterleisure sites

New additions to StockLink increases versatility and flexibility StockLink continues to forge ahead as the smartest enterprise management system for the hospitality sector with regular innovative updates added to the modular software product. Four new updates include a more detailed journal server module, more accurate predictive ordering, a vending stock result and on-line ordering.

Journal server adds more detail to business intelligence

Norwich Airport, Manchester Airport Rail Station and leisure centres at Macclesfield and Wilmslow are the latest Caterleisure outlets to receive an IBS broadband-based PC Pos and StockLink Professional combination, writes IBS project manager Mark Bagnall. All the installations took place after-hours to minimise the effects on trading. The specialist hospitality and catering operator is currently converting the vast majority of its outlets from cash register to touchscreen POS technology. In addition, IBS is also providing a number of training sessions including time and attendance tuition so clerks can sign into the system as part of the streamlining of the company’s administration processes. The IBS POS system will also be used to generate central payroll information.

The journal server module takes selected till journals and brings them back into the database. Here they are split into the various elements of each transaction and appropriate tables for enhanced high-level reporting and business intelligence.

The employment of the journal server module gives users numerous report options, ranging from date, time, clerk, item, site and transactions per minute. The beauty of StockLink journal server reporting is the customer dictates what business intelligence they need to run their enterprise effectively.

Predictive ordering aids purchase planning

Caterleisure’s Dianne Christie writes about working with IBS. See pages 8 and 9

Doncaster Dome’s Fat Cat’s purrfect sparkling addition POS upgrade

One of Europe’s biggest entertainment venues, the Doncaster Dome, has asked IBS to upgrade its POS system. IBS has installed StockLink Professional software, ten PC POS terminals, handheld order terminals and handheld stock taking devices. The Dome has multiple outlets which include bars, fast food outlets, a restaurant, an ice rink and a fitness village. The system will be used to create purchase orders, book in deliveries and manage stock returns and stock counting. IBS supervised the installation of a structured Cat5e network with added wireless access points for handheld orders and wireless POS links and also provided pre-installation training sessions and POS configuration and refresher tuition.

StockLink... in action

Multi award-winning independent pub group, Fat Cat Café Bars, has carried out a purrfect upgrade of its POS system in conjunction with IBS. All the sites in the chain, which are based in London, the midlands and the north west, have been fitted with new PCs, StockLink Professional and Uniwell DX890 touchscreen terminals. ‘As well as installing a new system to give us real-time reporting, the IBS team has carried out extensive training with our managers to enable them to handle basic troubleshooting themselves,’ said Fat Cat financial director, Simon Patterson.

Simon Patterson writes about the latest Fat Cat installation on pages 6 and 7

Bowled over at Namco Namco has added four new bowling centres to its growing national portfolio with sites in Braintree, Ipswich, Norwich and Romford. IBS installed pre-configured epos systems without stopping the action. Installations started at 8am and finished at 11am. IBS also provided on-the-spot staff training as part of the contract. In addition, vending machine software was commissioned for StockLink to add to the control Namco has over all elements of its business.

The new StockLink predictive order module aids purchase planning. When creating a purchase order simply choose the relevant supplier, use the ‘Restock’ button, input the required delivery date and the system automatically suggests the order quantities required for that date. The suggested order is calculated by usage based upon historical sales information. Cleverly, the suggested order quantities can take into account special functions and bank holidays.

Vending stock result gives greater control A vending stock result has been added to the ever-increasing range of StockLink modular options as a control mechanism for machines at hospitality venues. Previously it was not possible to run stock control and revenue checks on vending machines.

This new result analyses what’s used, what’s left, deliveries and revenues. The benefits are huge reductions in wastage and theft. The vending stock result module is already being deployed by Namco.

On-line ordering now available StockLink now has an option for an on-line ordering system for clients' customers.

They can log-on from home or the office, call up published electronic menus and daily specials and then place their orders and pay over the internet prior to collection at the designated time and outlet. Full cashup and reporting facilities for on-line orders are also included in the new module.

Next issue: Find out about the Revolution!

3

A life in the day of an installation at the Tate Modern Tate Modern is the national gallery of international modern art, one of four in the family of Tate Galleries. Opened in 2000 and housed in a former power station in the heart of London, Tate Modern attracts an annual four million visitors (double the original anticipated figure) through its doors to celebrate an innovative exhibition programme and the stunning architectural triumph of the actual building. IBS has been involved with Tate from day one and recently upgraded the POS technology for six busy restaurants, cafes and kiosks that cater for the thousands who flock to this landmark London site everyday. Here IBS project manager Mark Bagnall (below) gives his account of 24 hours in the life of a POS installation at Tate.

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1

Monday 10.00

13.00

The project team assembles in one of the meeting rooms at the IBS head office to run through our final checklist for the installation. Three project managers, Justin Atkinson, Neil Quinn and myself, supported

by Micheal Ball, our development manager and two engineers, Levi Bodra and Michael O’Sullivan, are present. The mood is relaxed even though this is a major installation at an extremely large site where we are working to a strict timetable. We need to be installed and working before Tate Modern opens its doors to the public on Tuesday. Although we do this all the time, we’re all looking forward to the challenge. Neil mentions this is how footballers must feel before a big game.

We arrive at the site and park up. I’ve been to Tate on numerous occasions, both on business and for pleasure. Prior to the installation we had the initial briefing from Tate’s catering operations manager Andrew Gordon and his team. Andrew had a detailed look at alternative options in the marketplace so it is a great sense of achievement to have retained the business.

Following the commission we carried out a detailed survey of the site that’s spread over half a dozen spectacular levels and includes six restaurants, cafes and kiosks for the public and the staff cafe. A further few meetings took place to ensure all the pieces of the jigsaw fitted perfectly when it came to the day of installation.

12.00 We’re off and leave in convoy for the hourlong journey into the capital. We operate all over the country so it’s good to have a ‘home’ fixture. We’re taking two vans with us and everything that is needed for the installation, including fourteen PC POS touchscreen terminals. They’ve all been pre-configured and programmed in advance. The real hard work on a project like this, the all-important pre-install preparation, is done behind the scenes with the POS programming, menu-creation and reports taking place off-site.

Although it’s going to be a long night we have already tested everything in advance and signed it all off from our end. This is the opportunity to put all the pieces of the jigsaw together in-situ.

14.30 Everyone helps out with the unloading. IBS is all about teamwork and helping one another. Although we cannot start decommissioning the existing equipment until Tate has closed to the public and the staff have cashed up, we can still make sure we’re ready to start at 7pm on the dot.

17.00 A pre-programmed touchscreen terminal is delivered to each restaurant so the POS program can be double checked prior to the swap out. Everything else is in place so it’s time for a break and cup of tea in one of the restaurants. Stunning views over London. We can sit back and enjoy the genuine hotbed of creativity that is Tate Modern. The ideas they come up with are breathtaking. The slides in the Turbine Hall are sheer genius. It’s almost as much fun watching as it is doing the sliding.

Somebody suggests using the slides to take the decommissioned kit to the ground floor.

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18.00

21.00

The public are leaving. The staff in the restaurants are cashing up. We’re ready to go. We’ve got two jobs today. First, we’re switching from the old NT server and migrating the database for Tate Modern, and a similar one for the nearby Tate Britain, to a new SQL server where StockLink provides the enterprise management system for all sites. Second, we’re decommissioning the old equipment and replacing with new. The initiative for the project came from Tate realising it was time to update the system and the technology.

Dos and Windows 98 are outmoded compared to the technological explosion has taken place since then. With the new system ready to be installed they will be able to satisfy all Tate Modern’s needs for the next five years as well as Tate Britain across the Thames, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Tate Cambridge and Somerset House.

Out with the old and in with the new. We’re ready to start installing. One or two red faces amongst the crew. It’s a fair sized site.

Not many hospitality outlets have a front over 650 ft long. Not that we’re without help. Even without the use of the slides, Tate has nine lifts and six escalators.

19.00 We spend two weeks with a project team doing all the preparation. If we don’t get the preparation right we’ll have a problem. Like Houston on those dramatic space missions from my youth. Our real issues now are about timing. We’ve pre-planned how we’re going to carry out the installation. Each of the project managers will do two restaurants with the engineers providing support as necessary. First we need to dispose of the old kit. No sliding allowed!

Each terminal is boxed up and packed onto the vans. No room for sloppiness, whatsoever.

22.00 We have a break and a quick de-brief to make sure everything is running smoothly and to plan. Is there any need to change how we’re operating? What’s our scheduled finish time? We’re booked into a nearby hotel as we’re training and ‘handholding’ first thing.

23.30 Testing one, two, three. Rather than installing all the equipment at once, we’re signing off individual restaurants as we complete them. And no matter what we might say, it is always a relief when everything works as planned. The terminals look really great in the colourful restaurants.

Tuesday 01.00 Progress is going well; the project team is gelling and we're right on schedule. This place is eerie at this time of night. I try to imagine the noise when it was a power station feeding millions with electricity.

Technology is in a constant state of change.

Providing POS technology is a classic example. What we can do now in terms of business intelligence and real-time data is unbelievable from even five years ago.

1) Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall before the slides 2) and after 3) housed in one of London’s most distinctive landmarks 4) numerous choices – Tate has six restaurants 5) action stations – ready to go to Tate 6) pre-planning and advanced POS programming are key to any installation 7) Tate’s colourful restaurants complement the venue’s reputation for innovation.

03.00 High fives all round. We’re installed, tested and ready for tomorrow morning’s handover to Andrew Gordon and his team. Just as important, you’d never know we’ve been here. Neatness and attention to detail is an essential element to any installation we carry out, no matter who the client is.

04.00 Back in the hotel. A long but successful day.

One of the reasons working for IBS is such fun is that no two days are ever the same!

09.00 Although we know the technology inside out, we have to introduce managers and catering staff to the new set up. Our objective is to give them total control over their equipment and empower them to trouble-shoot any minor hiccups. Tate caterers and restauranteurs do, of course, have six-day support from our customer service team as part of the contract. Over the next day or two we’ll wind down the ‘handholding’ as they get used to the new technology and experience the benefits.

A few days after the installation and the ‘handholding’ we will do a follow-up call to check with each restaurant level management team that the system is working as required, making any minor alterations as we go.

5

Simon Patterson set up Fat Cat with Matthew Saunders, opening the first in North Wales at the start of the nineties. While it was being built he worked on market stalls in London. As finance director he oversees invoices, P7L, accounts, balance sheets and payroll as well as strategic financial planning and brewery purchase supplier agreements. A self-confessed avid fan of Brighton & Hove Albion and golf-addict, Simon (below) writes about IBS’s part in the Fat Cat success story.

Fat Cat Café Bars is an independent pub group dedicated to providing quality food, drink and service to discerning customers in an unforgettable environment and a relaxing atmosphere.

That simple statement epitomises what we’re all about.

Our history goes back to the launch of our first site in Bangor in north Wales at the start of the nineties when as a nation we were embracing European-style café bars in preference to traditional ‘spit and sawdust’ community boozers with their vaults and lounges. Since then we’ve opened further sites in London, the midlands and the North West. From Bow to Bangor and from Llandundo to Leicester and Leeds, we’re recognised as a market leader with our own highly distinctive brand.

During this time we have constantly had to innovate across all aspects of our business in order to satisfy the increasingly sophisticated demands of our customers.

We are competing with unremittingly stiff competition from like-minded independents and the sheer spending power and economies of scale of the big brewers and pub chains out to capture their share of the lucrative café bar market.

An indication of our success as a brand are the many awards and nominations that have flowed from day one, given to us in recognition of our contribution to the design and aesthetic appeal of Fat Cat venues and sheer value for money that is key to our proposition. In our world, quality can and does snuggle up happily with genuine value.

Our goal as a business is to always be competitive, hence the need to stay one step ahead. As we’re obviously involved in the service industry, we can achieve this through our front of house operations, giving our customers the best possible experience every time they walk into one of our establishments. This, however, must be complemented by ensuring we remain lean, effective and cost-efficient as an organisation.

In essence, that means we don’t waste time and money doing the same jobs two 6

or three times. Nor do we want to become top heavy at head office when our staffing investment and commitment should be concentrating on service levels at our units.

Most importantly, it means we have to be able to react quickly and effectively to business intelligence. To be able to do this we need to have hard and fast facts and figures. As the financial director, I want to see the evidence on a screen or on a printed business sheet. Anecdotal feedback is welcome as a taster but it is only one person’s snapshot and can never take into account the whole picture.

Fortunately there is the technology out there in the market place from the likes of Intelligent Business Systems, our preferred POS supplier. They help give us a world view of the business as a whole. This info feeds every department within Fat Cat,

from operations and human resources to marketing and accounts.

In keeping with our drive to stay at the top of our game, we’ve recently upgraded our POS system both at head office and at the units. IBS rolled out the technology to a tight 12-week deadline, installing new touchscreen POS terminals, PCs and StockLink cash and stock management software through broadband connections for finger-clicking speed.

The results are impressive. Data is sent to head office every hour rather than large unwieldy overnight data transfers, so we have real-time reporting to criteria we set to help us run our business on a day-today basis.

We’ve worked with Gareth Powell, Mark Bagnall and the IBS team for several years

It’s got to be

Purrfect

and they, like us, look to constantly build upon their reputation as a market leader.

As part of the enterprise package proposed to us, they placed the emphasis on a heavy commitment to training so our managers would get the most out of the upgraded technology.

These group training sessions were highly informative, starting off looking at day sessions before exploring weekly business sheets and stock management. What I liked was the fact they would look at all the different reasons as to why we were doing things. Giving our managers a panoramic perspective shows how it benefits their customers, the operational side of their units and us at head office. The training sessions are an effective way of communicating why it is important to know

the POS technology better than we may previously have felt appropriate.

One great session highlighted why astute IT companies can really add value.

IBS training includes problem-solving and trouble-shooting, placing the emphasis on empowering the manager and unit team to look after the basics themselves. This means relatively simple functions like resetting printers can be done at unit level so things don’t come to a stop when there is a minor problem. Crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s is typical of the IBS approach and we appreciate their professionalism.

It’s a professionalism that we all share that helps us leap into the New Year with great confidence. Why not pop in and enjoy the Fat Cat experience for yourself. Enjoy great food and drink and an incredible atmosphere. The POS technology is pretty good too.

7

Caterleisure on the march with POS technology Caterleisure IT and systems manager Dianne Christie is responsible for the POS technology that enables the Bradfordbased hospitality specialist to run a wide variety of brand concepts across the UK. Here she writes for Impact to explain the role IBS plays in giving Caterleisure more effective control over its national estate.

At Caterleisure we run a truly diverse selection of multi-branded catering and retail outlets at an equally varied range of locations in the UK. You can find us at numerous airports and train terminals, at leisure centres, theatres and supermarkets.

Our brands include names like Orchids, Café Oasis, Café Express, Café Continental, The Yard of Ale, Travelines and Skylines.

Although our business is clearly built upon different branded offerings dependent upon the location, they are united by several key common denominators.

First, we are committed to ensuring we meet, if not exceed, our customers expectations.

Second, we’ll normally trade where we have a captive audience that is already visiting the location. For instance, travellers at an airport or train station or leisure centre visitors relaxing before or after exercise.

Third, we want to always follow the best business practices to ensure we always give quality, value for money and total customer satisfaction. This includes having the best IT systems in place so we can stay competitive at all times and can tender for new business from a position of genuine strength.

One of my key roles within Caterleisure as IT systems manager is to make sure we embrace the latest up-to-date technology.

To this end, I’m responsible for project managing and planning the on-going move from cash registers to a fully computerised epos system. At the time of writing we have probably completed the conversion of a third of the estate and our intention is to have finished the process by the end of the year.

This upgrading of our systems is a natural progression for us as the benefits to our business are already proving to be enormous. Introducing epos technology greatly enhances our business control and

the availability of real time intelligence. We’ll be able to look at sales data from across the estate whenever we want at a touch of a button. We’ll be able to control pricing and menu changes centrally whereas before we had to amend everything at unit level. The time savings are enormous and greatly appreciated. Longer term we’ll be able to run full managerial accounts and the payroll through the epos system.

Mark Bagnall and Barry Miller in customer support. Both are readily accessible and have a great depth of knowledge.

“We have all benefited from the longevity of the relationship as IBS understands our business processes.”

The specification is based around PC POS terminals with converted sites having broadband and FTP polling and StockLink Professional software. One of the immediate areas of impact we’ve looked to achieve is the reduction in labour time completing business sheets at site level.

Dianne Christie Like anything new, it’s a demanding task.

We have to make sure the installs don’t interrupt trading while also implementing a training programme to ensure the hundreds of people who work for us are fully up to speed on the new technology and systems.

And this training has to be geared towards staff who may be very good at catering but are not necessarily too IT literate.

Taking all this into account, it is essential to pick the right technology partner to ensure we meet all our objectives, one who can satisfy our hardware, software, installation and after-sales requirements.

I think we’ve achieved this with IBS, who have a great track record in the POS hospitality market and a settled senior management team. I’ve worked with the IBS team for eight years and we have all benefited from the longevity of the relationship as they understand our business processes.

In terms of looking after our day-to-day needs, I work closely with senior project manager

Mark and Barry have been heavily involved in the recent new sites we’ve upgraded, including Norwich Airport, where Caterleisure has a presence airside and landside with bars, cafes and retail/duty free units, Manchester Airport railway station and Newark railway station.

As well as the specification and implementation of our new epos technology, IBS provides consultancy support. This is normally tapped into after I’ve discussed our requirements internally with Peter Butterworth, our financial director and my immediate line manager, and our managing director, Christine Thorpe. Once we’ve identified our requirements, we’ll make decisions together and liaise with Mark about the implementation and the various issues involved.

IBS provided bespoke changes to modules within StockLink, and gave me one-to-one tuition to enhance my programming skills.

This has given me the confidence and autonomy to carry out menu programming, price amends and first-line support. Mark and myself provide training support that extends to the entire company and revolves around group and one-to-one training days.

Their on-going support makes my job a lot easier with the domino effect that our catering staff can focus on customer satisfaction at unit level and not worry about the IT elements of our business.

With IBS by our side, it’s a great platform to continue our journey in the hospitality market.

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TRAINING WHO NEEDS IT? We all do!

We all know what the customer wants from their hospitality or leisure experience.

A great time. The food needs to be spot on. The drinks just right, chilled, shaken, stirred or mixed to perfection. Customer interaction has to be faultless. From the POS perspective the customer’s only concern is seamless transactions. Fast, correct ordering and speedy, accurate billing is an integral part of the overall customer experience.

Our training at IBS ensures our clients’ staff not only deliver the speed and accuracy the public demands but can also provide a whole host of additional benefits to optimise what is normally a substantial POS investment. This investment includes the capital outlay and also the time, effort and energy spent getting to know the system.

We approach training with the vision and foresight that we tackle every other element of our business. We always look to answer one simple question. How can we look after and meet the needs of our clients. The answer is looking at each client on an individual basis and catering for their specific requirements. This can mean training taking place at our wellequipped head office or going on-site to individual outlets. Naturally, there is the half-way house option where we run roadshows or seminars for larger groups.

This third route eliminates staff downtime and minimises the cost element.

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Wherever and however we host the training, we offer comprehensive tuition across the board. This ranges from frontline staff and unit managers and assistants to area and regional operational managers, head office executives, IT, and of course, the board of directors. Training can be carried out with large groups, small parties or on an individual face-to-face or distance basis.

Subject matters range from basic training for the outright novice - how to use a mouse or a keyboard – to sophisticated programming, remote price and menu amendments and report creation to all points inbetween. One of our priorities with training, irrespective of the subject matter, is to then make sure there is minimal disruption to the clients’ business.

Our ideal scenario is to teach clients basic trouble shooting to minimise downtime. How much better is it to have staff who can reset a terminal rather than contacting our support desk?

Recent client training includes the following shopping list:how to use a POS terminal resetting terminals and printers general POS maintenance terminal trouble shooting network trouble shooting an introduction to StockLink covering reports, cashing up and balancing the business sheet stock control and stock taking

The more sophisticated training will show IT professionals and senior managers how to create purchase orders and deliveries, add wastage to the system, run the stock report and understand and react to the reports being created.

For example, how is the variance created?

What are the reasons for low gross profit margins? Is it the mix, keying errors or the wrong input of delivery notes? Our training will show the user how to run things through terminals and databases and the various steps to fixing them. Whenever I’m training I always use previous examples to make sure the point is made clearly and concisely.

Advanced StockLink training covers how to use StockLink to designing touchscreen layouts and programming terminals to setting up polling, LAN & WAN networks, and head office SQL server configuration.

Experience shows our most popular form of training is introducing staff to StockLink at new sites. Like all training and information dissemination, we don’t rush things or overload the brain capacity of our trainees. We let them get used to it for a couple of weeks.

Whatever your training needs, it’s always best to cover them at the start of any discussions for a new system or an upgrade.

We’ll always include it in our proposals as a matter of course but it helps if it is on your agenda right from the start too.

A Scotsman’s Letter from America John Naismith is a POS industry veteran who has worked in Scotland, England and Canada.

Now he operates out of Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA, heading the IBS invasion of North America after a spell as President of Uniwell USA. Here is the fourth of his letters from America.

Welcome. I’m using this letter to salute the Led by Ben, his sister, Piper and two close pioneering spirit of America, which really is friends Bob Kerr and Claire Randall, Grand the land of opportunity. The proof is in the Central now includes a wholesale bread addition of our latest client in the USA. line, six neighborhood cafes and a catering service. They employ 145 people and Gwenyth Bassetti opened a soup and Grand Central’s eclectic bakery cafes are sandwich shop in Seattle’s Grand Central placed where customers can enjoy a Building way back in 1972 serving soup and diverse selection of hand-made pastries, sandwiches using her own freshly baked scratch-made soups and salads, and bread. Gwenyth left the business after four delicious, made-to-order sandwiches. With years to live on a farm and raise her plans to open more retail locations in the children, returning to Portland when they coming years, Grand Central will continue had grown up to launch the Grand Central to capture the hearts — and appetites — of Bakery in Oregon in 1993.

Portland’s food lovers. And prove what you can do if you want to make things happen Bassetti rechristened the restaurant “Grand Stateside.

Central Bakery” and sparked an artisan bread revolution throughout the Northwest None of the bakery’s owners have business with hand-formed Como loaves.

As degrees or formal culinary training. Instead, demand for her hearth-baked breads the team has made its decisions based on continued to rise, her son, Ben Davis, intuition, common sense and a shared opened Grand Central’s first Portland dedication to delicious foods made from bakery in the Hawthorne neighbourhood honest ingredients. Which is why their in 1993.

IBS Profile…

Q1: A1:

Q2: A2:

Name: Age: Job title: Status: Children: Interests:

Ambition:

Simon Wells 33 Project Manager Married 4 I’m a self-confessed gadget freak. If it uses power of some kind and has buttons then I’m hooked. And I like building and repairing computers and renovating and upgrading arcade machines.

To take off, fly and land a real plane (preferably my own)

Q3: A3:

investment in StockLink makes such good sense and is proving to be a winner when it comes to managing and controlling their business. It is a simple but effective package to use and understand and it gives them the information they need to manage and develop their business.

When we were recommending the system to them we compared it to Artisan baking.

Bakers have a saying here, the more you learn about bread baking, the more you realize how much more there is to learn. So while the basic ingredients of bread rarely vary - wheat, flour, water and salt - the variety of flavors and textures that can be produced by altering techniques, timing and the quality of the flour itself is endless.

Likewise, StockLink has the flexibility to accommodate all the wishes of the Grand Central Bakery team now and in the future.

No matter how big the family wants to take their vision.

relationships between us. I undertake every project with an open mind.

America is different in many ways to Europe and therefore we have listened and adapted StockLink to work in the US market.

What is your day-to-day role within IBS? My main aim is to see StockLink become as well known here in the USA as it is in Europe.

How long have you been with IBS? All in all about six years. I worked with them in the UK and had a two year gap before teaming up with Gareth, Dee and John Naismith.

What makes IBS special?

It sounds very clichéd, but everyone at IBS is part of a big family. There is a genuine bond between all of us, and even though I am personally thousands of miles away from the IBS hub, I’m still very much a part of the team and communicate daily with my colleagues across the pond.

Q5: A5:

Q6: A6:

Q4: A4:

What is your approach to your job?

I believe you only get out of a job what you put into it. I’d like to think I work very hard and enjoy everything I do. The result of which has been loyal customers and good trusting

What is your biggest professional achievement?

I would have to say I’m pretty proud of my Taco Maker setup we have here in USA. Currently this franchise has two Head Office locations, one based in Puerto Rico and one in Utah. When you think about the demographics and sheer distance covered by this StockLink network, it’s quite humbling.

What is your most memorable work moment?

Standing in front of a room full of Dealers and Franchise Owners in the middle of one of the world’s biggest Casino’s in Las Vegas running a 10 minute presentation on StockLink.

It was rather intimidating to say the least, but successful.

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FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA. We do it for the likes of PizzaExpress, BBC, Coffee Republic, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 3 Summer/Autumn 2006

Presto Retail POS upgrade recipe for expansion Taco Maker picks StockLink for USA growth Loyalty key to increased sales and profits The importance of quality project management

Welcome to Impact 3 A warm welcome to the Summer 06 edition of Impact, the bi-annual magazine from Intelligent Business Systems designed to show our impact within the fast-moving world of POS. In keeping with the soccer World Cup year, this edition of Impact has an international flavour with an article from Steve Krolak, Vice Presidents Franchise Development of Taco Maker in the USA. Closer to home we are delighted another client, Stephen Grocutt, MD of Pasty Presto, tells us about how IBS is helping him manage his fast-growing retail operation.

Enjoy reading this edition of Impact. We hope, as always, it gives you plenty of food for thought. If you want to find our how we can impact on your business, do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover image: Steve Grocutt relaxes at his Stratford Upon Avon outlet. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by Creative Space Squared. If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail dee@ibs-systems.co.uk. We are always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS Pasty Presto’s tasty upgrade speeds up reporting IBS has upgraded the enterprise management system for the 28-strong Presto Retail chain to speed up reporting and enhance the business information available to the retailer's directors and senior managers.

Based primarily in the south and south west of England, Pasty Presto is an upmarket bakery café chain selling high-quality, freshly-made food and drink.

The upgrade, managed by IBS project managers, Mark Bagnall and Neil Quinn, has seen the installation of StockLink Professional at the outlets and StockLink Enterprise at head office.

The project included extensive training of managers, specially commissioned training manuals and a four-week implementation schedule.

“This contract shows the benefits of longterm relationships as our understanding and knowledge of Pasty Presto greatly assisted the smooth transition between the existing and new systems,” said IBS managing director Gareth Powell.

Pasty Presto founder and MD, Stephen Grocutt, writes exclusively for Impact. See pages 4 & 5.

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IBS flies the flag at Teeside Airport IBS has landed a contract to supply a PC POS EPOS-based system at Teeside Airport’s Caterleisure facilities, writes project manager Mark Bagnall.

A key element of the brief was to install the PC-based POS terminals and StockLink Professional without interrupting or inconveniencing Caterleisure customers or staff.

Now having successfully navigated the implementation at the fast food bar and Costa Coffee kiosk operations, IBS is looking forward to further projects taking off at other Caterleisure’s airport and rail sites in the UK.

Kazbar and Café CoCo account gains for IBS

Kazbar

IBS has been appointed to install two EPOS systems of Clinton Leisure’s high profile hospitality outlets in Oxford.

PC Pos EPOS-based systems running full back office software modules at the point of sale have been configured at the Kazbar and Café CoCo to save time and effort at the close of business.

IBS initially installed the system at the Kazbar where manager James Webb and his team were so impressed they awarded a second contract for Café CoCo. Highlights of the installation are the integration of complex table plans, swipe card systems for discounts and customer loyalty and running the cat5e cable in ‘exposed copper pipe work’ to ensure the installation was sympathetic to the design theme of the Kazbar.

“This was a great project to work on, especially as there is potential to roll out the Kazbar as a hospitality brand,” commented Mark Bagnall, IBS project manager.

Taco Maker picks StockLink for America American three-in-one quick service restaurant franchise, Taco Maker, Inc, has incorporated StockLink into new store development and remodelling packages with the intention of converting all its outlets in the future.

Taco, based in Ogden, Utah, but with over 90 stores in Puerto Rico and a presence in India, is a franchise operation created to offer a choice of Mexican, traditional burger and health-conscious options under one roof.

The company has experienced dramatic growth in recent years, driven by high demand for Mexican food. It is currently in talks with 100 additional franchise operators.

“We have systems in place to enable our new franchisees to operate their facilities in a productive and profitable manner.

StockLink is a vital part of that package,” said Steve Krolak, Taco Maker’s vice president, franchise development.

“This deal in the USA is proof again of the universal appeal of StockLink as a tool to allow enterprises to run better, more profitable businesses. Naturally, we’re delighted with its success in the USA,” said IBS managing director, Gareth Powell.

Enhanced practical CRM option added to StockLink StockLink has added an easy-to-use, updated and enhanced Customer Relationship Management module to help clients track customer buying habits, run measurable, cost-effective, efficient marketing and sales promotional plans and offer reward schemes. Options include tracking points earned by customers and individual spend per visit.

The module also has numerous reporting functions that help assess the value and profitability of tactical activity.

Uniwell's DX-915 now available from IBS Just launched in the UK, the new Uniwell DX-915 is now available from IBS. Specifically designed for hospitality applications in pubs, restaurants, café bars, fast food and drive-through operations, the DX-915 features a large 15” touch screen LCD monitor, expanded flash memory and highperformance CPU. It features a rugged yet eye-catching cabinet and Ethernet, RS485 and RS232C ports as standard as well as newly added PS/2 interfaces for a PC keyboard.

Count on the Tellermate Steve Krolak explains why Taco Maker selected StockLink. See pages 6 & 7.

Cantaloupe venues gain from IBS approach IBS has completed a major software installation, training and project management contract for the Cantaloupe Group, which runs four very popular and high profile London entertainment venues.

Looking for a central management tool to control stock, till programming, reports and weekly business sheets, the Cantaloupe Group approached IBS after recommendations from Geronimo Inns, another IBS client. An essential requirement of the project was to ensure new electronic business sheets emulated the old paper spread sheets that had evolved over the years for the benefit of busy managers.

IBS... in brief

Available from IBS and linked to all versions of StockLink, Tellermate cash counting technology is designed to speed up till, float, safe and back office reconciliations. Tellermate counts coins, notes and non-cash items like cheques and credit card receipts by number. A direct link to StockLink eliminates manual data entry and the potential for human error.

MORE, MORE, MORE

Cantaloupe

See our special Cantaloupe project management feature on pages 8 & 9.

As well as new account gains, IBS teams have been busy installing hardware/ software systems at new sites for existing clients, including the Peach Pub Company, PizzaExpress, Tootsies, Benugos, Lakeside Superbowls and Geronimo Inns.

Once installed, the new sites seamlessly integrate into their respective head office systems.

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Tasty future planned for Pasty Presto “I first thought about the idea for Pasty Presto when I was visiting Cornwall and noticed that although a lot of businesses were selling Cornish pasties, not many of them were doing it particularly well.

Although the inspiration was based around the traditional Cornish pasty, which dates way back to the middle ages and beyond, I envisaged Pasty Presto as a pan European food concept. After all, I wanted maximum customer appeal. So our pasties would sit alongside salads, soups and organic baguettes and gourmet coffee, using the finest 100% Arabica, traded fairly direct from the farmers and ground daily at the point of sale. Even our pasties would reflect cosmopolitan European tastes. Not only would we sell the traditional pasty, we would also add a host of other tempting flavours from savoury spicy chickpea, cheese & onion and curried options to chocolate & banana and apple, rhubarb & custard.

It was a simple but effective retail proposition that would work if we could guarantee the quality, which I believe we’ve done.

One of the major reasons for our success over the past 10 years has been our total commitment to value for money combined with the excellence of our offering.

Freshness of all our produce, for example, has always been and will always be an essential ingredient to our proposition. Our patisserie and viennoiserie products are proved overnight, freshly baked every morning and only sold that day for perfect freshness. Likewise, we only use steak for our traditional pasties where mince is a definitely a dirty word.

Stephen Grocutt used to buy, renovate and run pubs before a trip to Cornwall inspired the launch of Pasty Presto, a bakery café chain selling high-quality, freshly-made food and drink. Here Steve talks exclusively to Impact about how IBS has helped the retail catering operation prepare for further expansion.

4

Whether they sit in or take out, customers are always going to be tempted by the amazing smells and aromas of freshly cooked food and attention-grabbing window and interior displays. We’ve found over the years that people always eat with their eyes and come back for top quality.

Just as we wanted to market ourselves as the best retailer of Cornish pasties, we also wanted to ensure we had the most effective business systems in place. And as we’ve expanded from one to over two dozen

Pasty Presto currently has 28 outlets, primarily in the south and south west of England.

Four more are due to open in the near future.

stores, the need to optimise business control has never been more important, especially as further additions are in the pipeline with openings in Canterbury, Bridgend and Ashford on the horizon. I’m busy looking at other towns and cities to build an even greater presence for Pasty Presto.

With the time right for an upgrade, we contacted Gareth and his team at IBS, who installed and have been looking after our original system. Our brief was to give us faster communications and more detailed reporting while at the same time minimising disruption to the business.

IBS had to fulfil several key criteria, including training, retaining existing information and ensuring a smooth transition from the old to the new system.

As always, the IBS team is very thorough and produced a plan for the changeover, which included installing new hardware and software in all our restaurants, hosting pre-install group training sessions for our head office staff and outlet managers. This was supported by installation and refresher training and daily access to the IBS help desk. The training run

by IBS was important as many of the managers at the outlets were using Windowsbased technology for the first time.

We set a four-week installation plan because we wanted to minimise the disruption to the business and again IBS matched our expectations.

Thanks to IBS’ efforts we now get much faster business data transfer from our outlets to our head office so we can have detailed stock result information to run our business processes. By selecting to use an ADSL communications infrastructure, the speed of data transfer is up to 100 times faster than the old standard dial-up. IBS used the ‘stock result designer’ module within StockLink to design new more detailed stock results for different stock categories.

Now we have the capability to receive live, real time information every hour (at a much faster speed) so we constantly know what is happening within the business.

Pasty Presto’s 10 steps to better business control a new head office database 01 Create using StockLink 02 Create a blueprint restaurant database user policies and set-up 03 Create polling bureau service more detailed weekley 04 Design business sheets comprehensive stock level 05 Design results and reports custom purchase order 06 Design templates organise & action group 07 Plan training sessions and produce training manuals organise & action upgrade roll 08 Plan, out to all restaurants 09 Provide on-going after-sales support innovative POD POS for 10 Develop mobile shop at the NEC The real beauty of the system and having long-standing relationships with key suppliers is the fact they understand our business and are able to help us develop new ideas and concepts.

One of our most recent achievements has been a high profile outlet at the Piazza within Birmingham’s NEC. As well as the outlet at the exhibition and events venue, we’ve also introduced a mobile ‘pod’ that can be moved from hall to hall to offer inshow catering for exhibitors and visitors alike. Cleverly we installed a 15” PC POS terminal with an integrated point of sale and full touch-enabled back office system on one machine. The system also boasts a simm card based pay-as-you go mobile ADSL router for communications to HQ. This ability to be innovative and creative is the hallmark of both Pasty Presto and IBS. It gives us a genuine competitive advantage in the market place and bodes well for our future growth. These are exciting times.

Intelligent Business Systems has worked with Pasty Presto since the launch of the retail concept a decade ago and recently upgraded its enterprise management system. This includes installing StockLink enterprise and professional software and broadband routers.

The planning process for the upgrade took three months with the roll out carried out over a four-week period.

IBS converted several years of historical DOS data to a new SQL based database.

Data transfer is now 100 times faster using the new IBS communications infrastructure.

IBS also supplied a kiosk solution for a new portable pod shop at the NEC, Birmingham. This has the potential for wider use at airports and railway stations and other similar locations.

5

StockLink integral to success of three-in-one QSR franchise

Franchising is big business in the USA where tried and tested concepts have a far greater success rate than new start ups.

Here Steve Krolak, vice president, franchise development of the Taco Maker, Jake's Over The Top and Mayan Jamma Juice combination tells

Combination outlets are Taco Maker's most productive and most profitable venture. And little wonder. They have universal popularity. Our one-roof, threein-one offering appeals to all the family because it gives them genuine choice when they visit us.

My own family, for instance, is typical of the type of people who like to have options. Nine times out of ten my wife will order the taco salad while I prefer the Burrito Grande Platter because it has a little of everything Mexican, which I adore. However, my youngest daughter will usually have a hamburger with cheese fries. For desert my daughter and I will have ice cream and my wife will have one of our Mayan Jamma Juices, with either a fibre or fat-burner booster, because it's "healthier." Come the end of the meal, we're happy because we've eaten what we want, we've eaten together and we've eaten well.

Impact about the importance of StockLink to his Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) franchise proposition.

6

OK, my family could be bias so you may need more proof of the popularity of the concept? Well, we have 146 outlets currently in operation with a further 10 new outlets in various stages of development.

Since the start of the year, we've been speaking to hundreds of individuals who want to become involved with us.

We're always willing to talk to prospective business partners. At home in the USA or anywhere else in the world, including the UK (we have already launched a franchise operation in India).

When we speak to potential partners we push two essentials; the popularity of our offering and the proven track record and success of our business model.

We've researched it and we know it works.

Mexican food is undergoing a real boom at the moment, outpacing all other segments at the rate of 4 to 1 so our freshly-made Taco Maker menu is grabbing a lot of attention. Our Jake's Over the Top charbroiled burgers, cheese fries, and ice cream treat are the mainstay offering of the American QSR industry while Mayan Jamma Juice attracts the more health conscious segment.

As part of our New Store Development Package we include the necessary equipment and software specifications so all new franchisees know exactly how to operate their facilities in a productive and profitable manner. StockLink is now an integral and vital part of that package.

In today's world no one can afford to wait until the end of the month to see if they got

AMERICAN SPECIAL FEATURE lucky and made some money. By then it could obviously be far too late and we're not in the business of gambling.

With StockLink, our franchisees can review their productivity at the end of each and every day. This allows us as the franchisor to help our franchisees make the necessary course corrections to address those critical factors that impact on our business.

Marketing and advertising plans can be adjusted as needed. Key points of business operations that are taught in our extensive training program are reinforced when renewed focus is needed.

When we explain this to potential franchisees, it shows them we mean business. Shows them we have the systems in place that eliminates risk.

Once accepted as a franchise, we not only teach our franchisees how to make a great tasting burrito but how to run a great business. We also teach them what to look for on the business front. StockLink gives them the information they need to quickly determine if their business is on track or not.

In the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR), or fast-food business, we have to deal with some pretty volatile factors and again StockLink is a key ingredient.

Controlling labour and food costs is essential to our success. Labour turn-over tends to be very high in this industry. For the most part there are a lot of younger people; high school students just starting out in the work force, and those that are working their way through college. Training and proper scheduling sounds like QSR 101, but it's not always that simple. You have to know and understand your business and that includes customer trends and patterns, not just class schedules.

It means you need to track performance and measure that performance against a proven profitable model. Tracking that sort of information and pulling it from our other outlets allows us to constantly validate our own model and guide our franchisees in a responsible manner.

Our menu items are made fresh from scratch daily. When you make the decision to offer that level of food quality, getting the right amount of each of our specially selected ingredients to each of our outlets in a timely manner is the only way we can guarantee the freshness of the food we serve. We can't afford to run out of food, we'll frustrate and lose customers. Nor can we afford to throw away excessive amounts of stale food products as that drives up the overall costs. It's perhaps the simplest example of where knowledge is power. In our case, it is the difference between making money or losing it.

If you’re intersted in finding out more about Taco Maker franchise opportunities please contact Steve Krolak at skrolak@tacomaker.com

We're serious about making money. For us the best way to do that is to deliver a quality meal made from the freshest ingredients, and do so at a reasonable price in a timely manner. That has been the key to our success everywhere we go.

At the time of writing, we've opened our 92nd outlet in Puerto Rico. By the end of this year we will surpass our original goal of 100 outlets in that market. We have also targeted several other key US markets to introduce The Taco Maker - Jake's Over the Top - Mayan Jamma Juice combination concept and already have several new outlets in various stages of construction. We have experienced steady success in several international markets as well, and have begun working with key contacts in a variety of areas. Our outlets in India are doing well and we expect that market to also grow significantly over the next five years.

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Quality project management keeps IBS in harmony with Cantaloupe Group Project management is an essential requisite for any IT-based company looking to make a genuine difference in a highly competitive hospitality environment. Here project manager Justin Atkinson reveals the IBS approach to a software installation and training programme for the Cantaloupe Group, which runs four very popular and high profile London entertainment venues. “The Cantaloupe Group has developed four very busy sites and wanted to install a central management tool to control sales reporting, weekly business sheets, touchscreen till programming and stock control. As the Group already had Uniwell touchscreen terminals, our role was to install StockLink enterprise software at head office and StockLink professional software at unit level to give everyone the control and reporting data they required. Smooth project management and detailed training ensured all key Cantaloupe team members understood and supported what we were doing. This was essential to the success criteria of the project.

Just as important, we had to make sure there was minimum disruption to the head office management and day to day running of the four sites. This commitment made the project all the more enjoyable and challenging. All four sites are high profile businesses and are frequently featured in Time Out magazine in London. I would say they are quite unique in their genre and that success is partly down to the highly competent managers who have a fairly autonomous role in the management of their businesses.

As with all the contracts we undertake at IBS, listening and planning come before any implementation and installation. We like to listen in detail to what the client wants to achieve and how their and our resources can complement one another to the mutual benefit of all concerned. Dan Heath and his team at Cantaloupe already had in place an extremely efficient and up-to-date IT set up and just as important, the external network company they used were very helpful and efficient.

Possibly my greatest challenge was creating the business sheets. The prerequisite was to ensure our new versions emulated wherever possible the complex spreadsheets that had evolved over the years. This was to eliminate much of the work for the managers and ensure that all important smooth transition. A business is bound to suffer if new systems slow down the day to day management and interfere with operational procedures.

stock elements of Stocklink and set up suppliers, products and prices etc and link them to the PLU breakdowns. At IBS we deal with this every day of the week so it is easy for us to understand. For people new to it, it can be a big learning curve for them really, and everyone at the Cantaloupe Group responded very well.

With the planning and people in place to ensure a smooth switch, it’s time to kick off the changeover from old to new. In this case we had to upload all of their existing program data from the touchscreen terminals at each site back into StockLink.

This procedure had the added advantage of auto-generating the update files for head office. Next we installed head office and polled the sites. All the program data for

This was particularly demanding because they had never done in-house stock results.

They therefore had to appoint various members of staff to take ownership of the

Market Place 8

Cargo

each site then populated the head office database – and the install was in fact text book from start to finish!

Once everything is installed and up and running, there are always the follow up calls to ensure everything is as it should be. Speaking to the managers afterwards was extremely stimulating with fast flowing, positive feedback, particularly from the time-saving perspective of the new procedures. The post-install phase was extremely rewarding because the managers have told me how pleased they are with the end result. When we installed

the software, the managers were always extremely positive and eager to learn about the new procedures. Training was also made easy by the fact that the managers were keen to learn and more than competent at understanding new systems.

Ultimately, the biggest test of a successful project is whether you get invited back again. Without counting our chickens, we look forward to working with Dan and his team at Cantaloupe in the near future when they open their next exciting new site in the capital, the Big Chill House.

The Cantaloupe Group, launched 10 years ago by directors Richard Big and Nigel Foster, runs four hospitality businesses in London and is planning to open another two outlets in the near future, including the Big Chill House and a new food/drink concept.

Cantaloupe’s high profile venues combine quality food and drink offerings with live music ranging from urban and hip hop to alternative country.

As well as stylish, distinctive venues with their own unique personalities and styles, the Group also runs its own record labels, releasing a wide variety of music with the best known artist probably being Lady Sovereign.

9

Managing customer relationships increases loyalty and benefits the bottom line!

IBS managing director Gareth Powell explains how the new Customer Relationship Management module in StockLink helps improve customer retention and loyalty.

You don’t need to have a Masters degree in marketing to understand the benefits of customer loyalty programmes and relationship management. Anyone who runs a business knows it is much harder to convert new clients than it is to sell to existing customers. This is particularly true of the fickle hospitality industry. At the same time, it is important to reward the loyalty of existing customers. Which is why we have added a Customer Relationship Management module to our StockLink software to help you achieve all of the above and a lot more besides.

This new module, which replaces our existing customer loyalty module, is as easy to use as the rest of the StockLink software. Powered by Windows and featuring familiar drag ‘n’ drop technology, the new module can be used at both head office and unit level.

Key to the success of the module – and indeed all your customer relationship management – is the collection and regular cleansing of detailed customer databases. Once this has been implemented you can start benefiting from a number of great features. The module has a mailmerge facility so you can communicate with your customers by post, e-mail, text or phone. If you’ve got the details, you can speak to them quickly, cost-effectively and personally.

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Here are a few of the great things you can do.

Tracking points gained by customers to reward them for the amount they spend. Major supermarket chains epitomise these schemes which are becoming increasingly attractive to hospitality chains and independents.

Points schemes like these can also promote particular brands or items at times to suit your business.

Tracking individual customer spend by item and groups of items gives you a brilliant profile of their purchasing habits, collectively and individually.

This information is an invaluable aid to planning and implementing tactical promotional activity. You can run multiple loyalty schemes. These can either be pre-paid cashless cards or points-earned, whatever suits the strategic and operational development and management of your business.

Run cashless spend programmes – which we find are particularly popular with universities, colleges and schools.

Loyalty schemes enable you to access detailed customer reports to give you relevant information to manage your marketing and operations effectively.

Flexibility is synonymous with the on-going success of StockLink and this new module is no exception. You can have multiple cards per customer, produce cards controlled by expiry dates and activate or deactivate cards for the ultimate in management control.

In fact, we anticipate this will be one of the most eagerly awaited and popular new modules that we have introduced to StockLink. The real beauty is you can run loyalty programmes just as good as the supermarkets without requiring massive set up investment and running costs. Now that’s worth raising a glass to! Cheers.

Cash loyalty is simplicity itself.

1

Your customer is issued with a card which has its own unique number.

2

The customer is assigned to a scheme or multiple schemes (some of our clients may have many different company schemes).

3

The customer card is credited with a cash amount. This can be done centrally as in company schemes or at a till point just like any other transaction.

4

Whenever a sale is made through the epos terminal the customer presents the loyalty card for swiping and the cash amount is deducted from the credit on the card. The epos terminal will print a detailed customer receipt to include: • Total points earned & available to use • Points earned in this transaction • New points balance

5

Credit balances are left on the card for future use or if you exceed the credit you can simply pay any excess in the normal way.

6

Added security such as a customer photograph can pop-up on the epos terminal at the time of the transaction

A Scotsman’s Letter from America John Naismith is a POS industry veteran who has worked in Scotland, England and Canada. Now he operates out of Atlanta, Georgia, leading the IBS invasion of North America, after a spell as President of Uniwell USA. Here he sends us his latest Scotsman's Letter from America.

It’s exciting times in America on both a business and personal front.

One of my highlights away from the office was attending Hugh Hefner’s 80th birthday party.

There was a lot going on, which I won’t repeat here, but I can say that it was nice not to be the oldest guy in the room!

married and began raising a family. He was on a visit to see his family in England when he heard of our plans for North America. Simon was delighted to rejoin and is proving to be a real asset.

I admit to being “more experienced” than my colleagues on both sides of the pond, but at the Playboy Mansion I was a comparative youngster – among the men, at least. The women were quite another matter!

As a project manager, Simon works with both resellers and end users, and he was involved from an early stage with Taco Maker, who operate out of Ogden, Utah.

Talking of young women, congratulations go to Simon and Sharon Wells on the birth of their daughter Jessica. She’s a beautiful baby and, as a bonus, is helping her dad learn how to go without sleep. This will come in very handy as our US customer base continues to grow.

Some of you may remember Simon from when he worked with IBS in England. Simon decided his future lay in America, so he came,

IBS Profile…

Name: Job title: Status: Children: Interests: Ambition: Fav song: Fav Fav Fav Fav

drink: food: film: country:

Barry Miller Customer Support Engaged Two Music, reading To go to a concert in Seattle Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime Guinness, Jamesons Chilli Breakfast Club Cuba

Taco Maker, which includes Jake’s Over the Top and Mayan Jamma Juice as part of its three-in-one consumer offering, is now specifying StockLink as an integral part of its business for existing and new franchisees.

they are in the world. Contact details are at the end of Steven’s article.

While Taco Maker’s main office is in Utah, Caribbean operations are based in Puerto Rico, where Taco Maker will open their 100th island location later this year. I’ve spoken often to Alejandro Burgos, Operations Specialist for the region, but we’ve yet to meet. Maybe I’ll wait until winter sets in here on the mainland before I arrange that visit.

I’ll keep you posted on new developments stateside in the next issue of Impact.

Taco Maker Vice President Steven Krolak explains why in an exclusive feature on pages 6 & 7. Steven is always very happy to hear from a potential franchisee, no matter where

Q1: What is your day-to-day role at IBS? A1: My primary role is to provide telephone support to customers to ensure the smooth running of our systems and give them all the support they need. My role also includes setting up pc/till systems and liaising with client head office personnel to ensure rollouts, engineer callouts and installs are achieved with maximum efficiency. It’s enjoyable and challenging work.

Q2: How long have you been with IBS? A2: Seven years – and not feeling itchy at all!

Q3: What is your approach to your job?

A3: A5, A43 every morning! Seriously, I give them the same effort and commitment I would expect if I were the client.

Q4: What is your previous industry experience?

A4: I spent five years working in the North West for a well known EPOS

company before moving down south.

However, I do head north several times a year. Nothing beats watching Everton at Goodison Park. Come on you blues!

Q5: What makes IBS special?

A5: Several reasons. Each day is varied with new and different challenges. The staff here at IBS all have different skills which we pool together to create a vast source system knowledge to help our customers. It’s probably one of the best knowledge banks in our industry.

Q6: What is your most memorable life/work experience?

A6: I wouldn’t like to highlight one particular client or job as they are all important. However, on the personal front finishing the SunRun (a 26.2 mile night hike/run through the Malvern/ Chiltern Hills) takes some beating.

Never has the thought of a pint of the black stuff seemed so inviting. Or tasted so good when I finally got my hands on one.

11

FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA. We do it for the likes of PizzaExpress, BBC, Coffee Republic, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 2 Winter/Spring 2006

IBS goes PizzaExpress Service Level Agreements: arguments for and against StockLink: how we’re always improving See us at Caffè Culture

Welcome to Impact 2 A warm welcome to Impact 2, which gives you the latest from our colourful world of POS and enterprise management systems. Inside we reveal more reasons why we are a market leading supplier to hospitality, catering and retail businesses in the UK, Europe and North America. From high profile multi-site installations to challenging one-off projects, Impact 2 shows how we approach each and every contract with the same professionalism and commitment. We also look at how we are constantly developing StockLink and highlight the pros and cons of Service Levels Agreements. Enjoy Impact 2. We hope it gives you more food for thought and encourages you to place us at the forefront of your mind when it comes to your next POS or enterprise management investment. Whatever you do, give us a call and see what impact we can make to your business.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover image: IBS goes PizzaExpress in Milton Keynes. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY, 01280 709 400) by Creative Space Squared. If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail dee@ibs-systems.co.uk. We are always delighted to hear from you.

News from IBS Precision planning key to major PizzaExpress roll out IBS has just completed a major seven-figure contract with PizzaExpress to upgrade the famous pizza chain’s POS and enterprise management system. The roll-out also included associated brands like Café Pasta, Milano, Gourmet Pizza, Marzano and Kettners. This intensive programme featured nine installations per week over a nine-month period and included establishing a specialist training room for pre-installation staff training. To ensure minimal disruption to the chain’s daily trading, each installation was live and ready to trade by 11.30am. “This is a fine example of IBS at work, where precision planning was key to ensuring every element of the contract ran smoothly,” commented IBS managing director, Gareth Powell.

See pages 6 & 7 for our photo caption story about this installation.

All change at the Bedford, night and day The Bedford, an award-winning, seven-day live music venue in South London, has a new star performer thanks to IBS. Its new upgraded POS system gives the Bedford management team greater control of cash and stock as well as the ability to manage and programme price and menu changes.

Extensive planning and training were essential to ensure minimal disruption during the transitional period. A highlight of the installation at the large, busy location was the extensive network infrastructure necessary to secure trouble-free communications.

2

University challenge passed with flying colours IBS passed its latest university challenge after writing bespoke software links to third party software for Burleigh Court, a conference and training facility at Loughborough University. This was done through developing a series of “.Net services” to enable real-time POS sales data to be posted directly into ‘Kinetics’ bedroom booking & conferencing software.

The facility provides modern training rooms equipped with digital audio-visual technology, spacious en-suite bedrooms and a luxurious leisure club. IBS installed and upgraded a full POS and StockLink back office system at the 137-bed facility.

IBS also installed a cashless account system, real-time bedroom interface and hand-held sales ordering systems.

See page 4 for more about this story.

More elbow room for IBS The Elbow Room chain of pool lounge and late-night bars has selected IBS to upgrade its POS and enterprise management systems with the installation of new PC POS touchscreen terminals, writes IBS senior project manager Mark Bagnall. A highlight of the IBS system is a touch-enabled version of the StockLink back office system.

This runs directly onto the PC POS terminals for system flexibility and saves considerable costs, especially in the smaller or kiosk-style sites.

Lakeside superbowl bowled over by IBS Lakeside Superbowl, a fast growing chain of ten-pin bowling centres, has opened its tenth site with IBS providing all locations with Uniwell touchscreen terminals and StockLink back office software.

An ADSL broadband communications infrastructure links all the sites to the StockLink enterprise management system at Lakeside’s head office in Newbury.

John Lewis Tootsies back on the expansion installs StockLink Major high street retailer, John Lewis, has trail installed StockLink to help provide like-for-like Tootsies, the upmarket burger restaurant chain, has opened another six new sites with IBS suppyling and installing full POS and back office management systems at the new locations in Oxford, Ipswich, Richmond, Lincoln, Norwich and Bury St Edmunds. Each outlet will link directly into the existing StockLink Enterprise management system installed by IBS earlier in the year. See Impact 1 for the full Tootsies story.

catering comparisons across its branches to enable it to get a clear analysis of costs and margins. Already an existing IBM POS user, John Lewis selected StockLink as its preferred catering enterprise management solution. John Lewis chose industry consultants, Triangle, to supply its ‘Revelation’ US POS software. After initial testing at John Lewis’s Bluewater and Trafford Centre stores, the intention is roll out to all 27 branches in 2006. Ten new superstores are also planned over the next three years.

IBS... in brief IBS at inaugural Caffè Culture exhibition IBS is appearing at the inaugural Caffè Culture exhibition, National Hall Olympia, London, 24- 25 May 2006. IBS is featuring its solutions for the fast growing UK café sector on stand number C28. Dee Powell, IBS commercial director, said: “This is an ideal opportunity to show the burgeoning UK café market how IBS can make a difference to the way they run their business. Whether they are start up or multi-site, we have the experience and expertise to help them run a better enterprise.”

Caffè Culture also offers business forums plus demonstrations, debates and business seminars.

To order your complimentary tickets for the show please call Dee Powell on 01280 709 400 or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

Colourful aures collection available from IBS Aures Technologies’ 2006 collection is now available from IBS, writes project manager, Justin Atkinson. This newly released range presents a total contrast to classic and ‘black box’ POS terminals. The Odyssé range, described by Aures as a symphony of colours and harmony, can change colour to suit surroundings using a clever clip-on system so they can adapt to any design environment. We reckon Aures can do to POS terminals what Apple has done for home and business computers!

What do you think?

STOP PRESS! StockLink new result module unveiled See page 10

3

IBS embraces University challenge IBS passed its latest university challenge with flying colours when it installed and upgraded a full POS system and integrated bedroom booking system at the 137-bed conference and training facility at Loughborough University.

Here IBS senior project manager, Mark Bagnall (above), explains how and why the contract proved to be such an enjoyable test.

We won this contract primarily because we were able to show the Burleigh Court steering team, who had been briefed to select their new system, that IBS had the ability, knowledge and experience to write bespoke software links to a third party vendor’s software.

Having this capability is a real bonus when we go to see clients because they know we can always look at the bigger picture rather than plump for an easy off-the-self option.

And even when we do come up with a solution, we always remain flexible enough to adapt and deal with any difficulties and issues that confront us. It is a big selling point and has helped tip the balance towards us on many occasions. Few POS or enterprise management companies can match this integrated approach.

Our original brief with Burleigh Court was to achieve a smooth transition from the old system to the new Uniwell DX890 POS set up while implementing a cashless account system, a real-time bedroom interface and hand-held sales ordering systems.

There was a slight problem because Burleigh Court uses the Kinetics bedroom/ conferencing system. However, Kinetics 4

does not have a Uniwell off-the-shelf interface so the two would be unable to talk to one another.

Fortunately, we have one of the best software development teams in the business and they were able to come up with an innovative solution built around a series of .NET services rather than applications.

They wrote a .NET service as a broker between the POS and Kinetics, a feature that is now unique to IBS. This series of “Net services” imports real time POS sales and posts data directly into Kinetics Bedroom booking and conferencing software.

At the same time, we implemented StockLink’s fully integrated CRM module, which has the ability to be run as either a CASHLESS or POINTS system. This also runs as a .NET service, evidence of the logical thinking that is part of the IBS philosophy.

has definitely been a benefit to keep all three departments happy and it has given us the opportunity to present a quotation to the main Loughborough University Catering & Bars Department.

What we did for Burleigh Court ✓ Project planning and liaising with Loughborough University. IT Dept.

✓ POS keyboard menu design agreed with and approved by the customer prior to POS training

✓ Pre-installation training for Burleigh Court management team, key operations, accounts and IT Staff

✓ Installation of hardware ✓ Upgrade of StockLink to the latest version (V5)

✓ Installation of new .NET service applications

In addition, the Burleigh Court contract included a full Uniwell POS system, integrated Orderman hand-held terminals with kitchen and bar dispense printing.

✓ Hand-holding capability ✓ Bespoke report writing to suit the needs of key decision makers

Once again, we have shown our flexibility to change and develop StockLink to satisfy the exact requirements of Burleigh Court’s IT, operations and accounts departments. It

✓ Introduction of a cashless CRM system

✓After sales support and advice

Service Level Agreements!

Who needs them?

Can a fast moving, profitable hospitality business really be truly effective without the added security of a service level agreement to protect their epos and enterprise management systems?

Dee Powell (right) plays devil’s advocate and puts the case for and against!

There is one very simple argument that customers will put forward when they want to avoid a service level agreement: it costs too much. From their perspective they see money going out for a service they may never use, cash that could be better spent elsewhere or taken out of the business all together.

It is an argument anyone involved in IT, or any other service sector, hears all the time so it is not exclusive to our industry.

And to be fair, they do have a point. If they are happy to take a ‘laissez faire’ approach to running their business, it means any problems can be sorted our reactively after they have occurred rather than proactively anticipate and plan for them in advance.

They are also prepared to gamble that the costs of reactive action will be cheaper than a service level agreement spread over 12 months.

Now some might say you can buy these services individually on a ‘needs must’ basis and negotiate the best deal at the time. Indeed you can and some businesses do. Some even thrive on this policy and it does make for an exciting time. Certainly, there is never going to be ever a dull moment.

However, most businesses, in our experience, would rather operate with total peace of mind, safe in the knowledge that their POS or enterprise management system is not only fully protected but is also able to take advantage of technology

advances. They appreciate this costs money but they also realise there is no such thing as a free lunch in the world of business.

So what are the benefits of a service level agreement? From our perspective, it makes business sense to guarantee the system is always working properly and effectively. From your point of view, it gives you extra security to know that call-outs, replacement parts, labour and associated costs are guaranteed. No nasty surprises round the corner.

Also remember, this is your business system and critical data needs to be managed quickly, professionally and confidentially.

We also provide a platform for an on-going mutually beneficial relationship where customers enjoy preferential treatment and discounted rates for developing bespoke software, replacing parts, providing additional training and managed services.

We normally negotiate the SLA based on the needs of a client. We find this works best because no two customers are ever the same.

So if you’re thinking about service level agreements look beyond the bottom line.

It does pay dividends.

Dee Powell is IBS Commercial Director and editor of IMPACT and is not auditioning for the next Prime Suspect series. Honest.

6 Real SLA Benefits Preferential treatment as a SLA customer Pay monthly interest-free instalments to spread cost and for budget control Discounted additional services such as training and bespoke programming Free software upgrades of latest versions Dedicated on-line and telephone support desk Ability to dial into software and fix remotely Commitment to working together in partnership 5

The perfect recipe for enterprise management: Just add IBS!

6

PizzaExpress needs little introduction with 16 million happy customers flocking to the UK’s original upmarket pizza restaurant chain each year.

Founded in 1965 in Wardour Street, London, PizzaExpress continues to provide Italian inspired cuisine using quality ingredients freshly prepared by pizzaiolos in the restaurants’ open kitchens. Along with its pizzas, PizzaExpress is renowned for its imaginative, individual design and impeccable service. Equally important are the tactical and strategic mechanics of running the business efficiently and effectively, which is where IBS enters the picture with the recent completion of a major upgrade at over 350 sites across the UK, the Channel Islands and Ireland to ensure PizzaExpress’ POS and enterprise management systems remain state of the art with the latest information and reporting gathering processes. For PizzaExpress, the changeover had to be achieved with minimal disruption.

This saw over 350 installations taking place over a nine-month period with an average of nine installs per week. Each installation was completed and ready to trade by 11.30am. Extensive in-house training and communication were paramount to ensuring a smooth transition from the old system to the new. All training took place at the PizzaExpress head office in Uxbridge, Middlesex, where a dedicated training room was established complete with 16 configured mini-systems to ensure a hands-on introduction to the new system.

7

On-going StockLink development in safe hands

Question time

News that StockLink has just launched a new ‘stock result module’ (see page 10) comes as no surprise to the many hospitality professionals who already employ the stock and cash control software at thousands of sites in the UK, Europe and across North America. After all, one of StockLink’s numerous selling points is the fact it is constantly updated in order to maintain its place at the forefront of IT technology. Here Impact 2 grills two senior IBS software developers. On this page, we quiz Michael Ball, 30, (right) about his involvement with StockLink while on page 10 Will Mainwaring, 33, (left) talks us through the latest on-screen developments.

Q1:

How are you doing? So how long have you worked with StockLink?

MB:

13 Years in total although four was as an end user so I’ve seen it from both sides now.

Q2:

MB:

Q8:

And are these additions then incorporated into the next update for everyone to use?

MB:

It depends, sometimes customers will specify and pay for their own unique development work, sometimes the features are too unique to apply to general usage but generally most features will be applied into a general release.

What one thing do you think makes StockLink unique in the market place?

Probably its ability to interface with different types of Point of sale systems.

Q3:

And what do you see as the three most important benefits to the end user?

MB:

First, total stock control, second, an ability to make changes easily at the point of sale and third, good accurate reporting facilities.

Q9:

MB:

What do you personally like best about StockLink as a software package if you were wearing your end user hat?

It’s easy to use, and I helped create it, with a little help from the likes of Will and the rest of the team!

How has StockLink changed from your first involvement with the software?

Q10: Funny you mention other people: how does the software development team work together?

MB:

As I’ve been here for a few years, I have seen StockLink develop from a DOS system to a much more sophisticated software suite with new POS programming features for example like drag and drop keyboard design.

MB:

Q5:

What is the process for updating StockLink?

MB:

When we have completed a number of developments, we will place the new software through our rigorous testing procedures. When we are fully satisfied, we will build this ready for release. This is then placed on the FTP site for downloading. Updates obviously include our release notes.

Q4:

Q6:

How does the feedback process work in reality?

MB:

Like I said previously, that’s what really happens!

Q7:

How often do you write specialist additions to StockLink?

MB:

About once every two months a certain feature for a specific customer may be introduced.

I lead the team by filtering any nondevelopment issues, planning the development schedule and working together to enhance the product but we all have a crucial day-today role in its success. We are like a Grand Prix team – finely tuned.

Q13: What are you currently working on now?

MB:

Talking about North America, we are doing some enhancements for the USA EPROM and fixing some issues for an early 2006 release.

Q14: The USA is an interesting development. When did you start working on the USA version?

MB:

Beginning of 2004

Q15: How is the USA StockLink different from the UK version?

MB:

Well currency and dates are a major difference as is the communications protocol to the Uniwell terminals.

Q16: What does the future hold for StockLink?

MB:

I see StockLink becoming more central and a system that can be accessed from a browser maybe for management reports. Whatever happens, it will be fun being involved.

Q11: What is the biggest dayto-day challenge as software developers?

MB:

Meeting deadlines. Like the Grand Prix pit stops – we have to move fast.

Q12: What is your biggest achievement as software developers?

MB:

Helping StockLink become what it is today, a fine product people are happy to use in the UK, Europe and the USA

9

See things better with StockLink Attractive, easy-to-use, user-friendly screens are essential for any software developer wanting to grab the attention of today’s ultra-competitive hospitality and catering market, as IBS software developer, Will Mainwaring, explains and reviews a variety of screenshots. Oh, and you need to be aware of the differences both sides of the Atlantic too.

Today software must do lots of things to prove viable to any hospitality business, but from my point of view customisability and a modern XP look and feel are essential. Almost everyone with access to a computer is familiar with Windows so in the XP era it makes sense to use it as the platform for the way you see StockLink on screen. After all, whether you are a domestic or professional user of Windows, you’ll find it easier to use, customisable and versatile, no matter what your role in your business. Drag and drop technology is a perfect example of this.

Windows XP has the added benefit with helping us interface with a large variety of different POS terminals, databases and third party applications, as well as improving reports and stock input screens.

I like it because it makes enhancements such as designing new screens or adding new source modules a lot easier from the developer’s point of view.

Having this capability is very important because it gives us speed and we have a very quick turnaround of development.

For example, we have produced a USA version of StockLink in double quick time despite the huge difference between the two continents that are separated by more than 3,000 miles of water. As you are no doubt aware, Americans spell many words differently and the terminology varies. Some examples,

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StockLink uses easy-to-use screens and drag and drop technology. Colourful, user-friendly naviagation are essential in today’s busy hospitality environment where the vast majority of people – from the bar to the boardroom – are familiar with Windows XP. Detailed reporting is structured to tailored to the individual needs of each user ensures StockLink stands out from the competition.

Till/Register, Supplier/Vendor, End Of Session/End Of Shift, Vat/Tax, Labour/ Labor, Colour/Color, etc. Also, date formatting is different. Instead of 31/12/2005, the Americans says 12/31/2005. And as Microsoft isn’t too hot on internationalisation for its development software, I have to be extra vigilant. When I am designing a new module, I always have to keep this in the back of my mind to ensure spelling differences are covered. Causes a lot of confusion on the Scrabble board but not on the screens of the end users.

StockLink new result module unveiled

A new stock result module has been launched to increase StockLinks efficiency, improve security and enhance reporting.

This module includes a stock result designer to customise layouts to specific client requirements. It also allows multilevel stock results, merge stock locations, up to 99 security levels, optimum GP% / yields and finalise / print result functions.

This new module adds to the choice and depth of the StockLink reporting options.

For more information about StockLink and IBS visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

A Scotsman’s Letter from America John Naismith is a POS industry veteran who has worked in Scotland, England and Canada. Now he operates out of Atlanta, Georgia, heading the IBS invasion of North America after a spell as President of Uniwell USA. Here is the second of his letters from America.

Having entered into an OEM agreement with Exciting times on this side of the Atlantic with the hot news that Datasym Inc, one of North America’s leading Point of Sale companies, has added StockLink to its portfolio. Although Datasym has been very successful in the retail and grocery arenas for 20 years, the company wanted to be able to offer its distributor channel a more versatile product line.

Uniwell US to brand and sell the DX890 and SX700/800 hospitality terminals under the Datasym name, the next challenge was to find software that met the high quality standards of its own brand software. After much research Datasym chose StockLink which, according to Carolyn Rollins, Senior VP Sales & Marketing “not only met, but exceeded all our expectations.”

floor Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Open from 4pm until 2am, with alcohol sales of $30,000 -$35,000 per night - they are big business!!

Already Datasym has been busy, hosting sales and training sessions across North America to introduce their dealer channel to Innovative Cash Register in Dallas, who had previously installed Escapade’s other clubs, StockLink. proposed StockLink with the Uniwell DX890 And the first installation has been as an updated solution. Datasym sent a completed at Escapade, a country and team down to help the dealer with the western style nightclub based in Dallas, installation and in less than a week was running smoothly.

Texas. These clubs are upscale warehouse- everything StockLink provides them with the sales sized nightclubs, catering for the Hispanic information they require to streamline and community, who account for about 36% of the Dallas area population. Escapade run an efficient business. already operates three clubs in the area and needed a solution for a fourth site that was Escapade clubs are extremely popular, having up to 2000 patrons on their dance just about ready to open.

Q1: How long with IBS? A1: 8 years – although I had originally qualified as a marine engineer.

Q2: What is your day-to-day role at IBS? A2: As a project manager I do everything necessary to make things happen on time and on budget. We do an awful lot of work not just in front of the customer but also behind the scenes.

It is good fun and always a challenge.

No two days are ever the same.

Q3: What makes IBS special?

A3: We are a small but efficient team of like-minded people who are prepared to do what it takes to get the job done. There is a great team ethic that resonates throughout the company.

important to that particular customer, whether it is a multi-national chain or a start up. Our role is to help them build a more efficient business.

Q6: OK. What’s your most difficult professional moment?

A6: Doing a really tricky training session to an extremely knowledgeable group of IT people in Canada – successfully.

I appreciated how much knowledge and experience I have accumulated and how much you tend to take it for granted. Probably our natural British reserve coming to the fore!

We agree with Rick and also look forward to working with them for many years to come.

From my point of view, as a POS professional who first worked in the UK, it is fascinating looking at these projects because you realise what a multi-cultural society the USA is: for instance, the majority of Escapades’ clientele are Mexican immigrants, though some are recent arrivals from Central and South America. One or two Scots turned up too.

IBS Profile…

Name: Age: Job title: Job description: Education: Children: Fav book:

Q4: What is your approach to your job?

A4: Total conscientiousness thus giving a good service to the customer Q5: And what is your biggest professional achievement?

A5: It’s unfair to pick one out for size or complexity. Each job we do is

When discussing the distribution arrangement at a recent industry conference, Rick Stern, President of Datasym Inc said: “We are very excited with the decision to market StockLink in North America and look forward to continued success with the product.”

Fav film:

Fav Country: A close knit senior management team helps make IBS special

Justin Atkinson 41 Project Manager Managing new projects Truro Cathedral School, Cornwall Two “Pillars of the Earth” Ken Follet “The Good, Bad and the Ugly” Clint Eastwood South Africa – though I haven’t been there yet

11

FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA. We do it for the likes of PizzaExpress, BBC, Coffee Republic, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk

The magazine for Intelligent Business Systems clients

Issue 1 Summer 2005

Tootsies POS upgrade ready for expansion Fresh Italy concept marries quality and speed StockLink 5 accessible to all!

A Scotsman’s Letter from America

Welcome A warm welcome to the first edition of a brand new magazine from Intelligent Business Systems. This is your magazine, designed to show you our impact within the fast-moving, dynamic world of POS. Helps explain our choice of name too. Impact. A title to reflect the difference we make to multiple-site hospitality and retail businesses courtesy of our POS and enterprise management systems. Inside the pages of this and subsequent issues we’ll supply the evidence. Kicking off with our news section, Impact highlights recent IBS achievements. We then go backstage and take a closer look at the stories behind the headlines, in one instance letting one client do all the talking. After all, clients are the best judges of our work. Enjoy reading the first edition. We trust it gives you plenty of food for thought. Hopefully, you’ll be asking yourself the question of how IBS can make an impact on your business in the near future.

Dee Powell, editor, Impact Front cover image: Tootsies in Manchester. Impact is published on behalf of Intelligent Business Systems (St James Road, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY) by Creative Space Squared. If you have any comments or feedback, contact me on 01280 709 400 or e-mail dee@ibs-systems.co.uk. We are always delighted to hear from you. Check out www.ibs-systems.co.uk for regular news updates from IBS.

News from IBS Tin Goose takes off at Heathrow Geronimo Inns has unveiled its newest pub. The Tin Goose, in terminal 1 at Heathrow Airport, comes complete with a new PC POS touchscreen system, four touchscreen terminals and ICR touch POS software. According to IBS project manager, Justin Atkinson, the PC POS system was selected for its hardware robustness to accommodate fast customer throughout at the world’s busiest international airport, which welcomes over 63 million visitors every year. Key to ensuring the Tin Goose took off on time and without any hiccups was the forward planning carried out by IBS. Justin and his team created a graphical table and seating plan for the POS as the pub makes extensive use of table and seat numbers for customer billing. The contract also includes StockLink back office reporting to the existing StockLink central management system.

Life is a peach with a virtual head office Dynamic gastro pub restaurant chain, the three-year old award winning Peach Pub Company, has asked IBS to create a virtual head office. With six gastro pubs in the south and central midlands and more to come over the coming months, the Peach management team, led by Hamish Stoddart, wants to focus its energies in the pubs, without the distraction and expense of running, managing and maintaining a separate head office. Thanks to the IBS virtual head office, the Peach team can access the system by logging on-line, no matter where they are. “This system gives us the flexibility to manage a fast growing business that relies on high volumes of traffic,” said Peach Pub Company director, Hamish Stoddart.

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Sheffield’s IBS Showcase Sheffield’s premier media production and exhibition centre comprises a unique managed workstation for the creative industries, including a 650 seat independent cinema and exhibition complex. It also hosts numerous special events throughout the year with its café bar catering for conferences, festivals, functions and parties. With an extensive range of buffets, wines and menus, a flexible POS management system is essential to the successful running of the busy venue. IBS, after designing and developing a similar system for a cinema and media centre in Doncaster, won the contract to install six Uniwell touchscreen terminals and StockLink software.

IBS has a French Connection IBS has installed new POS and back office systems for the Mountain Trading Company, which runs bars and restaurants at major ski resorts throughout the French Alps. The project, overseen by IBS project managers Mark Bagnall and Justin Atkinson and supported by field engineer, Lawrence Booth, included the installation of Uniwell POS terminals and kitchen printers together with StockLink software, which was programmed to accommodate multicurrency, multi-tax rates and various levels of discounts.

Living Venture’s brilliant performer

IBS... in brief StockLink 5 launched

IBS business partner, GS Systems, has installed StockLlink enterprise software as part of its central management system for Living Ventures, one of the rising stars of the hospitality industry. With 18 sites in major cities in the UK, Living Ventures has won numerous industry awards for its Living Rooms, Mosquito and Prohibition brands.

Perfect vision at the BBC IBS has provided the BBC with EPOS and enterprise management systems for seven sites in London, including White City, Woodlands, Television Centre, Bush House, Victoria Road, Head Office Finance and Elstree Studios, home to EastEnders and numerous other world famous BBC productions. IBS’s own production caters for thousands of staff and visitors every week and gives site managers access to cash control business sheets and stock control as well as full site and head office reporting. The installation, implemented under the direction of IBS senior project manager, Mark Bagnall, consists of the latest Uniwell DX890 touchscreen terminals, thermal receipt printers, Epson impact kitchen printers and StockLink back office and head office software.

Full system upgrade as Tootsies eyes rapid expansion IBS has upgraded Tootsies entire enterprise and POS management system as part of a £200,000 investment for the fast-growing national burger restaurant chain. Tootsies re-selected IBS as part of an on-going expansion programme that has seen the company build a 24-restaurant chain in less than five years. There are plans to open a further 75 over the next three years. IBS supplied new touchscreen terminals and back office computers together with its own StockLink back office and enterprise management software. System partners were commissioned to install the latest cabling infrastructure at each site and a managed broadband-based infrastructure.

See our Tootsies feature on pages 6 & 7

Fresh Italy deliciously fast thanks to IBS Fresh Italy, an exciting new quality food concept where meals are served up in less than two minutes from placing an order, has commissioned IBS to help give them the clockwork precision necessary to guarantee fast delivery. IBS has designed and developed a new POS system for Fresh Italy, which can be used for face to face sales or distance buying via the internet.

Fresh Italy founder, Tom Allchurch, writes exclusively for Impact. See pages 8 & 9

IBS has launched StockLink 5, the latest edition of the best selling POS enterprise management software. Based around MS Windows XP software, StockLink 5 is using the latest enhanced drag and drop technology to simplify use and features unlimited security levels. The StockLink Enterprise version, targeted at multi-site hospitality chains, has many new features and functions designed to speed-up processes. This includes an all-new touchscreen drag and drop design module.

Neil heads managed services team Neil Quinn has been appointed to run the managed service department at IBS. Formerly working at Drayton Manor theme park, Neil, 29, and his team will provide a total managed service from adding new suppliers or products to updating menus and prices across either client chains, brands or individual outlets.

IBS call system enhanced IBS has developed and rewritten its in-house call support system to improve the way it deals with customer communications.

The sophisticated call system has been written in-house by the IBS software development team using the Microsoft .net framework. As well as being faster and more efficient, it also enables IBS engineers and customers to track the progress of projects and jobs on-line.

STOP PRESS! IBS about to roll out £500,000 contract for national restaurant chain. More in next issue of Impact!

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Q1:

How the devil are you?

Q9:

So what exactly is the IBS offering?

A1:

Very well, thank you. I loved Wales winning the Grand Slam.

A lesson here for all businesses, no matter how large or small, as it shows patient planning and painstaking groundwork pays dividends.

A9:

Q2:

That’s an interesting analogy. Are IBS the Welsh equivalent in the POS world, upstaging the big boys like England?

A2:

That’s not for me to say. You’ll need to ask our clients!

Seriously, however, I would say we’ve been achieving great results at IBS by adopting the same philosophy. We’re not the biggest player but we are one of the most successful because we play to our strengths. We’ve won several prestigious contracts (see our news section) with more in the pipeline. And we’re making great inroads beyond the UK with our StockLink enterprise management systems, both in Europe and the USA.

Again in simple terms, it is taking hardware and software combinations and installing them in multiple site hospitality businesses. However, it is much more complex than this.

You have to pick the right hardware to work with the most appropriate software. You have to ensure the infrastructure gives the client speed and security. And you need to have a system that is easy to use for everyone involved in the business, from the youngsters serving at the bar to the directors dissecting information in order to plan for the future. Each link in the chain has to be happy with the system. That’s why we place such a great emphasis on professional project management. Having quality industry professionals overseeing installations and providing after sales support is crucial to our overall offering. Without it, we cannot stand out from the crowd. We are not able to make the right impact.

Q3:

That’s great news. So are you prepared to unveil the secrets behind the IBS success story?

A3:

First of all, we’re very good at listening. It is a natural starting point. If you go into a meeting with a pre-determined view, either you or the prospective client are going to be disappointed.

Q4:

And any other secrets?

A4:

The big secret is there are no other secrets. It is about hard work, attention to detail and sheer determination.

Q5:

Surely there is more to success in a highly technological field?

A5:

Obviously you need the right people, the right products and right software. We have that, notably with our StockLink software. Experience of the market place you operate in is critical too. I think the fact we have evolved from corporate backgrounds in the hospitality industry enhances our understanding of the needs of our corporate clients.

Irrespective of what business you’re in, you need to see what the client sees. It all goes back to the ability to listen and understand, as I mentioned earlier.

Q6:

How do you mean?

A6:

If you empathise with corporate issues, it is so much easier to respond to them. Anticipate the future demands and requirements placed on the multi-site hospitality corporate world. By appreciating their needs, we can tailor our world to theirs faster than anyone else.

Q7:

And how do you do this?

A7:

Well, we have to be more than just a POS company. Looking at the big picture, we are a ‘solutions provider’. We’re not any single one thing. We’re not trying to sell a box, or a terminal, or a software package. We’re giving our clients an end result. Our client offering has to make a difference to the way clients operate and understand their businesses. They have to notice an impact on the bottom line, see a tangible return on their investment.

Q8:

Obviously this approach is working. Could you try and encapsulate why?

A8:

I think the fact we have a very high retention rate speaks volumes. Client loyalty and winning repeat business is very rewarding and brings about a remarkable sense of achievement, which is shared by everyone in the company.

Q10: Elsewhere in the magazine, we notice you’ve recently added ‘managed services’ to your portfolio. Was the thinking behind this about enhancing your overall offering?

A10: We are a service provider and we cannot afford to be complacent. One of my major responsibilities is to constantly look at new ways of making the day to day lives of our clients as easy as possible; hence Neil Quinn has joined us. Neil and his team give clients more choice as they can control and oversee customer product files so we can update products and price changes in the most effective means possible. This saves clients a considerable amount of money in terms of employing staff and applying resources.

Employing Neil is typical of our constant efforts to improve the way we operate. His department represents a substantial investment, although it is one we’re more than happy to make. In fact, we’re constantly reinvesting in IBS. Q11: Are there any other examples?

A11: Well, we’ve recently completed rewriting our in-house call system to improve the way we manage communications with our clients. This dovetails with the internet so clients are always kept fully in the picture. We’re also investing more in marketing.

Q12: In what ways?

A12: We’ve got a new, improved website for a start that reflects the direction of the company. This sets out and establishes our credentials. It is also going to be a great way for clients to communicate with us longer term. We’re also trying to be more pro-active rather than re-active in terms of marketing.

We’ve published Impact too as a means of keeping existing and potential clients fully in the picture about what is going on in our world.

Q13: That’s very encouraging. What, in a nutshell, does the future hold for the IBS? A13: More of the same with the proviso that we’re always looking to improve and enhance the way we do business. If we want to make a genuine impact, there is no other way forward.

What we’ve achieved to date is fantastic but it is also history.

Just as I hope the Welsh coaching team will be thinking about how they can improve on the Grand Slam, we’ll be doing the same for the multi-site hospitality sector.

Q14: Thanks for your time.

A14: My pleasure.

Question time

As a tough-tackling, no-nonsense rugby union forward, Gareth Powell always gave 100% on the pitch.

He applies the same total commitment philosophy off the field as he dedicates his energies to ensuring IBS creates the maximum possible impact in the competitive world of hospitality POS systems – taking time out from his busy schedule to tackle our questions

Still loving the impact game!

Spotlight

IBS creates platform for Tootsies expansion In the cut and thrust of the modern business world, as in life itself, nothing can ever be taken for granted.

Tootsies. So we were confident we would bring a lot to the table in a tender situation,” said Gareth.

Nor should it be, according to Intelligent Business Systems’ managing director, Gareth Powell, who was under no illusions when the new owners of the Tootsies grill-based family restaurant chain said they were putting the upgrade of its POS and back office management systems out to tender.

In fact, by describing the criteria for the project, Tim Woodcock was also outlining the perfect IBS system.

After all, with a senior management background in a top blue chip corporate environment prior to launching IBS, Gareth was fully aware of the need for businesses to carry out best practice procedures to ensure they get a maximum return on their investment.

“We may have had a track record with Tootsies over five years but it makes sense for the new owners to have a look around and see what is available in the marketplace. We do it ourselves when we purchase from suppliers, so we would expect the same from a new team of directors who didn’t know us or what we could do. We would never purchase by reputation alone and wouldn’t expect our clients to do so either.”

“From our point of view, we were satisfied to be placed on the tender list so we could present our recommendations on how to upgrade the system in line with Tootsies exciting planned expansion programme,” said Gareth.

“Saying that, we were confident that we had the ability as a solution provider to understand and fully satisfy Tootsies requirements.”

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For Tootsies, the requirements meant maintaining control over a fast growing brand that will have developed to over 30 restaurants by the end of January 2006.

An ambitious new management team, headed by finance director Tim Woodcock, wanted to enhance the speed and scope of its POS system as it plans to roll-out Tootsies restaurants across the UK over the next five years.

Hence the tender process to scan the marketplace for other ideas and options.

Gareth and his team relished the challenge to provide Tootsies with such a platform, despite knowing past efforts would not unduly influence the directors’ final decision. However, their previous experience was an immense help in constructing their proposal.

“We are a niche POS company, specialising in the multi-site hospitality sector, with the flexibility to work quickly and efficiently. We also have a track record with corporate clients who need key business information fast. Names like Pizza Express, Coffee Republic and the Bagel Factory have benefited from our expertise as a solution provider, as has

“The more the business grows, the greater our need to have quick and easy access to every element of our operation.

That in essence was what we were after and the company that could give us that control at the right price would get the business.”

“At the same time, speed of installation and specialist knowledge of the hospitality industry were other key factors influencing the decision,” said Tim Woodcock, who after careful consideration re-selected IBS to upgrade the entire enterprise and POS management system for Tootsies.

Gareth and IBS team were delighted to win the six figure contract. As they expected, its recommendations were best suited to the requirements of a fast expanding restaurant enterprise. These included facilitating much faster communications and data transfer and the ability to expand and develop the system in the future to accommodate future technology advances.

“Like we do with all our clients, we listened to what Tim and his team wanted before developing a plan that would suit their requirements, now and in the future. Speed was of the essence as was the ability for senior managers and operational staff to access up-to-date information as and when they needed it,” said Gareth.

(Left) good project management is critical to the process (centre) Tootsies Basingstoke interior (right) quality food is essential to the Tootsies proposition.

IBS won the £200,000 Tootsies contract in a competitive tender

Service with a smile at the Trafford Centre, Manchester.

“Like we do with all our clients, we listened to what Tim and his team wanted before developing a plan that would suit their requirements, now and in the future.”

Gareth Powell

To achieve this each Tootsies restaurant has been fitted with extensive cabling for broadband-based fast data transfer. IBS supplied the latest DX890 Uniwell touchscreen terminals and back office computers together with its own StockLink back office and enterprise management software. IBS has installed extra points and capacity to enhance and build the system in the future to take into account anticipated technological advances.

The contract also highlighted IBS’ ability to work to tight deadlines.

To facilitate fast, cost effective data transfer, Tootsies now has greater immediate data management through the system’s internet push polling communications or browser-based options.

“We have remarkable retention rate amongst clients, although when we tendered for this business our track record with Tootsies counted for nothing.

It was a new management team led by Tim and they were after the most cost effective system that met their specifications for their future anticipated growth. We satisfied that criteria. And we would like to think we would do so, no matter who we are competing against,” commented Gareth.

“Our new IBS solution gives us key knowledge, with the end of day of journals automatically streamed across from each outlet with the option of real time information,” said Tootsies director, Tim Woodcock.

“One of the key elements of the installation was to ensure it was all in place within a month. This meant carrying out two installations per day, starting at 6am and finishing by 11am in order to minimise trade disruption to the business,” said IBS project manager, Justin Atkinson.

The new management team intends to roll-out the grill-based, 24-unit family restaurant chain across the UK over the next five years StockLink back office and enterprise management software has full FTP reporting tools for senior managers and operational staff, giving them up-to-date information whenever they want it IBS also supplied Uniwell touchscreens, back office pcs and specified and project managed the installation of the cabling for the broadband-based infrastructure

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“I’ve always instinctively liked the challenge of new business development.

Even when I worked for major corporate organisations, I’ve always enjoyed the entrepreneurial aspects the most.

So really it was always on the cards that I would probably start my own company some time. It was just a matter of when, where and exactly what I would be doing.

And as food has been a part of my professional background, it was always going to be something to do with catering.

Originally, the idea hit me when I was staying in Los Angeles on business. It suddenly struck me that there must be room for an upmarket fast food concept where customers can enjoy quality food served extremely quickly at great prices, a concept where I could marry all the benefits of a fast food outlet, except we’d be serving genuinely healthy food.

With these parameters certain styles of cuisine were obviously no go. Naturally, Indian and Mexican food would take too long to prepare for busy customers. However, Italian food, fresh Italian food, would not. And there, quick as a flash, was my concept.

And the name came at the same time as the idea. Fresh Italy. Describing exactly what we set out to do: serve fresh Italian food to discerning customers in either city centre London locations or at shopping centres within the M25 belt.

Exciting new fast food concept, Fresh Italy, has installed Intelligent Business Systems POS and enterprise management systems.

The fast food brand, which currently has two outlets in central London and at Lakeside Shopping Centre, Essex, is looking to expand its horizons.

Three new outlets are to be opened in the coming months as part of an on-going development plan

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As with every business venture, thinking of the idea was the easy part. Testing its potential before looking for serious investors was a little more difficult. I liked Italian food. I thought the British did too but I needed proof. It took three months to research the proposition, discover if there was a market for it beyond my gut instinct.

FAST FOOD GOES UPMARKET WITH FRESH ITALY Tom Allchurch, 42, gave up an immensely successful globe trotting marketing career with the likes of Unilever and Amazon.com to launch Fresh Italy, an exciting new upmarket fast food concept. Here Tom (left hand page) exclusively tells IMPACT why he did it – and how IBS played a crucial role in the development of the brand Once I had convinced myself of the feasibility it took another nine months to develop it and then appoint an experienced management team with a wealth of experience of upmarket fast food retailing.

During that time my kids – Ben, Hazel, Daniel and Zoe and wife Sue – ate really well as they became the self-nominated initial product testing team. We had hours of fun comparing homemade pasta and rice cooking versus the Fresh Italy option.

At first mine won then it levelled out – then we could not tell the difference.

Bingo. An idea fertilised in LA was ready to take shape in the UK. With a business plan drawn up and funding in place, we were ready to launch Fresh Italy. Our philosophy was to surround ourselves with the best in each specialist area, which is how I came into contact with IBS, who would play an integral role in the development of the concept.

Originally, I met IBS directors, Gareth and Dee Powell, at an exhibition. I was looking at my epos options. There were two choices. Pick one of the big boys who may or may not give me the service I needed.

Or pick a smaller established player whose ambitions matched ours. There was only one option and it was the latter as IBS ticked all the right boxes. An established player, still relatively young with the credentials of working with the large hospitality chains we wanted to emulate.

Since then my judgement has been proved right with Gareth and his team putting a lot of effort into what was always going to be a small first order. But

the great thing is that IBS understood what we wanted to achieve.

With the help of IBS, we have delivered a concept where speed is of the essence.

My idea was fresh food served fast. Which is exactly what we do, currently serving freshly cooked pasta and rice dishes cooked to order in less than two minutes.

I am impressed by the efforts of the team but want to get faster. It is the perfectionist in me and everyone else in the team.

It was clear that only by having the right technological platform would we be able to deliver our unique selling proposition. IBS designed and developed a new system for us, which is currently used for face to face sales in our city centre London or Lakeside Shopping Centre, Essex, stores. The system has been designed to also cater for distance buying via the internet with Fresh Italy marketing deliveries to the city of London for minimum orders of 15 or more people. That’s for the near future when we look to fine tune the concept.

For face to face sales, in-store customer orders are taken by staff and inputted to one of half a dozen Uniwell touchscreen POS terminals in each outlet.

Information is dispatched to a variety of label printers to identify and tag the delicious pots of freshly prepared food.

Data is also sent to a PC POS terminal to finalise, bag for collection or recall orders. It is easy to run, manage and train staff.

But retail is about showbiz too. To this end, IBS integrated our POS and enterprise management system with large eye-catching plasma screens. This enables customers to view orders taken, see average waiting

time per order and know when food is ready for collection. The screen is also used for advertising and disseminating information about daily specials and loyalty cards to Fresh Italy’s growing number of repeat customers.

As I said, retail is also entertainment and part of the fun of the concept is tracking orders. Customers can see the average time taken to prepare each freshly cooked meal on the big screen. It all adds to the dynamism of Fresh Italy that I first envisaged in LA. Months on from that initial great idea, we are attracting regular customers who visit three or four times a week. People like me who have fallen in love with our total commitment to Italian produce. People like me who appreciate that we only use Italian recipes and ingredients. All our oils, pastas and risotto rice are 100% Italian.

Only time will tell how good the idea is. It is a question I cannot answer, much as I’d love to! There is a vague ‘masterplan’ to take Fresh Italy to the rest of the UK but it is very much one step at a time, like getting the POS system spot on.

Now we need to make sure we get every other element right too. Then we’ll see where we go to next.

One thing is for certain, I am definitely enjoying the buzz of Fresh Italy almost as much as our customers love the food.”

StockLink for everyone, from the MD to bar staff!

Managed services manager, Neil Quinn, (right) is in the process of producing on-line demonstration modules for StockLink 5, the latest version of IBS’s best selling POS and enterprise management software specifically designed for multi-site hospitality businesses.

Here he explains what he intends to show and why.

StockLink is an enterprise management system designed and developed by IBS for multi-site hospitality chains from a dozen to literally hundreds of outlets There are three StockLink versions: standard, professional and enterprise All three are updated every quarter by the IBS software development team in response to an on-going customer-consultation programme Updates are free of charge to clients with customer service level agreements StockLink is currently available in the UK, Europe and the USA

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One of the first things we need to show with any demonstration module is how easy it is to use StockLink. That has always been one of the many key selling points as StockLink has been written from day one to be accessible to everyone involved in the hospitality industry, not just IT professionals.

When the software development team were looking at producing Version 5, its user friendly nature was front of mind. This has always been a consideration, even from the early days when we used dos.

Nowadays StockLink 5 is based around Microsoft Windows XP software. As the biggest software name bar none in the world, most people are familiar with Microsoft, either in the office or at home.

They will certainly feel comfortable with the drop down taskbars with newly designed icons to complement and enhance the look and feel of StockLink.

We’ve also introduced a whole series of ‘wizards’ to guide customers effortlessly through set-up tasks. This all reinforces the message that StockLink is extremely accessible. When we go live with the demo modules on our website, we’ll be looking to illustrate this for existing and new clients.

We will also be showing how the StockLink Enterprise version, targeted at multi-site hospitality chains, has many new features and functions designed to speed-up processes, including the previously mentioned all-new touchscreen drag and drop design module.

From customer feedback since the launch of Version 5, we are finding that they are impressed by the multi-level screens while they appreciate the fact that prices, condiments and cooking instructions are easily designed and deployed. This does not matter whether it is for individual sites, areas, regions, countries or multi companies, including franchises.

Again, as we want to make StockLink more accessible than ever before, we have extended the reporting capability so this can now be configured on-line for use by operations managers and remote workers.

And we’ve also extended the number of ‘League Tables’, which can also be sorted

and viewed by as many as 50 different column headings. We’ll be demonstrating this on-line too.

As well as ease of use, compatibility with other software is important. Version 5 now includes POS integration with the new Sharp ‘Venta Pro’ and ‘Revelation’ applications as well as ‘Aloha’, ‘ICR Touch’ and all Uniwell ROM based touchscreen terminals.

Of course, there is no need to wait for the demo versions of StockLink 5 to be launched on-line. We are more than happy to bring StockLink 5 to you.

One thing is guaranteed, whichever way you view Version 5, you, like all who have seen it so far, are going to be impressed.

A Scotsman’s Letter from America John Niasmith is a POS industry veteran who has worked in Scotland, London and Canada. Now he operates out of Atlanta, Georgia, in the USA, heading the IBS invasion of North America after a spell as President of Uniwell. Here he gives his impressions in his first Scotsman’s Letter from America.

One of the beauties of launching a new brand from a position of strength is being able to control the roll out.

With IBS and StockLink well established in the UK and Europe, there is not the same urgency to gain massive distribution that others have to face. During my 11 years on the continent, America has proved to be a fascinating, exciting place.

A huge internal economy is driven by immigrant workers wanting to succeed and feed the American dream.

Protected by the oceans, however, Americans are instinctively insular with an innate distrust of anything not born in the USA.

Q1: A1:

Q2: A2:

What is your day to day role at IBS? It is a mixed and varied role including sales, pre-and-post sale project management, hands on installation of hardware and software, systems training, systems trouble-shooting, systems support.

Anything that is necessary to ensure the smooth running of the client relationship.

And what projects stand out as major achievements?

Two spring to mind. Helping to complete the system sale to the BBC and working closely with their finance department to deliver the complete solution from POS to Integrated financial reporting. Also Drayton Manor Park was a major personal achievement as I projectmanaged the complete installation and implementation of 80 POS terminals, across 30 locations in one of the country’s leading theme park attractions within a tight threemonth time schedule. Hard work but lots of fun.

To succeed here, we have therefore decided to focus on the top end of the market, targeting quality resellers, who can bring something extra to the party, and sophisticated end users, like our latest account gain, Smoothie King, a massive franchised health food store chain with over 360 outlets from coast to coast, from border to border.

It is great to have Smoothie King on board as one of our flagship clients as it is a typical American success story. Founder Steve Kuhnau started the company back in the seventies to combat his own allergies. Since then he has seen it mushroom as spiralling demand for healthier lifestyles has encouraged sales of health drinks, vitamins and supplements.

We’ve spent 12 months working closely with the people at Smoothie King, ensuring we successfully allayed any doubts they may have had about using a product that originated outside of the USA. To this end we adapted the front end of StockLink to suit the specific demands of America where even a simple matter of ordering a salad can take five minutes.

And I am being serious. In the UK, you have two options with your salad. Here you get 20! It is a much more comprehensive purchasing process.

Q3: A3:

Q4: A4:

Q5: A5:

Q6: A6:

What makes IBS stand out from the crowd?

Our ability to understand the exact requirements of the customer and to deliver the complete solution And how is this reflected in your own approach?

I treat each project individually, listening to the customer’s requirements, agreeing a format and managing the project with flexibility and continually looking to give complete customer satisfaction.

And does it always run smoothly?

Not always. Many years ago I was running data cable in the ceiling of Claridges Hotel in central London.

While crawling on my hands and knees, I accidentally leaned on a speaker fitted in the ceiling tiles and it crashed to the floor falling in the middle of the restaurant. Fortunately nobody was hurt, or had a camera!

And the future?

Carry on the good work. These are exciting times at IBS and it is great to be a part of what’s happening.

(Top) Popular in Denver and at over 350 other locations across the USA (bottom) another satisfied customer is all smiles.

Richard Leveille and his IT team at Smoothie’s head office in New Orleans have been impressed by what they have seen and have given us the thumbs up to roll out.

Our challenge over the coming months is to ensure the installations are as smooth as one of the high protein drinks Steve Kuhnau devised – and let the rest of the American hospitality industry know about us too. I’ll keep you posted in my next Letter from America.

IBS Profile…

Name: Age: Job title: Status: Children:

Mark Bagnall 36 Senior project manager Married to wife Liza Two children, Matthew age 3 and Holly age 6

Special Interests:

Cycling, fishing and following Aston Villa FC (for my sins).

Ambition: To go marlin fishing in South Australia Fav song: U2, With Or Without You. Fav film: The Life of Brian (Monty Python) Fav country: Australia

11

FAT CAT

café bar

john lewis

We’re definitely their cup of tea.

And we could be yours too!

Intelligent Business Systems provides POS and enterprise management for multi-site hospitality businesses in the UK, Europe and in the USA. We do it for the likes of Pizza Express, BBC, Coffee Republic, Fresh Italy, Peach Pub Co, Fat Café Bar, Geronimo Inns, Tootsies and John Lewis. And we can do it for you as well.

Intelligent Business Systems, St James Rd, Brackley, Northants, NN13 7XY Tel 01280 709 400 Fax 01280 704 315

Call 01280 709 400 email: justmycupoftea@ibs-systems.co.uk or visit www.ibs-systems.co.uk