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Multi-site and multi-concept: creating ecosystems for Mikhail Group
Mikhail Hotel & Leisure Group brings together the best of hospitality under one company. With 13 sites, from classic gaming reimagined at Arcains, to traditional-turned-modern pub and brewery at The Brewery Tap, this group has a venue for every F&B preference.
The Challenges Expanding rapidly to 13 different sites with multiple F&B concepts brings a litany of challenges, even for the most experienced hospitality operator. Mikhail Group took an unusual business route in operating hotels, pubs, and competitive socialising venues all under one company, yet this choice drove their expansions and continued growth. However, their rapid expansion meant their tech stacks were an afterthought, resulting in a mismatched network of systems and a significant lack of connectivity and communication. The teams didn’t have the integrations or technology needed to sustain their growth. Geoff Wareham, Commercial Director of Mikhail Hotels and Leisure Group, explains their problems with their old tech stack: “The challenge around multiple sites and different venues was the growing pains from going from one venue to ten venues very quickly. We had different systems in different venues. For example, different booking systems, different payment processes. It was all jumbled up together. After ten venues, we decided to pause and standardise what we’re doing across every single venue.” The teams’ workloads were impacted due to this. He explains: “In my role as a Commercial Director and overseeing the accounts department, it caused absolute chaos and additional work for us. Not having integrations in place, having to log into different pieces of software to get different sales from one of the venues to a different software for another venue.”
Why Tevalis? With 10 sites under the group, the team had to pause on the growth efforts and refit their tech stack retrospectively. This was a massive undertaking with the variety of business models and multiple sites: Mikhail Group recognised that their technology needs were complex. Each venue would need its own nuances and particular integrations, with overarching systems that unify the group and provide consistent performance and operational data. Geoff describes their process in researching a new EPOS partner: “We reviewed about 4 or 5 different EPOS providers in the market. We knew they had to be of a certain standard because of the complexities that we required within our group, and it became clear quickly during that process that Tevalis were going to be the best choice for us.” Having the integration capabilities as well as one centralised system for detailed reporting was essential for Mikhail Group. The new technology solutions needed to be bespoke and ensure the group’s continued growth. “Tevalis is a system that I could log into and see everything that’s going on within our estate at the click of a mouse. Whether that’s sales data, stock data, reporting discounts, voids: having that centralised system to be able to view the whole company is fantastic for us,” explains Geoff. He goes on to describe their integration requirements: “There’s no doubt that in the modern world of online hospitality, you have to have multiple integrations with multiple different providers, other software providers, payment processors, PMS, the list is endless.” “So we approached Tevalis: I need this, this, this integration. They just went, yeah, got that, got that, got that. And that was the starting point. We can now develop our model slightly differently because of what Tevalis already have in place.”