Success Story

POS System Change Enables Stoney's Bar and Grill to Boost Sales and Cut Labor Cost during Peak Business Times

In August 2017, partners Stoney Jesseph and Will Trautman of Stoney's Bar and Grill in Denver, CO. switched from an integrated restaurant management software to the cloud-based Toast. Jesseph calls it a "very good decision for us. We are 18,000 square feet and labor is not getting any cheaper."

The co-owners also went to using all tablets and doubled the number of their bar terminals. "This made us much more efficient when we were packed, and gave our servers the opportunity to take more tables," Jesseph explains. Cloud-based systems "theoretically do not break down, so we were never losing sales anymore while we were rebooting something with the back server. We are very pleased with this decision.

The partners' goal is always to reduce labor in a store as big as ours, Jesseph explains. The tablets let us run a busy shift with one to three fewer servers." Adding the terminals behind the bars also let staffers serve more guests when the restaurant is cranking.

The decision to use tablets was, he feels, a no-brainer. The time lost to writing an order down, moving to another table, then going to a computer to punch an order is long gone. Management first became aware of this issue when they were watching both servers and bartenders struggle with managing too many guests in their sections. Over the last two years, Jesseph recalls, "it became apparent that this system was not efficient, and that we needed to find a better solution."

Jesseph is convinced that in the beginning, some operators fear losing that personal touch. It is not a fear that he shares. "I'm not sure that's exactly the world we live in anymore. We are a full-service restaurant, and we don't want to change that. But I'm sure that servers need to spend as much time with the guest as they used to. I have a theory that some Millennial types grew up on fast casual, and the whole dining experience doesn't mean as much as it used to. You do not miss something you didn't grow up with."

By taking advantage of the resources found on RestaurantOwner.com, Jesseph continues, he was able to research a variety of articles on cloud-based systems, which ultimately helped him and his partner make their final decision. It proved to be a wise one.

"As I said earlier, we are able to run with fewer servers," Jesseph says. "The tablets make order-taking faster. Having more terminals allows servers and the bar to punch orders without waiting, and the cloud-based system doesn't have a server that can break down."

Experienced restaurant operators know and can appreciate the magnitude of what is involved. As Jesseph explains, "When we are busy we hold 800 people. We are seeing higher sales numbers during these times than we ever have before. I think the quality of the servers' and bartenders' lives have improved, as well. They are able to serve guests faster and in return make more tips."