Real World Results Using GoTab - Stone Brewing Shares Their Story
On Wednesday, August 12, GoTab’s Tim McLaughlin co-presented with Gregg Frazier, VP of Hospitality at Stone Brewing. Gregg is a hospitality rock star. His background in large-scale restaurants is beyond impressive. It was great to hear this candid talk about their real world results using GoTab. Gregg answered the question on everyone’s minds about contactless ordering and payment:
How do you remove the order taking interaction with the server and still have a great guest experience?
A New Model with New Steps to Service
While they are not easy, the new steps to service Gregg describes are simple.
- “One Team, One Dream”: We love this quote from Gregg. It’s about making sure every staff member is equally invested in guest satisfaction. Tactics like tip-pooling can help.
- Change front-of-house roles: Now, staff need to make a great first impression and make sure everyone understands how to order. Stone trains a lot on this.
- Increase the right interactions: Now that the guests place their own orders, increase table touches and do things like pre-bussing tables.
- Use features like GoTab’s text feature: Stone lets guests communicate directly through by text. Team members are expected to respond in less than a minute.
- Don’t forget to focus on a great farewell. Even though guests can leave when they are ready, don’t forget to make a good impression until the very end.
Common Large-Scale Restaurant Challenges Pre-Covid
Before COVID, Stone had the common challenges shared by large-scale operators. They are a very large format. For example at Escondido, they have over 70,000 square feet and 700 seats. Stone turned to GoTab to answer:
- How do you staff a large-scale restaurant with hosts, food runners, and servers without breaking the bank?
- Will guests order themselves, or will they reject such a big change?
- How can we increase check sizes without adding staff?
New Challenges with COVID
When COVID hit, Stone was faced with new challenges:
- How to sustain operations with such a steep decline in sales volume?
- Can you still give guests a good experience with 50 percent less staff?
View the recording to hear Gregg’s thoughts on:How to romance the food, the beer, the wine, in a digital environment? For several months, Stone was all digital. They took some smart steps you’ll want to see.
- How are different age groups reacting to contactless ordering? It’s probably not what you think.
- What happens if wifi goes down? There’s an easy answer here that Tim talks about.
Gregg and Tim answer these questions and a lot more.
Get the webinar recording on the Restaurants Rise Resource Center.
Download the Real World Success with GoTab - Stone Brewing Case Study presentation.
About Gregg Frazer
Gregg was responsible for launching the Impossible Burger at Umami, making them the first multi unit operator in the US to carry the Impossible Burger.
Frazer joined Umami Burger from VooDoo BBQ, where he oversaw the entire operation for the company’s corporate stores and franchise locations as the Chief Operating Officer and Corporate Chef. A long established industry veteran, Frazer’s long career as a chef and restaurant executive has taken him from fine dining establishments such as Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia, to the Four Seasons resorts in West Palm Beach, Florida and Sydney, Australia.
Frazer holds a culinary degree from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and an MBA from National University in La Jolla, California.
About Stone Brewing
Stone Brewing has come a long way since opening in 1996. We have grown from a small microbrewery into one of the largest craft breweries in the United States, employing more than 1,100 amazing women and men. From the beginning, our goal has been to brew outstanding, unique beers while maintaining an unwavering commitment to sustainability, business ethics, and the art of brewing.
About Tim McLaughlin
An experienced executive and board member, McLaughlin led Siteworx, Inc., a mid-sized digital experience agency with clients including PayPal, Goldman Sachs, VeriSign, Bain & Co., and Thermo Fisher Scientific, to a successful PE exit in 2012. Subsequent to Siteworx, Tim co-founded and operated Caboose Brewing Co., an upscale brewery and farm-to-table concept based in Fairfax, Virginia. Many of GoTab’s most important features were incubated at Caboose.
About GoTab
GoTab, Inc., the contactless order and payment platform, helps large & mid-sized restaurants, breweries, bars, hotels and other venues optimize their front-of-house service models using low-cost, agile technology. Patrons scan a QR code directly from their mobile phones, order items via online menus, and pay securely, all without downloading an application or interacting with a server. Founded in 2016 and based in Arlington, Virginia, GoTab serves hundreds of national, regional and local full-service accounts in almost 30 U.S. states. Learn more contact us.