Pancakes on the Rocks: Our Journey with Triniteq & me&u

In this insightful conversation, Nelson Tromp, General Manager of Pancakes on the Rocks, a Sydney institution, and now with multiple locations across NSW and QLD, shares how Triniteq's PowerEPOS, integrated with me&u, has transformed their operations, enhancing both efficiency and customer satisfaction. 

From the accelerated pace of service to the increased spend per customer, Nelson talks about the tangible benefits they've experienced since moving to PowerEPOS and integrating digital ordering through me&u into their restaurant model.

>> Watch the video or read the interview below.

What benefits have you experienced since the move to PowerEPOS and me&u? 

Nelson: The speed of service is increased, customers can now order a lot faster, and they order a lot more. Our average spend has increased quite a lot. Customers don't have to wait for a staff member to come past. If they want to order something else they can order as soon as they want, when they want it. So, from an operational point of view, it's been great and from a customer satisfaction point of view it's been really good too. We're very happy with it.

Hi, I'm Nelson Tromp, General Manager of Pancakes on the Rocks. Our main restaurant is in The Rocks in the center of Sydney, and we have four other locations across New South Wales and Queensland.

Why did you move to PowerEPOS and me&u?

Nelson: Initially, it was because we couldn't find staff straight out of COVID,  and we had customers wanting to come back in, but we had no staff to serve them. So, the staff were quite frustrated that they couldn't serve everyone. We had lines at the door, we just simply couldn't serve them.

So we incorporated digital ordering to help us serve the customers and we kept it, because now we've put our staff back on, we're back to the old staffing levels that we had before, and now the customers feel more at ease with it.

There's a lot of customers that don't want to use the old style of ordering, talking to a staff member, for all sorts of reasons. Some people are quite anxious, they feel more comfortable ordering with the machine, they can order at their own pace. Some people can't communicate because of language barriers. So the QR codes have been fantastic for that.

Why did you choose me&u over other options?

Nelson: I think it was just the relationship we had with the team. When they first started talking to us about our fears about what would happen, we wanted to make sure we kept our old style values, that it wasn't just being taken over by technology. That it didn't take away the interactions. And they put us at ease. And everything they said to us in terms of the reaction from the customer came true. And we were really happy because we're quite skeptical. And it's been fantastic for us.

We've been around a long time and we know our business really well. We didn't want to buy something that someone was telling us we needed. We want to tell people what we needed, and have them come to the party for us. That's exactly what we've had with me&u and Triniteq.

Why switch from Triniteq's WaiterPOS to PowerEPOS?

Nelson: It's made things a lot easier to look at, from the back end to see what our business really is. Apart from just anecdotally saying, oh, look, we sold all of this or we did a lot of that. Now we can actually drill down into it. So it's saved us a lot of time and given us information that is very helpful, for not just working out what happened, but helping us plan what could happen into the future.

The transition was minor, a lot of the staff wouldn't have noticed that there was much difference from their end, but from the back end, it's much better. A lot more detail, easier to navigate through the different parts of information, and more information. So we're happy.

Have you seen a change in customer spending habits?

Nelson: We've noticed there's been some changes since the QR code and PowerEPOS has come in. We can see customers are ordering a lot more of the luxury sort of items, the extras. Extra ice cream, extra sour cream, things that we weren't expecting because they weren't getting the same kind of contact with our staff, or the ease and the comfortability of ordering. So that's changed. A lot of what we're offering to customers as evolved because of that. So it's been very, very helpful.

How have your staff reacted to the change?

Nelson: Initially, we thought staff wouldn't like it very much, because they saw it as something that was going to take away their job. But it hasn't at all. Staff have more time to give them advice on the menu rather than doing the mundane writing down the order part, which is the part that I don't think anyone in the service industry enjoys that part of the job.

But the interaction with customers, that's what they love. That's why they get into hospitality. And that's allowed us to do that now, to focus on that part of it, and to take away the boring part of the job.

Advice to anyone thinking of using Triniteq's PowerEPOS & me&u?

Nelson: I think anyone who is looking at doing it, just ring up the guys, send an email, have a meeting and discuss it. Because we were quite skeptical to start with, we've been around a long time and we know our business really well. We didn't want to buy something that someone was telling us what we needed. We want to tell people what we needed, and have them come to the party for us. That's exactly what we've had with me&u and Triniteq. They've worked on changing their product to suit exactly what we need.

So we had some conversations. It was very easy. They understood all of our fears about changing. And things being new and hard to understand, weren't an issue at all. It was very smooth. Should have done it earlier. Yeah. So my first advice would be just do it now. Don't wait. Don't wait for the end of this video. Do it now. Once you've done it, you'll be so happy you did it. Yeah.

If you're seeking a high-quality, Australian-made and supported Point of Sale solution for your hospitality or retail business, look no further than Triniteq. Our innovative technologies are designed to simplify your operations, enhance your customer experience, and make you more money. Discover our range of products and services today.

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