More Craft Breweries Sign On With GoTab
restaurant commerce platform GoTab further expands its presence across the craft beer industry with the addition of Other Half Brewing Company (Philadelphia, PA), Resident Culture Brewing Company (Charlotte, NC), Bier Station (Kansas City, MO) and Maui Brewing Company (Hawaii).
With deep roots in the beer world, some of GoTab’s key features were incubated at Virginia-based microbrewery, Caboose Brewing Co., co-founded by GoTab CEO Tim McLaughlin. Started as a contactless ordering payment web service in 2016, GoTab deployed QR code ordering capabilities before the pandemic to help breweries eliminate long lines and improve service at crowded bars, operate large spaces with limited staff, turn tables faster, raise check averages, and ultimately raise revenue.
Easy Ordering = More Sales
At Resident Culture Brewing Company, the team recently adopted the GoTab POS at its new South End location, streamlining the ordering process and empowering guests to place their food and drink orders and pay via their own mobile device. The result was a 15% increase in the average tab, prompting Resident Culture to implement GoTab at their original Plaza Midwood location immediately.
“Since we’ve been using GoTab at our South End location, we can tell sales are increasing just by virtue of it being easier to order a drink,” said Resident Culture Co-Founder Philip McLamb . “It’s very clear to us that if we didn’t have the QR code ordering capability and didn’t have the logistics around getting food and drinks to people’s tables, it would be physically impossible to handle the volume we are doing. For our customers, it’s a light bulb moment when they realize: wait, I can order a drink, have it brought to me, and close my tab whenever I want to,” he added.
Resident Culture also takes advantage of GoTab’s in-depth sales tracking, which allows breweries to track and compare sales in specific areas at any specific time of the day. GoTab also worked closely with Resident Culture to learn and understand each location’s workflow in order to customize the layout of their GoTab POS.
In Hawaii and with four locations spread out across Maui and Oahu, Maui Brewing Co. turned to GoTab to re-imagine its operations throughout the pandemic. “When we looked at our operating environment, we recognized technology would have to play a huge role in our new operational model,” said Maui Brewing Co. General Manager and Partner Tony Ren. Having tried out various heritage POS models, they realized that a cloud-based system like GoTab provided the flexibility they needed to seamlessly transition from a table-service model to a full counter-service model. GoTab’s exceptional customer service and willingness to adapt to the brewery’s needs sealed the deal. “A lot of other vendors just said, ‘Well, this is our platform and what we can offer for a majority of our clients, so you either fit into this box or you don’t,’” said Ren. “We really liked that GoTab had the ability to grow with us, to change and bend themselves to service our needs and grow with us.”
Currently, Maui Brewing is using GoTab at its Kihei location, the brewery’s flagship location on Maui. They plan to fully implement it at its Oahu restaurant and taprooms in Waikiki and Kailua starting in early May. “What we have seen so far is an increase in guest satisfaction,” says Ren. “The fact that someone can get a drink at their table without waiting in line each and every time has been a huge bonus. It has certainly helped us re-establish ourselves as the community brewery we have always been.”
GoTab was designed to help breweries deliver the highest quality guest experience, giving guests the freedom and independence to choose how they want to order and pay. Its online ordering system significantly lowers labor costs to help improve profitability. Innovative menu management features allow breweries to customize and update digital menu displays in real time, and support full e-commerce capabilities. Guests browse branded, customized beer menus and submit orders from their device, with no mobile app downloads required. For breweries operating with food trucks, GoTab’s cashless system makes it easy for them to serve guests safely and efficiently. Find out more about GoTab’s capabilities for breweries, check out the latest case studies/