Case Study: The Brewery

No wine-ing about ordering at The Brewery since launch of Preoday service

The Brewery is a premier event and fine dining venue in the City of London. Since September 2017 it has been using Preoday’s ordering technology platform to manage pre-ordering for corporate and private events at the venue.

Challenge

No stranger to pre-ordering, The Brewery has long since recognised the need for a solution to manage and streamline the long and complicated ordering process associated with event organisation.

Before September, the venue had a system in place, but found it both labour intensive and prone to human error. It’s because of this that it wanted to move to an online ordering technology service, one that paired better with its first-class on-site service offering.

Over Summer 2017, armed with a list of requirements, it set out to find the perfect tool for the job.

Those requirements included the need to offer live updates. With a menu that changes regularly and the potential for items to run out during an event, it was essential that the team had access to an online menu which could be updated in real-time as required. Additionally, due to it running a number of private events throughout the year, The Brewery sought a way of creating secure codes that would allow clients privacy when ordering.

Of course, above and beyond everything else, it needed to improve the Brewery’s operational efficiencies, allowing the right people access to event ordering information, and keeping that information accurate and up-to-date.

Implementation

Before selecting Preoday, The Brewery team spent time researching the market and exploring which ordering technology products best covered their specifications. Already fulfilling most of them, Preoday was willing and able to adapt its technology platform to meet others, for example, adding a new feature that enabled the use of discrete event codes rather than names.

Implementation was easy, and since the service was introduced, feedback has been positive. The team has also enjoyed their relationship with the Preoday and comment that they “are always at the end of the phone, ready to answer any questions”.

Results

It is also rapidly collecting ordering data with the intention of applying identified trends to future event decisions, including stock control. Once they have a year of data, the team is excited to improve the sophistication of their trend forecasting.

Already The Brewery has used data gathered by the Preoday platform to gauge the popularity of new, limited edition or seasonal items. This has allowed it to try out new products before committing them to menus permanently. It has also started to increase its pre-ordered food offering and is exploring different drinks packages for various stages of the evening.

Beyond menu and stock management, Preoday has had a marked impact on productivity at The Brewery; the time saved has been the equivalent to the input by two staff members under the old system. It’s an outcome the team is, naturally, excited by.

Future

The Brewery understands that its clients want to put as much content into their events as possible. Being able to offer them a technology which means less time on ordering admin and more time engaging with the core purpose of the event, is priceless. It equally helps the team to sell the right product for the right event, for example, pairing the perfect wines with a client’s chosen menu.

The Brewery’s next step will be the addition of a table ordering service. It intends to let clients order via the Preoday app direct from their seat. Bar staff will be able to serve in-event orders, quickly without any fuss, removing any need for attendees to queue at the bar. The team sees it as the perfect solution for awards ceremonies where keeping disturbances to a minimum is essential.

In their words

“We were looking for a system that worked for us and our unique needs, in Preoday we’ve found that. Stock control has benefitted, we know our most successful wines at a glance and we have the extra time we need to give clients the exemplary customer service they deserve and expect. The team and the ordering technology are proving to be the perfect pairing for us.”