Action stations at the Rose & Crown

Pub: The Rose & Crown, Selling, Kent​

Landlords: Tim Robinson & Vanessa Grove​

Technology: 2 x J2 520 touchscreen tills with standard cash drawers​

2 x Epson TM-T88IV printers, 1 x Epson TM-U230E printer​

Mission software​

Anyone asked to describe a traditional English country pub would sum up the Rose & Crown to a tee. This 16th century Grade II-listed building comes complete with beams, open fires, a warm welcome and great food and drink, and is located in an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Three years ago, the Rose & Crown acquired new owners, Tim Robinson and Vanessa Grove. The couple has taken care to preserve all that was good about the pub but has brought to it its own ethics and approach to life. The result is an award-winning, 'green' pub that is perfectly in harmony with its surroundings and gives more than a nod to 'eco' values.

Situated in a hamlet of only 7 cottages, the Rose & Crown has to earn its reputation and build a loyal customer base. Tim comes from a retail background and is not one for resting on his laurels. "In retail, if you don't move forward, you move backwards. The pub trade is no different. We have to make our pub better and better so that customers will come to us."

In common with the other sponsored pubs, the Rose & Crown's only 'technology' was a cash register. "It was one step up from the Arkwright," jokes Tim. "As far as reporting was concerned, we could split out food and drink but couldn't analyse how much of a particular product we'd sold. Now I can confirm what could only be guesswork before."

System installation went well, albeit thought had to be given to doing this in the least invasive way. Care was taken inside and outside the building to preserve its listed status and appearance. This included colour-matching cables on exterior walls. The screens and printers sit behind the counter and "are compact, modern and black. They fit in very well here."

Tim would have welcomed more time on training but quickly acquired the basics as he already had a familiarity with EPoS from his retail days. "It's very straightforward to use." Reliability has been good, with no technical issues or downtime to report.

Tim finds the new system particularly valuable for taking orders. "In the past, orders were handwritten and walked through to kitchen staff who had to decipher what you'd written. Now, orders are taken at the till point and sent automatically to the kitchen, so we can get on with serving the next customer."

This process eliminates queries and mistakes and is time-efficient. "There's less misinterpretation, and we spend less time away from the bar." The process is also very simple.

Returning to the issue of analysis, Tim admits he needs to do more work to get everything he wants from the system but is already able to work from hard facts rather than impressions. "Because I can now look at the worst performers on my menu, when I composed my new winter menu I could build on what I know is successful."

System speed has come as something of a surprise. Explains Tim: "When we're taking food orders, the transaction is faster, but when we're taking bar orders, it's slower. That's because we have more levels of selection to go through. If we're busy with drinkers, it can be frustrating. If we're busy with eaters, it's a godsend."

Tim continues to balance the tills on a daily basis, but has noticed a reduction in mistakes that has contributed to a welcome improvement in gross profit margins over the past 2 months. "Thanks to the till system, things are now being entered as they should. This, in conjunction with a revamped menu, has increased our margins on food."

The stocktaking element of the new system is currently causing Tim some frustration. He's been used to logging stock take information against a different date and finds it hard to stock take at the end of an evening and have to enter the data there and then.

"I find this a drawback and hope it can be made more flexible."

As for thoughts about the future, Tim is planning to re-site the tills on the bar so he can face his customers. He'll also be working with Mission to resolve issues of speed around drinks orders.

His next major step technology-wise is to consider using hand-held terminals, hooked into the main system, in his large garden area. "We have 162 covers outside and we're losing trade here. If we could go outside to take orders, we'd relieve pressure off the bar, know when items are running low and could increase spend."