With an immediate need to update and standardize its point-of-sale systems across 30 restaurants plus event venues and other partners, and enable corporate to self-manage and maintain all systems, Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality (O&B) has transitioned to Silverware POS.

Trusted by the most notable brands around the globe, Silverware develops enterprise point-of-sale solutions for large venue operations and deploys systems to meet the needs of multi-revenue operations with restaurants, bars, lounges, roomservice, banquet, and retail facilities. O&B is recognized as one of Canada’s leading restaurant and event groups with locations in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and beyond. The company credits its success to developing a strong corporate culture where food quality and service are valued above all else and leave lasting, positive impressions on every guest through our intelligent, enthusiastic and emotional service.

“The demands of today’s diners are changing,” said Charlotte Newbury, Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality associate director of business operations. “At high-end restaurants, people expect personalized service with a great view and a one-of-a-kind culinary adventure. At more casual places, diners may prefer to be more interactive or self-serving with their experiences. Time is precious, and therefore they do not want to wait on service associates to pay their bills; a scan, pay and leave scenario more aptly fits their lifestyles. To support this mix – dictated by the market and the concept – we needed a point-of-sale solution that did it all. It needed to be user friendly and give us access to the back end so we could manage and maintain it on our own. Silverware has the flexibility to do all that and much more.”

A key criteria for O&B was finding a POS platform that drives efficiency. The goal of the new system was to get food out faster and send orders to the kitchen in clear, concise ways without lag time. The company also wanted a solution that its employees would be eager to engage with since most of the wait staff are young and comfortable adopting new technology. Silverware was purpose built to drive efficiency, improve profitability, and enhance every aspect of the dining experience.

“When onboarding new employees or bringing a restaurant online with Silverware, everyone is amazed at the user friendliness of the system,” Newbury said. “Most servers think ‘you’ve seen one POS, you’ve seen them all,’ but that is not the case. Our staff consistently tell us they can’t believe how intuitive Silverware is. Anything and everything you can possibly think of is already built in. Our people say they especially like the fact that pricing levels change automatically; when lunch is over and Happy Hour begins, price changes don’t have to be input manually. Whenever Silverware asks if we would like to pilot new features, we jump at the chance to provide insight.”

Users can be trained on Silverware in about 45 minutes, Newbury said. Immediately following training, O&B’s associates are comfortable using it. That means the company doesn’t have to spend a lot of time or money on training and retraining. And because all back-end programming is done internally, their team can step in and troubleshoot if needed. In fact, 16 employees oversee, manage, and provide back-end programming to Silverware across the vast foodservice enterprise. Newbury said her department was created specifically to do most of the heavy lifting for all point-of-sale systems companywide.

“The bottom line is Silverware simplifies our operations, and their support is outstanding,” Newbury said. “Should we need additional assistance with something that we can’t handle internally, we can always reach someone at the Help Desk 24/7. Silverware’s account managers are extremely accessible and receptive. More importantly, they’re honest; they will let us know if they can or cannot do something. There is never a delay in response. It’s great knowing that if we need them, Silverware is standing by to assist.”

One of the newer features of Silverware being leveraged by O&B is GuestX for online ordering. The GuestX platform enables diners to seamlessly place orders and pay through their mobile phone by credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. It’s fully customizable to match each restaurants’ branding and ensure a consistent experience for diners whether they eat in or order out. For a company with multiple platforms such as O&B, maintaining consistency is vital.

“O&B is committed to quality, growth, and technology,” Newbury said. “We are always looking for efficiencies while staying cutting edge. If we can do that, it will extend to the guest experience and make it the best it can be.

“The future is bright,” she added. “We have about six new restaurants coming online in 2024, plus a large food hall project this Spring with 16 food stalls. Silverware will be by our side every step of the way and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

For more information on Silverware POS, visit www.silverwarepos.com.

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