The Bar Neyland

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: The Bar Neyland.

For hospitality professional, Graham Evans, autumn 2004 was the defining moment when he put to good use the years of experience gained in pubs and restaurants in Oxford and London, and achieved his ambition of running his own business.  From his home base in Pembrokeshire, he looked for premises nearby and good fortune led him to one of Wales most beautiful waterside locations. 

The rest, as they say, is history and today Graham runs the successful, food-led pub and 46-seater restaurant that is The Bar Neyland.  Situated on a 600-berth marina in a harbour larger than Milford Haven, The Bar has an enviable position.  This, combined with Grahams policy of serving quality food, sourced locally, makes the establishment a hit not only with the boating fraternity but also with discerning local diners. 

When it comes to technology, Graham looks for the same quality and creativity that he builds into his menus, so it comes as no surprise that he runs The Bar with a state-of-the-art system from Haven Systems that includes J2s biometric EPoS technology.

The new system gives me much greater control.  At any time and from anywhere, I get a real-time view of business as it is being transacted and I know that my till operations are completely secure.  Graham Evans, owner of The Bar Neyland

The Solution

Graham Evans started with a clean slate and went to market to source an EPoS system.  He recognised that the quality of software and support being proposed to him by local touchscreen specialist, Haven Systems, would equip his young business with the sophistication enjoyed by larger establishments.

The system provides all the point-of-service functionality needed to take orders and to relay them to kitchen staff, and to process both cash and cashless transactions.  It also provides management and financial reporting, time & attendance analysis, and stock control.  When it came to hardware, Haven turned to its partner, J2 Retail Systems, and installed the companys latest PC-based touchscreen.

Latest developments
For the first 3 years of The Bars life, this has been a functionally-rich and reliable marriage of hardware and software.  Then, six months ago, the opportunity came to make a quantum leap.  J2 launched an innovation that has enabled The Bars J2 560 EPoS unit to be upgraded to support biometric, fingerprint recognition technology.

Graham immediately saw the operational benefits for his business, in terms of security and better management of staff and till processes.  He grasped the chance to install this new technology and is delighted with the results.

Benefits
*The system produces reliable time and attendance reporting
*System security is bomb-proof and highlights identity theft or spurious transactions
*Log-on processes are even faster and the system is easy to use
*The system gives a contemporary look to the bar area and the business enjoys the kudos of using state-of-the art equipment
*Both morale and healthy competition between staff have been boosted as ownership of each sale is now uncontested
*The system has performed faultlessly since installation

The Process
The new biometric technology is an inbuilt function of the J2 560 and integrates fully with its mainstream point-of-sale processes.  At the same time, The Bars CCTV camera network, built by local business Bespokecctv.com, has been linked to the EPoS.  In this way, the J2 560 has become the hub of a system that makes the business accountable, transparent, and secure.

Staff now log on and clock off using the J2s fingerprint recognition so this has become the time & attendance recording system.  After every sale, staff log on to the system via the biometric reader to ensure that an accurate data tag is assigned to each transaction in the audit trail.  The result is fault-free analysis with no room for fraud.

Additional sophistication has been added to the EPoS system by integrating it with the companys security cameras so that each transaction is superimposed on the CCTV screen.  This combination of biometrics and CCTV is foolproof and means that Graham always knows whats being sold and by whom.

The Results
Not only can the business report accurately on staff hours worked but also all risk of identity theft or inaccurate transactions is removed.  Hourly reporting on till transactions leads to absolute security and voids and refunds are available for analysis.

I can view item transactions, transactions by employee, refunds and voids.  On my nights off, I can be totally confident.  I use remote broadband access from home and see all the cameras live and view all my till transactions and my reports.  I can do this from anywhere in the world.  Its fantastic!  For a bar or restaurant owner, its an unbeatable business tool, explains Graham.

The system has performed faultlessly since installation.  Concerns about the speed of biometric sign-on have proved to be unfounded, with staff finding it faster to log on via fingerprint recognition than to use pin numbers.  Staff morale has also been boosted as everyone knows that they have ownership of their sales.  No one can enter a sale against another persons name, theres no swapping of key cards, so any fear of fraud or financial misdemeanour is eliminated.

As we can see staff doing transactions, it removes the temptation not to charge friends for drinks. This is especially useful when we use agency staff.  I know that I have a totally secure setup and my staff feel protected and motivated by the transparency and accountability of the new system.