J2 and Vista provide leading-edge EPoS to Everyman Cinema Club

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: J2 and Vista provide leading-edge EPoS to Everyman Cinema Club.

Specialist manufacturer of PC-based touchscreens, LCD touchscreen monitors and point-of-sale hardware to the retail, hospitality and leisure industries, J2 Retail Systems, has revealed that it is the EPoS technology supplier for Everyman Cinema Club, together with its software partner, Vista Entertainment Solutions.

In 2000, young entrepreneur Daniel Broch purchased a failing cinema, the Everyman in Londons Hampstead.  Mindful that success in the cinema business is largely about scale, his vision was to create a very different network of venues that would turn cinema-going on its head and become the jewel in the crown of his Everyman Media Group.

The concept is based upon creating an appealing and luxurious environment, then adding in events such as live opera via satellite from the New York Met or a Q & A session with the director of a film being shown.  Comfy armchairs and footstools add to the relaxing viewing experience and are complemented by the ECCs bespoke range of food wine and beer which, in Hampstead, is waiter-served at small seat-side tables.  

Starting with Everyman Hampstead, each acquired cinema came either without computer equipment or with standard desktop machines only.   IT Manager, Jesper Larsen, went out on the market to source a brand new EPoS solution.  To support its concept of exceptional service in a stimulating environment, Everyman was looking for technology that would look good and deliver both high performance and value for money.   

Its eventual choice of software supplier was Vista Entertainment Solutions, a producer of ticketing and concessions software for the cinema industry worldwide.  As part of its solution, Vista then recommended J2 as its preferred hardware partner. 

Our chosen equipment had to be reliable, price-competitive and represent new product development.  The J2 580 fits the bill perfectly,  states Jesper Larsen, IT Manager for Everyman Media Group.

The J2 580 is a new PC-based touchscreen system, launched in 2008.  ECC now has 28 J2 580 units installed across the eight venues and has opted for the version with a 1.5GHz Celeron M processor.  The business uses the units for both ticket sales and food & beverage sales.

Continues Larsen: Weve had positive feedback from customers, and from our staff who find them easy to use.  Programming the tills is an intuitive process and can be done in minutes.  The J2 580s touchscreen format is straightforward to use and means that staff can deliver responsive service. 

At the same time, clever design and engineering make the J2 580s reliable and easy for users to maintain.  An added plus is that the tills contemporary design and space efficiency fit in well in the stylish setting of the ECCs cinemas.

Over the next couple of months, ECC plans to trial handheld devices to be used by waiting staff to take seat-side orders, linked to the J2 580s to create an integrated sales system.  ECC aims to open new venues across the country until a chain of fifty has been created, each of which will be based around the concept pioneered in Hampstead.