Truffle Hunting confirms TISSL as its choice of EPoS for owned and managed restaurants and gastropubs

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Truffle Hunting confirms TISSL as its choice of EPoS for owned and managed restaurants and gastropubs.

Multi-faceted hospitality business Truffle Hunting has confirmed that TISSL is its choice of EPoS solution for owned and managed restaurant businesses.

Truffle Hunting brings together people with decades of sector experience, which it applies in a number of ways. It invests in exceptional chefs, acquiring property, providing capital and business acumen, to operate commercially-successful restaurants. It both operates restaurants on behalf of clients and owns others outright, running them with its own teams.

Whether running its own or third-party businesses or simply guiding the owners Truffle Hunting emphasises the importance of efficient processes and getting front-of-house and back-office operations right. For that it turns to TISSL.

Founder Nigel Sutcliffe explains: "I've always known TISSL as a good EPoS system. Having the right computer system in place means restaurateurs, chefs and their staff can focus on their product."

Continues Sutcliffe: "If we're buying or advising an existing business, there's usually a system in place. We try to recommend an improved solution and we always like to put more than one in front of them depending upon budget and what the business wants out of the system. We let them make their choice but our choice is TISSL, which we know can add value."

Truffle Hunting owns a number of establishments in the capital. The first to install TISSL EPoS, in 2011, was The Henry Root gastropub in Chelsea, a classically-British neighbourhood pub and bistro. Other venues where TISSL EPoS is deployed are The Newman Street Tavern, a convivial meeting place in the heart of Fitzrovia with the menu and atmosphere of the best rural pubs, and The Lady Ottoline near Gray's Inn Road, a smart-décor pub with local ale and a restaurant serving modern British cuisine.

"TISSL streamlines communications," observes Nigel Sutcliffe. "Most EPoS systems work on similar processes. Where we find TISSL strong is how it communicates customer requests to different parts of the business such as to the bar and the kitchen. Where service takes place on multiple floors or there are dining gardens and terraces to service, TISSL is particularly good at getting orders and messages faster across the business."

Nigel Sutcliffe finds that staff take to the TISSL system quickly. "Once they're educated, they find the system very simple to use and simple to programme."

Depending on the scope and scale of the business it is working with, Truffle Hunting makes sure that management information is readily available. Where it runs a business on behalf of an owner, it constantly provides detailed reports and updates. "A smaller owner operator doesn't need so much but if you have several stakeholders and several shareholders, then comprehensive reports are a necessity and TISSL is strong here."

At Truffle Hunting's pub-restaurants, TISSL manages all the financials and banking. "End-of-day and end-of-month figures are easy to get from TISSL." In addition, managers rely on TISSL for line and stock counts. "Does TISSL give us the control and business insights we need to run our businesses efficiently and profitably? Yes, it does."

Across its venues, Truffle Hunting uses OpenTable for restaurant reservations and finds the link to TISSL EPoS helps to increase table turn and deliver good service. "Our head chefs all have kitchen printers and TISSL links to that too so the whole process of order to preparation to service goes smoothly."

"EPoS is a must-have," concludes Nigel Sutcliffe, "and TISSL always satisfies. It certainly pays for itself over a 3-year period. We will continue to recommend TISSL to our clients and install it in our own venues."