CBE secures significant contract with Louis Fitzgerald Group
The portfolio includes 15 pubs, three hotels and seven off-licences and the new system provides the Group with greater automation from its Head Office, centralised inventory management and a better experience all round for staff and customers through improved speed of service.
“As we’re such a large operation we’re centrally controlled from Head Office,” explains the The Louis Fitzgerald Group’s Eddie Fitzgerald, “The technology behind this approach integrates with our stock management system to allow us have a full view of the estate: purchasing and sales performace through different periods on a weekly or even hourly basis. It allows us drill down through the information provided.
“In terms of automation, staff now have access to make sales from any area within the premises and are not confined to just one area. They can walk anywhere in the outlet and work remotely without having to interact directly with the kitchen and bar staff.
The Old Mill, Tallaght.
“They can view all the open and closed tables from any station, view how busy the premises is, just how long people have been waiting for tables or how long people have been sitting at tables and the curent status of all of the tables throughout the premises. This allows for a more efficinet food operation.
“A lot of our business is now based around food so it allows staff to place orders from any area into the kitchens. It’s not yet a huge part of our operation at the moment but this system will be become a great deal more utilised within the next few weeks.”
From left: CBE Area Sales Manager Michael Gaughan with Eddie Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Group, at The Old Mill pub in Tallaght.
Universal POS solution
CBE’s EPoS solution for the Fitzgerald Group is one that operates across all hospitality environments including bars, nightclubs, restaurants, cafés and hotels.
The web-based business management software offers greater stability over traditional VPN networks and ensures that consolidation of data from each site is instantly available to management as and when required.
“Any business operating in today’s competitive environment needs systems in place that can improve processes within their operations,” says Michael Gaughan, CBE’s Area Sales Manager in Dublin, “We carried out a thorough work-study on the requirements of The Louis Fitzgerald Group and concluded that our latest Hospitality PoS solution was the best fit for their needs.”
For example, the solution answered the Group’s need for an EPoS system that offered reliability, service, future-proofing, ease-of-use and the need to have this service from an organisation with experience and professionalism at its core.
CBE’s powerful PAR Pixel Point POS Solution.
CBE recognised that the Fitzgerald Group didn’t just require a cutting-edge IT solution but a robust support network that could provide speed-of-service as and when required.
“From time-to-time PCs will crash and our busiest periods tend to be outside nine-to-five business hours” explained Eddie Fitzgerald, “more likely at 11pm or later at night and should we have an issue, we need to be able to pick up the phone and have it dealt with quickly. We’re not in a position to wait until the next day. CBE have proved that they’re capable of dealing with this and coping with our requirements.
“To date the service that we’ve received from CBE is second to none.”
The Louis Fitzgerald Group’s Financial Controller John Nash added, “We’ve been in business for many years and in that time our EPoS requirements evolved and we came to a juncture where we needed to completely overhaul our IT infrastructure”.
Traditionally the Group would have used analogue EPoS tills throughout the organisation requiring it to change prices or change a key manually. That entailed getting into a car and driving to a site. This is all done now from Head Office with the press of a button so the configuration of all those tills back to Head Office has become quite sophisticated, agreed Eddie.
“We investigated the market both in Ireland and the UK and were delighted to find the most expert company was right here on our doorstep in CBE,” explained John Nash, “We’ve been very impressed with the company’s product offering but more importantly in the team’s professional approach in managing the switchover to the new system.”
Eddie Fitzgerald summed up: “We’re absolutely delighted with the service and support provided by CBE from initial meetings right through to the install which was incredibly smooth. Of all the installations we’ve had throughout the years – and we’ve had a few – the install from CBE was by far the smoothest.
“We’re incredibly happy to have parntered up with CBE. Tills have been networked to Head Office for seven or eight years now but the level of expertise that CBE have brought has enabled us to streamline that.”
CBE manages the Group’s support from its own EMEA headquarters in Claremorris with local support provided via its Dublin office and remote service centres throughout the country.
Over the last three decades, CBE has grown to become the leading designer and developer of Point Of Sale (POS) software in Ireland.
The functionality and the flexibility of the CBE’s PAR Pixel Point system has ensured that they are the number one choice for hospitality Point Of Sale solutions in Dublin and throughout the country.
As such, CBE has more than doubled the support team to manage not just this contract but other notable contracts that the business has secured in the Dublin region and throughout the country over the past 18 months.
The company is also very strong in export markets and is now firmly-established as a major player in the UK market. As well as supporting installations in Canada, Australia and Algeria, CBE is preparing to enter the US market following significant market research.
CBE’s Solutions are designed to work in busy hospitality environments.
