In a new podcast Stone Brewing CEO Dominic Engels shares an in-depth view of how Stone ensures contactless customer experience with GoTab.
New Podcast Shares In-Depth View of Stone Brewing’s Customer Journey with GoTab
The New Digital Customer podcast by Brightloom launched in July 2020. Since the launch, the podcast has hosted global brands like Blue Nile and Godiva Chocolatier. CEO of Stone Brewing, Dominic Engels, was one of the very first guests. Imagine our surprise to learn that GoTab turned out to be a big topic of discussion. We are honored to play such an important part in helping Stone ensure a successful contactless customer experience.
“Leaning into Creativity and Innovation” [Podcast]
Stone Brewing has come a long way from a small microbrewery back in 1996. Today, Stone is the largest independent craft brewer and the ninth largest independent craft beer distributor. They also operate unique hospitality destinations in California and Virginia and that’s where GoTab came in.
Before COVID, Stone had some common challenges shared by large-scale operators. They are a very large format. For example one of their Escondido venues has over 70,000 square feet and 700 seats. Engels explained that, at first, they had a much smaller vision in mind.We “originally thought of GoTab as an incremental change to utilize our space better,” said Engels. When wide-scale quarantines shut down indoor dining across all of their venues, Stone went all-in with GoTab.
Stone Goes All-Digital with GoTab Contactless Ordering and Payment
Stone moved 100 percent of their dine-in and take-out orders through GoTab almost overnight. With the quarantine, people went from shopping on their website, to buying. And because they have such high brand loyalty, Stone was fortunate enough to be among those trusted brands that experienced a surge in demand.
GoTab, as contemplated pre-virus, was simply an ordering utility. Now with 100 percent of our activity going through it, now it’s an experience platform.”Dominic Engels, Stone Brewing CEO
The podcast provides a candid view of how Stone introduced such a large change over night. They looked at their process, at their staff training and service models. It was really gratifying to hear Engels explain how GoTab stepped up to meet their needs.Listen to the podcast, Leaning into Creativity and Innovation and tell us what you think.To learn more about GoTab’s partnership with Stone Brewing, read Real World Results Using GoTab - Stone Brewing Shares Their Story.
Tap Room Playbook Episode 2:
When you really think about it, with everything managers need to do in a tap room, the hospitality aspect is often overlooked.
Situated “in the heart of it all, yet tranquil enough to make you feel away from it all too,” The Limelight Hotel Snowmass offers 99 hotel rooms and 11 residences, as well as footsteps-to-gondola access in winter and summer — right in the middle of Snowmass Base Village.
The Situation
Especially over the last few years, the Limelight Hotels IT team had witnessed a significant shift to contactless technology in the hospitality industry. After evaluating friction points in the guest journey, aligning with modern technology platforms in their restaurant was determined to be an effective way to offer elevated contactless dining experiences to their guests while also evolving their technology platforms to continue to support long-term company goals. Limelight Hotel partnered with GoTab to provide an enhanced on-demand dining experience on par with the brand’s reputation for exceptional guest service.
The Solution
Reducing Staff Touch Points Without Sacrificing Guest Experience
Guests are now able to begin a tab from their room or the property’s restaurant by scanning a QR code, texting a link to friends or family members on the ski slope to add in their orders, then meeting up together at the patio or lodge to enjoy their meal and après ski festivities without interruption. By streamlining tasks like inputting orders and processing payments, this eliminates friction for hotel staff and allows them to focus on delivering renowned guest service for a memorable experience. Since partnering with GoTab, Limelight Snowmass has consistently seen higher check averages and sales.
“We found the Point of Sale platforms we were looking at offered the guest and staff limited opportunities to further reduce touch points or improve the traditional restaurant experience. The GoTab platform enabled the guest to take an active role over the flow of their experience while simultaneously reducing touch points and further streamlining restaurant operations.”Nick Giglio, Manager of Hotel IT Operations, The Little Nell Hotel Group
According to the Limelight Hotels team, some of the other platforms that were evaluated were either missing some of the pieces they were looking for, had weak customer support models, or had little willingness to develop integrations to existing hotel platforms already in place. To that end, GoTab integrated with cloud-based platform, Infor. Together, GoTab and Infor are providing dynamic solutions to support central, efficient service across hotel amenities and deliver exceptional guest experiences.
“Previously, guests would call down to the restaurant to begin an order from their room or while they were out enjoying the ski slopes. Using GoTab, guests can now place orders from anywhere on the resort, giving them the on-demand service they want without interrupting their day. GoTab empowers us to give control to the guest, reducing touch points and streamlining overall restaurant operations, making Limelight Hotel the resort of choice for Snowmass.”Nick Giglio, Manager of Hotel IT Operations, The Little Nell Hotel Group
Since introducing GoTab, The Limelight Hotel has seen a consistent level of upsells and items sold per check resulting in additional revenue capture. They have been able to maintain service levels in their restaurants during periods when there was reduced staffing available without significantly diminishing the guest experience.
The Benefits
Eliminate Phone Orders – Take Orders from the Slopes. Guests can start a tab from their room or on the mountain without interrupting the flow of their day.
Future-Proofed Technologies – Delivering elevated contactless ordering via integration with the Infor hotel management platform.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
Eliminating Friction in the Guest Journey – Maintaining service levels during periods of reduced staff without diminishing the guest experience.
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