Evil Genius Beer with New Kwik-E Beer Pop-up Shops
In late 2020, as cold weather and indoor dining restrictions started limiting operations, the team decided to pivot and develop new ways to bring its serious beer with seriously funny names to customers. The move was also intended to retain as many jobs as possible for front of house staff and make beers and merchandise more accessible.
GoTab Assists Evil Genius Beer Company with New Kwik-E Beer Pop-up Shops in Philadelphia
Providing fast, flexible technology to operate new drop zone concepts during the winter months
As cold weather and indoor dining restrictions started limiting operations at Evil Genius Beer Company, the team decided to pivot and develop new ways to bring its serious beer with seriously funny names to customers in Philadelphia. The move was also intended to retain as many jobs as possible for front of house staff and make beers and merch more accessible. With the help of GoTab’s fast and flexible restaurant commerce platform, Evil Genius expanded its footprint as the winter season kicked off and opened two new beer pop-up shops in Center City’s Rittenhouse neighborhood and Northern Liberties.
Evil Genius Beer Company was able to take advantage of temporary leases in vacant buildings and offer its inventory of 6-pack bottles, cans, crowlers & growlettes, and branded merchandise, for contactless takeout via GoTab’s highly customizable cloud-based system. With no indoor dining, no delivery available and cold weather hindering outdoor dining, the Philadelphia-based brewer was able to fully leverage GoTab’s unique takeout features to generate new revenue streams with the Kwik-E Beer Pop-Up Shops. Evil Genius Beer Company used “GoTags” to organize products and create an easy-to-use, sortable system for customers to browse. The team can track sales and inventory in real time with GoTab’s easy-to-use manager dashboard. With inventory constantly changing, the team is also able to update and customize each location’s takeout menus, easily adding or removing products, and editing photos, videos and detailed product descriptions.
Running with Lean Technology
Customers can pre-order their beers and merch via GoTab and pop by the shops to pick up their takeout items. Scheduling capabilities allow guests to book their preferred pickup date and time and receive customized pickup instructions. If plans change, guests can easily adjust their pickup time and location. GoTab’s unique tab features allow them to seamlessly add additional items once they’re on site. Customers also have the ability to communicate with the shop’s team via two-way text communications, and GoTab’s Kitchen Display App alerts staff when an order is nearing its designated pickup time.
“We were able to launch our Kwik-E Beer Pop-Up Shops seamlessly with GoTab, without worrying about bulky technology burdens. Our Spruce Street and Northern Liberties locations were up and running very quickly, which gave us the opportunity to keep our staff employed right as operations at The Lab and the outdoor Evil Genius Beer Garden were slowing down,” said co-owner Trevor Hayward. “The pop-ups were meant as an experimental project and our first foray into retail opportunities. On the first weekend, we had promising results and were able to double our current revenue in just a few days,” he added.
With GoTab, Evil Genius Beer Company can get real-time sales performance data tracking sales per hour, top selling and high margin items, product mix and customer feedback. These out-of-the-box reports are yet another way for GoTab to help hospitality operators run efficient and profitable operations, as well as adjust and optimize business operations as needed.
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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