The Phoenix Taproom and Kitchen’s Hybrid Model Revolution
With 72 self-pour taps, 8,000 square feet, and seating for up to 300 guests, The Phoenix Taproom and Kitchen stands as the largest self-pour taproom in the Midwest. This expansive venue is a destination for craft beer enthusiasts, featuring a scenic waterfront patio, lawn games, elevated cuisine, and a calendar full of weekly events.
The Phoenix Taproom and Kitchen’s Hybrid Model Revolution
With 72 self-pour taps, 8,000 square feet, and seating for up to 300 guests, The Phoenix Taproom and Kitchen stands as the largest self-pour taproom in the Midwest. This expansive venue is a destination for craft beer enthusiasts, featuring a scenic waterfront patio, lawn games, elevated cuisine, and a calendar full of weekly events. Its versatile indoor and outdoor spaces cater to everything from casual meetups to large gatherings, including festivals of up to 500 guests.
The Situation
With 72 taps and nearly 300 seats spread across its expansive venue, The Phoenix Taproom needed a scalable system to manage both self-pour drinks and table service. The goal was to offer guests the freedom to order and reorder on their own terms, while keeping labor costs low and still enabling staff to earn high tips. The challenge is further compounded by high sales volumes during busy nights, which requires the venue to efficiently serve large crowds without increasing staff size. Balancing guest autonomy with personalized service is key to maintaining a high-quality experience.
The Solution
The Phoenix Taproom launched its operations with GoTab and iPourIt, enabling a hybrid service model that maximizes guest autonomy and staff efficiency. Despite its expansive 8,000-square-foot space, the taproom and kitchen operates smoothly with just 2-3 staff on weekdays, all while ensuring . This model allows servers to manage more guests without compromising service quality, all while ensuring high tips for the waitstaff.
At check-in, hosts start a tab at the GoTab POS with a pre-authorized card and provide a self-pour tap card so guests can explore the 72 taps at their own pace. For food orders, guests scan a QR code, order via mobile, and enjoy food delivered to the table, preserving the personal touch. GoTab’s shared tabs feature with mobile ordering allows groups to easily split bills by item or amount, streamlining the process for both guests and staff.
Additionally, GoTab roaming tabs enable guests to move freely between indoor and outdoor spaces without restarting their tab, creating a seamless experience from check-in to check-out. Behind the scenes, GoTab’s Kitchen Display System (KDS) ensures order accuracy and efficient service with advanced features like order batching, two-way text communication, and more.
“Our hybrid service model using GoTab and iPourIt has completely transformed our operations. Guests love the freedom to pour and order at their own pace, while our staff focuses on delivering exceptional hospitality. It’s the perfect balance of efficiency and service, keeping both our team and customers happy.”
— Brad Hansen, Owner
The Benefits
Optimized Staffing: The Phoenix Taproom runs with just 2-3 staff on weekdays while delivering excellent service. During peak times, five staff members can handle up to 500 guests with ease.
Seamless Guest Experience: Guests enjoy full control of their food and beverage orders, thanks to GoTab’s integration with iPourIt.
Increased Efficiency: The hybrid model reduces labor costs while maintaining service quality, with servers still receiving high tip wages.
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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