Vegas Test Kitchen Taps GoTab For Efficient Service at Innovative Multi-Unit Restaurant Concept

Leveraging Key GoTab Features to Simplify Order Taking and Enhance Both Chef and Guest Experiences

Just like the city of Las Vegas, owner Jolene Mannina is constantly reinventing herself. With her latest venture, Vegas Test Kitchen, she has created an innovative multi-concept restaurant that blends a commissary kitchen, pop-up venue and restaurant where Chefs can test out new food concepts, train staff or get their feet wet before opening their own space. Initially conceived as a yearlong pop-up housing 7 different Chefs, Vegas Test Kitchen quickly became a permanent multi-concept space, prompting Jolene to seek out a best-of-breed contactless ordering and payment solution, GoTab.

Multiple Vendors, One Common Ordering Process for a Seamless Guest Experience

Even though the space is now home to as many as twelve different Chefs and their respective concepts at any given time, Jolene wanted to make sure the ordering experience was easy and seamless. Whether guests are ordering ahead for pick-up or dining in, she didn’t want guests to have to order separately from each vendor. With GoTab, she found an intuitive tech solution that allows customers to order different food from different vendors from their phone in one transaction.

With limited staff available, the team at Vegas Test Kitchen relies on GoTab’s contactless ordering and payment capabilities to ensure guests have an easy, consistent way to order regardless of the Chef they choose. Guests access the different menus via a single QR code placed on each table, whether they’re seated inside or outside in the dining alley. Menus are managed from a central GoTab manager dashboard that all Chefs can access to make real-time, quick menu changes or 86 items. Orders are then dispatched to the designated Chef’s KDS and Vegas Test Kitchen’s own food runners ensure the delivery of dishes to the tables (or hand out orders placed for pick-up).With GoTab and Vegas Test Kitchen, Chefs and their culinary staff are freed up from administrative overhead, allowing them to focus on delivering quality food, further enhancing the guest experience. GoTab’s flexible menu features also come in handy for Jolene’s other venture, Secret Burger. New menus can be created quickly in the GoTab system for these off-the-menu, pop-up dining experiences, allowing Chefs to seamlessly serve their new offerings to guests in the Vegas Test Kitchen space.

GoTab Helps Vegas Test Kitchen Run with 50 Percent Fewer Staff

With Chefs and their culinary team focused on back-of-house operations, owner Jolene Mannina relies on a small group of staffers to run food from the commissary kitchen to guests’ tables, educate diners on the contactless ordering process and troubleshoot any special requests from guests. She estimates that, without GoTab’s help, she would have to more than double the amount of staff needed to run the multi-concept restaurant. “We wouldn’t be able to operate Vegas Test Kitchen without the help of GoTab’s technology,” said owner Jolene Mannina. “Not only was it a cost-effective and easy-to-set up solution for us to implement when we opened, but it also allows us to scale operations with less staff than we would normally need.” As Vegas Test Kitchen gets ready to expand its bar offerings, she plans to rely even more on GoTab’s functionalities.

Opening Tabs with QRs or the GoTab POS - an Optimal New Service Model

Fully leveraging GoTab’s native tab features, Vegas Test Kitchen has adjusted its service model to give guests complete control of the ordering experience, while cultivating a hospitable environment that entices them to return over and over again. After an unsuccessful run with a GoTab competitor, owner Jolene Mannina opted to implement GoTab because of its flexible tab features.While most guests have gotten used to taking more control of their dining experiences by using QR codes to order and pay, she likes to use the GoTab POS to start a tab for customers or have the ability to quickly and easily add items to an open tab when guests prefer to order a new dish/drink directly with her and her team. “Using the GoTab POS, I like that we have the ability to start a tab and help customers place their first order, while training them on how to use GoTab on their phone,” said Jolene Mannina.

With GoTab, I can easily and quickly do that. I find that once the tab is open, customers like to take charge of their order and add more items on their own. This hybrid service model is really working for us, and GoTab gives us the ability to adjust it anytime, and depending on what our guests prefer or are comfortable with.- Jolene Mannina, Owner of Vegas Test Kitchen