Latest
/
Case Studies

Vegas Test Kitchen Adopts GoTab

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.

Women delivers pizza orders to a table.

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.

Two women in masks talk at the counter with a tablet.

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.

Vegas Test Kitchen easel with a handwritten menu.

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.

white quote

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

Tap Room Playbook: Check Your Experience

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.

Watch Now →
Tap Room Playbook: Kick A** Brands

Tap Room Playbook Episode 3: 

The best breweries pay attention to what their brand stands for. How do the best brewers bring their brand to life?

Watch Now →

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.

Request a Demo

Ready to experience GoTab for yourself? Sign up for a free demo and get qualified to receive a complimentary meal on us!
Request a Demo