Lowcountry Culinary Masters Serve Up Top-Notch Customer Service
82 Queen is a fine dining restaurant and culinary jewel located in Charleston, South Carolina, and has been around for 33 years. The restaurant, named after its breath-taking location, sprawls over three buildings with 11 dining rooms and a garden courtyard in the Historic French Quarter of Charleston, South Carolina.
The restaurant’s unique “Charleston” dining experience features dishes influenced by African, French, Caribbean and Anglo-Saxon tastes known as “Lowcountry cuisine.” 82 Queen’s focus on fresh, local cuisine, gracious hospitality, and stand-out food all play an integral part in why the restaurant continues to be a must-stop for any foodie looking for an authentic Lowcountry dining experience.
THE CHALLENGE
With a bustling restaurant sprawled out over three buildings and eleven dining rooms, 82 Queen’s large structure allows the restaurant to serve many patrons at once, keeping staff busy. With customers pouring into the famous establishment, employees rely heavily on their point of sale (POS) system to take orders and check out customers. An inadequate POS system often left staff frustrated as it consistently encountered failures, halting operations, and preventing table turnover. These failures often happened during the busiest dining hours and required a full restart resulting in hard downtime. Shutdowns left staff struggling to keep customers happy in the dining room while the system was rebooting behind the scenes. Between the frequent shutdowns and the consistent poor support provided by their Aloha service providers, it was time to look for a new solution.
Due to the restaurant’s expansive space, several terminals needed to be installed throughout the establishment. The terminals would also require new POS software to keep up with operations during rush hours and a service provider to back it up.
THE SOLUTION
82 Queen turned to e-Coast Systems, a service provider focused on restaurant POS systems and credit card processing solutions. E-Coast systems offer POS hardware known for its secure access. The company started by replacing seven terminals within the restaurant. Each terminal was licensed and went through a new software installation. The installation features the v20 RPOWER software with Restaurant365 integration.
The new system focused on all of the pain points the 82 Queen staff had encountered with their previous provider. Staff members now have access to terminals that provided excellent order entry, credit card processing, and accounting integration.
Installation was completed within a single business day, and the staff performed same-day training. Employees continued training for two days during operations. The quick set up and training created an easy transition for the restaurant and staff, without sacrificing any revenue due to downtime.
THE RESULTS
82 Queen instantly saved money by switching service providers. The team now has an affordable and reliable service provider should any issues occur with their new set up. The ability to make menu changes and enter specials on any terminal provides increases staff productivity and efficiency. Table turnover time has been drastically reduced due to the strategically placed terminal and barcode scanner near the bar. Additionally, the new RPOWER system takes EMV payments on credit cards, increasing data security, and decreasing chargebacks.