How Technology Helped A Quickly Expanding Kitchen Improve The Guest Experience

2019 was a year of growth for Captain Lawrence Brewing Company: They expanded both physically—into a building with a restaurant style kitchen, complete with a 20 foot hotline and pizza oven—and operationally, by switching to Arryved POS. 

As business boomed, the Westchester County staple turned to technology to help them serve up the guest experience they had long envisioned. 

The Old POS Problems

With a variety of award-winning brews and fresh pub fare to choose from, Captain Lawrence’s old POS couldn’t keep up with guest demand:

1. Ordering logistics: To order food, drinks, or to-go, guests had to visit separate stations along the bar—a clunky process that prevented the brewpub from maximizing revenue.
2. Kitchen chaos: With food being a significant cut of profits—making up 40.8% of sales in 2022—they had outgrown their old school approach of verbal queues and a single expeditor printer, and needed a system to streamline kitchen operations.

Luckily, Captain Lawrence discovered a trusty problem-solving sidekick just in time: Arryved. 

Arryved’s Card On File & Mobile POS Devices Make Ordering Easier

Card on file and mobile POS technology made a flexible model of both counter service and floating servers possible. Floating servers were well received by hungry guests as an additional service element that Captain Lawrence couldn’t do with their previous POS system.

“It was super helpful for the guests and super helpful for us too, because we were selling beers that we weren’t selling before that,” noted Jeff Skiba, the Director of Hospitality. Clearly, mobilizing staff with the right technology encouraged guests to order more! 

Plus, with card on file, guests can order with ease from any station along the bar or via any server, and it’s all on one tab. By swiping credit cards once and handing them right back, guests aren’t burdened by the process of closing out at one station just to order at the next. 

“The ability for guests to open a tab and visit any of those locations was the gamechanger for us. That was the thing that allowed us to provide the experience that we wanted to provide,” said Jeff. Empowering the Captain Lawrence team to run their business the way they’d always dreamed is icing on the efficiency cake. 

Mobile POS also allows Captain Lawrence to wholly engage in events, and rake in extra dough because of it. They recently hosted an Oktoberfest celebration, using a pop-up bar and additional food station to meet guest demand in the beer garden out back. As far as third party events, they took part in a local music festival and brought 6 POS tablets, along with hotspots and swipers. The offsite effort proved valuable: Captain Lawrence made $50k in sales at that event alone!

The Right Kitchen Display System Streamlines Operations

Arryved’s integration with Fresh KDS is another feature that’s helped the Captain Lawrence team improve guest satisfaction. With nearly 41% of sales coming from food alone, the brewpub needed a tool to help kitchen staff stay efficient. 

“Tickets would come in, and the chef or expeditor is standing there shouting out the order. We’re just too high volume for that. It was getting to the point where it was slowing us down and it was a detriment to the guest experience,” said Jeff of the kitchen prior to Arryved.

Thanks to their new KDS solution, each cook only sees the dishes they need to make at their particular station (grill, fry, saute, and pizza). Now, they don’t have to rely on hearing a call from the expeditor and there’s no confusion about what’s in the queue. 

“It’s helped us to be faster in the kitchen,” said Jeff. And speed is key when you have hungry mouths to feed. In addition to faster ticket times, Captain Lawrence’s guests appreciate accurate order relaying since the individualized KDS screens eliminate the possibility of forgotten plates. 

Now, this upstate New York brewpub is equipped to offer top notch service to their beloved community of locals and traveling city dwellers.

*Featured Image courtesy of Captain Lawrence Brewing Company