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| Harry Ramsden's Abolishes Motorway Holdups |
HARRY RAMSDEN'S ABOLISHES MOTORWAY HOLDUPS WITH HELP OF NEW CUSTOMERCALL PAGING SYSTEM
Call-Systems Technology Ltd has installed a 'queue-busting' JTECH CustomerCall paging system at the new motorway service area outlets of fish and chip chain Harry Ramsden's. The paging system is designed to improve customer handling and turnover, and increased its business, simply by smoothing out peak-time rushes and minimising turn-aways.
Familiar to three generations of fish and chip lovers, Harry Ramsden's saw a major expansion in the 1990s as it became the brand leader in the UK and around the world, with its traditional 'pinafored' waitresses serving fresh-cooked food.
But in creating a Harry Ramsden's for the motorway age, in food-court style, proprietors Moto (formerly Granada) had to solve the problem - how to cook and serve freshly, and alert the customer when the food was ready, without waitresses hunting around the court for the customers. The solution was a piece of lateral thinking, in the CustomerCall system.
"Customers on road journeys are, by definition, in a hurry", says Ashley Sheppard, Sales Director of Call-Systems. "They don't like queuing, but Harry Ramsden's majors on quality and freshly cooked meals, and doesn't want to have the plated food waiting unnecessarily."
Now, instead of impatient drivers waiting in line at the food counter after placing their order, they are handed the JTECH pagers, and can go off to browse the newsstands and gift shops, go to the washroom, or do anything else the service area offers, until the pager alerts them that their food is ready.
One of the first sites to install the CustomerCall system was Moto's Tamworth service area on the M42. Here, Harry Ramsden's stands alongside a sandwich counter and a more conventional buffet counter, and the CustomerCall pagers allow visitors to order instantly from the Harry Ramsden's menu before moving on to other sections.
Richard Lord, duty manager at Tamworth, was an instant convert when the system went live earlier this year. "It's brilliant!", he said. "The customers like it, because they don't have to worry about being forgotten, they feel reassured, and they can sit where they like without having to tell the staff. And the staff like it because they don't have to play 'hunt the customer' when the food is ready."
The JTECH CustomerCall system installed at Harry Ramsden's is based around simple 'vibe-flash' pagers, which vibrate and flash when the server wants the customer to return to the food counter. The Call-Systems solution has virtually eliminated food wastage, since the restaurant no longer has to prepare food in advance to cope with rushes - the food is freshly prepared to order and collected piping hot.
In addition it means fewer 'walk-aways' by impatient customers unwilling to suffer the wait in a queue. And staffing costs can be lower, because less time is required to manage the queues.
Indeed, the CustomerCall system has actually increased profitability. Harry Ramsden's found that the very absence of a queue encouraged more customers, so that the sites using the system were serving more meals.
But the benefits reach further than Harry Ramsden's alone. The motorway service areas are at the very heart of Moto's operation, and the CustomerCall system gives diners the freedom to roam other areas, increasing turnover for the whole site.
"People who are queuing are not spending", points out Peter Hutchinson, Managing Director of Call-Systems. "The JTECH solution lets customers get back to what they want to do, which probably includes buying other goods."
The CustomerCall paging system can cater for up to 999 pagers. Each pager for Harry Ramsden's has a large clear-plastic 'fob' attached, into which promotional cards can be inserted. These not only brand the pager, showing clearly where it came from, but also alert customers to sales opportunities in other areas while they are waiting. Pagers can also be issued in 'groups'. For instance, Harry Ramsden's can issue numerous pagers to a coach party and have all them paged simultaneously.
Alongside the JTECH range, Call-Systems offers a comprehensive range of fully integrated paging systems, from hi-tech conference systems to simple desktop messaging and has the expertise to tailor communications solutions to all catering operational needs.
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Call-Systems Technology Ltd, Middlesex House, 29-45 High Street, Edgware, Middlesex HA8 7UU |
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