How to manage popular events and festivals? Our experience at the 32nd St. Claudius Beer Festival

Folk events and festivals can be complex situations to manage, in many ways, so much so that they now need timely organization on par with a stable and continuous catering business.

Why choose Labware for festivals and folk festivals?

• Ability to customize and adapt our products and services to the event workflow
• Intuitive and easy-to-use apps for electronic ordering and payment, while also ensuring the option for cash payment in each case
• Features specific to temporary events
• Reduction in checkout errors, time and workload management in production centers, and drastic decrease in queues

St. Claudius Beer Festival (Prov. Macerata) is a well-known and well-attended event, drawing thousands of people each year and engaging more than 120 volunteers in its organization.
Labware has been a partner of the Beer Festival for years, and this year, given the success of the event, we were immediately available to listen to the needs of the organizers and bring our expertise to make everyone's work as smooth as possible with the ultimate goal of increasing orders and simplifying the customer shopping experience.

Key points of the installation were:

• QR CODE FOR ORDER AND PAYMENT AT THE TABLE: a QR code printed at the table allowed immediate browsing of the menu, ordering and payment at the table by credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. A cash payment option was also left, in which case an operator would reach the table after receiving the order at the cash register.
• TO FINALLY SAY GOODBYE TO CHECKOUT LINES: Total elimination of queues at the checkout to place the order and pay for it. The ordering and payment phase was handled by the customer from the comfort of the table, while the organization handled the delivery of food and drinks.
• KITCHEN ORDER DISPLAY: Two Kitchen Displays in the kitchen to monitor the flow of incoming orders. For simplicity, the two kitchen displays displayed entrees (along with side dishes) and seconds separately. This mode allowed for better time management in the kitchen, respecting the order of arrival of orders, with the ability to control workloads at different stations.
• MANAGEMENT OF INCOMING ORDERS: Clear separation of bar and kitchen. Separate management of the two areas ensured fewer waits, fewer errors, and more orders due to adherence to appropriate service times.
• INCREASE THE NUMBER OF ORDERS: Increased table rotation due to speed of order, payment and order delivery

At the St. Claudius Beer Festival we installed:

CASH POINT:

1 x IQ WORKSTATION 10

1 x USB DOT

1 x Stripe electronic payment terminal (used for card payment at the table if needed)

BEVERAGE AREA:

1 x DOT LISA

FOOD AREA:

2 x IQ KITCHEN 215

2 x DOT LISA

ACTIVATED SERVICES:

• 4Order for menu browsing, ordering and payment in self mode from smartphone enabled by scanning the QR code at the table (option enabled for cash payment)
• 4Terminal for payment at the table via Stripe Payment Terminal at the time when cash payment was requested when finalizing the order from the app. The operator who went to the table to collect cash could propose payment via Stripe Payment Terminal, using the smartphone to enter the requested amount.
• 4Cloudoffice For statistics and monitoring of orders, collection times and methods, as well as menu master data management
• Digital Receipt, thanks to orders placed from smartphones the digital copy of the purchase receipt arrived directly via email

Ivan Bartolucci, PRotor and Organizer of the Beer Festival, said, “At the 32nd St. Claudius Beer Festival, the organization chose to rely on Labware to improve order flow management. Our primary goal was to provide the best possible customer experience by giving customers the ability to order and pay conveniently from the table by simply scanning a QR code.
After the first few days, in which, surprised by the huge volume of orders arriving at the same time, it was necessary to refine the management of orders and kitchens, everything went smoothly. Also confirmed by the excellent reviews left by customers. We were supported by Labware staff who proved to be qualified and helpful. For the next edition, the goal is to improve even more and accommodate the needs of the Festival, which grow and change from year to year. Labware has already made itself available, and we look forward to collaborating together again. Thanks go to the entire Labware team for understanding and accommodating our requests. See you next year!”

Joseph Guerrieri, Customer Service Manager Labware, said, “We are very happy to have been chosen again for this edition as the technology partner of the St. Claudius Beer Festival. It was 5 intense days of work, a success with thousands of people attending and an average of almost 900 orders per evening handled. The greatest satisfaction was experiencing firsthand the positive impact of the introduction of online ordering and payment. It was appreciated by customers, eliminated queues at the checkout and improved the speed of service, resulting in more orders than in previous editions.”