Why WA Pubs in Lancashire chose Epos Now to run its 4 locations
How it all started for WA Pubs
Throughout the 2010s, Lee and his team built a collection of small, successful pubs where locals could sit and have a drink in peace. But his first point of sale (POS) system held him back:
“We signed up to a Casio system. It wasn’t an easy system to use. And as we got more pubs, we just added the Casio system in. Epos Now is so simple compared to the one we used to use.”
Lee then joined Epos Now in 2021, and he never looked back: “It was difficult, in a way, to turn off from the old system. But for me, using the Epos Now Back Office system, it was so simple to programme compared to the old Casio system. In the old system, it would take me days - in your system, it took a few hours, and I was done and dusted! We got one Epos Now terminal in one site, and then we got it into the rest of the sites.”
A blend of modern technology with traditional pub values
Lee knew what he wanted to provide for his village from the moment he opened his first pub:
“I think people should know what they’re going to experience on the other side of the door when they go into a pub. They know what they’ll get with a Weatherspoons; they know what they’ll get in a Hungry Horse. In Bamber Bridge, people know what they’ll get with WA Pubs, so men, women, and families can come in and feel safe.”
WA Pubs have merged Lee’s traditional pub values with Epos Now technology to provide dependable drinking holes for locals. His pubs offer speedy, reliable service at the bar, table ordering, and staff able to manage their time effectively.
“For pubs, it's an excellent system, and it's easy to use,” says Lee. “Technology has a lot to do with it. Someone can look at your organisation from outside and say that’s a good, forward-thinking company.”
Providing simplicity and consistency for staff, guests, and management
When running four different pubs, Lee knows he can’t be everywhere at once. But it’s vital to know what’s going on elsewhere so that he can manage his time and his team effectively. Epos Now helps Lee by giving him access to real-time reports from all locations throughout the day and end-of-day reports each night.
“I've used most of the reports. We get one that comes out every day around 3 AM that tells us the turnover of each individual site and the group turnover. This is a lot better because before, managers used to text us the turnover at the end of the night.”
But management doesn’t work if you can’t use your reports to make changes. Lee’s got that covered, though.
“For me, using the Epos Now Back Office, it’s like a breeze. It saves us an awful lot of time managing products.”
“What I like about it is I can block the transaction together. So when they sell, for instance, a vodka, I can create a pop-up and offer the customer a double for however much and a mixer, which forces them to think about upselling. And for Red Bull or any energy drink, we can create warnings for the customer, so staff will warn young customers about the caffeine.”
It's as easy as pouring yourself a pint
Lee manages a 40-strong team of managers and bar staff, all of whom rely on the WA Pubs point of sale system to run the business. During a busy weekend night, getting stuck behind your till can be costly, but that’s not something Lee worries about.
“The interface the staff use is similar to using a tablet which is why you'll find it very easy. It doesn't take them long to get around it, and that makes our life a lot easier. And then they can serve more customers because they're not stuck at the till trying to work things out, which means we make more money.”
If staff find the tablet-style interface easy to use, what about Lee as the manager?
“I find it quite simple, really. Easy to use. You've adjusted the look of it, which makes it look a lot less complicated. I whizz round it now, really!”
Keeping up with the modern world - using apps in Bamber Bridge
As a forward-thinking multi-pub owner, Lee knows how important it is to keep up with modern tech. He also knows his customers, who want the luxury of being able to relax at his pubs and send orders through their phones. Specifically, he wanted a system that could print orders in the kitchen as well as at the bar, to keep all his staff in the loop. But at the time, he couldn’t find an ideal solution.
Lee actually investigated starting his own at-table ordering app, due the lack of availability on the market for his needs - but designing apps can be a costly process! When he realised Epos Now offered this through the Order and Pay app (powered by Yoello), it ticked all his boxes, and even better - he was already with Epos Now, so it synced up to his system seamlessly.
“The world is going app-based, and I don't think there's any other pub in our village that uses an app other than us.”
Looking further forward with Epos Now
WA Pubs are clearly a pioneering publican in their area, but even pioneers need a little help now and then. When things go wrong or when looking to find new solutions to old problems, the Epos Now team is on hand.
“Technical support was very helpful, and this was the real hesitation for me, at first, because Epos Now don’t send anyone out if something goes wrong. But you don’t need to, as it’s all cloud-based, and we didn’t have any issues.”
As Lee Forshaw and WA Pubs have found, whether it’s speedy service, table ordering, or efficient management, Epos Now will support you all the way.
