COMMUNICATIONS B


ased on the concept of a Japanese ‘kaiten’ sushi bar, YO! Sushi first introduced conveyor


belt food delivery to Londoners in 1997. Now the company serves 5 million customers a year worldwide, including in the UK. The restaurant chain operates 65 sites in the UK and has been on technology-enabled strategic journey to facilitate the most efficient operations in its unique hospitality environment. Most recently, this culminated in the rolling


out of iPods for mobile ordering to front-of- house staff, to not only speed up customer service, but also tackle keying errors at checkout and a lack of supply chain visibility. Having worked at YO! Sushi for almost


a decade, IT manager Billy Waters, recently took Retail Technology through the technology developments that have enabled this latest service innovation for the hospitality company. “The concept is that you help yourself to


dishes off the conveyor,” he said. “Different colour plates indicate the prices. At the end of the meal, the order was keyed according to the numbers of different coloured plates. Although we had a record of the transaction, we didn’t know exactly what was bought – whether it was tuna or salmon, for example.” The company wanted to embrace mobile


technology to not only record what was sold with greater accuracy, but to also eliminate other paper-based processes. “While orders were still recorded on a touchscreen at the till, ad hoc items could get missed,” Waters explained. “We used to use paper to record what drinks were ordered before entering it into the till, for example.” This process led to drinks getting missed off


the final bill or duplicated items purely to down the errors that occurred when people are reading someone else’s writing. “Now we capture drinks on the handhelds as they are dispensed, which increases accuracy and also knocks about 30-40% off time at the checkout,” he added. Waters admitted looking at mobile ordering


solutions for “about three to four years,” before it found a solution that fitted its needs. In the intervening period, it laid the foundations for its mobile development with a number of key, strategic IT investments. In 2008 it moved to a multi-protocol label


switching (MPLS) internet protocol-based virtual private network (IP VPN) operated by managed service provider NetworkFlow, which


www.retailtechnology.co.uk Autumn 2013 45


YO! Sushi iPod ordering system


Waters confirmed is still delivering reduced telecommunications cost and complexity. This, combined with its longstanding relationship with electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) provider Omnico, provided the infrastructure components that now support its iPod ordering deployment. Having worked with Clarity since 2004, which


recently became Omnico when it merged with retail hardware provider DigiPos, it adapted its Clarity management software to accommodate colour-plated pricing and associated stock control. It also took on other systems through Clarity partners. In 2009, YO! Sushi integrated Clarity’s


Enterprise Suite with Commidea’s chip & PIN terminal at the EPoS and implemented Commidea’s contactless payment system to further speed up and secure customer transactions. Two years ago it chose another Clarity partner, Aures Group, for its touchscreen EPoS hardware to complement its strong brand image and identity. Investigating mobile solutions with Omnico,


YO! Sushi discounted specialised, rugged devices running a full-featured version of its existing EPoS system. “We found it was very heavy on the wireless,” Waters reported, adding the comparative price point of using consumer devices would make them easier to replace. The company relied heavily on staff feedback


during trials in one of its most busy restaurants, at Bluewater in Kent. “We found tablets were


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60