autor:
Tebi
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Fred's Kitchen left Tebi for a POS that promised more. Six months, three companies and a higher bill later, owner Roy came back to one system.
On Tebi: POS, Payments, Reservations, Kitchen Display, Insights
What Fred's Kitchen saves: around half of its monthly software bill, now that one Tebi subscription replaces a separate till and reservation system, with no extra fees for each phone or tablet.
Back on Tebi: one invoice and one person to call
Fred's Kitchen seats up to 90 guests on a Friday at NDSM in Amsterdam Noord. Since January, the till, payments, reservations and kitchen screens have all run on Tebi again, and owner Roy Bussman pays one bill for all of it.
“Now we have one invoice, one subscription and one person to call when something goes wrong.”
Prepayments on reservations now go through Tebi and show in the day overview with the rest of the day's sales. Missing prepayments were the reason Roy left Tebi, and seeing them in the day overview is what brought him back.
“We take prepayments, so I need control every day. At the end of the night, I have to see exactly what came in.”
Taking prepayments has also changed who turns up.
“We used to have a lot of no-shows. Since we started taking prepayments through Tebi, everybody comes.”
On a recent Friday, a colleague was sure a table had paid, but the bill was still open. The Tebi team confirmed over the weekend that the payment had never come through, and Roy called the guest himself. Problems still turn up on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons, but Roy knows who to message.
“When something breaks, I don’t expect Tebi to fix it right away. But they answer, keep me in the loop and take me seriously.”
Before: three companies and a video call next week
It was a different story during the six months Fred's Kitchen spent away. At a trade fair, another provider promised to connect Roy's reservation and accounting software on the iPads he already owned, and he signed up.
The installer, from a third-party company, told Roy the reservation connection only worked with a different reservation provider. Switching cost about €20 a month more and took a month of calls and emails between three companies.
“We switched reservation systems so the new till would connect, paid more for it, and it still couldn’t take prepayments. That was all we asked for.”
Per-device fees pushed the bill up with every phone and tablet, and with the separate reservation system, Fred's Kitchen was paying about €550 a month. When something broke, the support line offered a video call the following week, or a visit from the third-party company, which would send its own bill.
“Something broke on a Friday night with 90 guests in, and they offered me a video call next week. Is that your service?”
Why Roy left, and why he came back
Roy and his wife Lindsey, the chef, opened Fred's Kitchen in the first apartment building of the new NDSM neighbourhood. They started on a legacy POS, with screens that cost more than €2,000 each, and moved to Tebi when kitchen screens were quoted at around €12,000 plus a yearly licence for each one.
Tebi was young then, and prepayments didn't show in the day overview. The fix was on the roadmap but not ready, so Roy took the trade fair offer. In January, he called Tebi, saw prepayments in the day overview, and moved back.
“If you go away, you see what you had. Tebi was missing a few things, but everything else was pretty good.”
Paying for more than one system? Tebi brings your till, payments and reservations under one subscription. Talk to us.
About Fred's Kitchen
Fred's Kitchen is a shared dining restaurant serving Asian fusion dishes, including sushi and gyoza, at NDSM in Amsterdam Noord. Revenue has doubled in less than three years. It is open seven days a week for lunch, drinks and dinner. Find it at Kraanspoor 5, 1033 SC Amsterdam, or visit fredskitchen.nl.
