A Sydney Icon Adapts

Pancakes on the Rocks is more than just a restaurant - it's a beloved Australian institution with a long history of serving delicious pancakes in iconic locations.

We chatted to Nelson, the General Manager of Pancakes on the Rocks.

When COVID-19 hit, the restaurant faced unprecedented challenges that would ultimately lead to positive transformation: "Initially it was because we couldn't find staff straight out of COVID and we had customers wanting to come back in, but we had no staff to serve them. So the staff were quite frustrated that they couldn't, at lines at the door, we just simply couldn't serve them."

Beyond the Pandemic Response

What began as a solution to staffing shortages quickly revealed itself to be a long-term enhancement to their business model.

"So we incorporated the digital ordering to help us serve the customers and why we've kept it because now we've put our staff back on, we're back to the old staffing levels that we had before. Now the customers feel more at ease with it."

This unexpected benefit extended to customers who previously found traditional ordering systems challenging: "There's a lot of customers that don't want to use the old style of ordering with talking to a staff member. For all sorts of reasons, some people are quite anxious, they feel more comfortable ordering with the machine, they can order at their own pace. Some people can't communicate because of language barriers, so the QR code's been fantastic for that."

Operational Improvements

The implementation of me&u has delivered measurable operational benefits that have transformed the business.

"The speed of service has increased. Customers can now order a lot faster. They order a lot more. Our average spend has increased quite a lot. Customers don't have to wait for a staff member to come past if they want to order something else. They can order as soon as they want, when they want it. So from an operational point of view, it's been great. And from a customer satisfaction point of view, it's been really good. Very happy with it."

Data-Driven Insights

Beyond the immediate service improvements, me&u has provided valuable business intelligence that informs both current operations and future planning.

"It's made things a lot easier to look at from the back end to see what our business really is, apart from just anecdotally saying, oh, look, we sold all of this or we did a lot of that. We can actually drill down into it. So it's saved us a lot of time and given us information that's very helpful for not just working out what happened, but helping us plan what could happen into the future."

The system has also revealed unexpected customer preferences: "We've noticed there's been some changes since the QR code and the Power EPOS has come in that we can see customers are ordering a lot more of the luxury sort of items, the extras, extra ice cream, extra sour creams, things that we weren't expecting because they weren't getting the same kind of contact with our staff or the ease and the comfortability of ordering."

Staff Embrace the Change

Initially concerned about staff acceptance, Nelson found that me&u actually enhanced the work experience for team members.

"Initially, we thought the staff wouldn't like it very much because they saw it as something that was going to take away their job, but it hasn't at all. Our staff had more time to give them advice on the menu rather than doing the mundane writing down the order part, which is the part that I don't think anyone in the service industry enjoys that part of the job."

This shift has allowed staff to focus on the aspects of hospitality they enjoy most: "But the interaction with customers, that's what they love. That's what they get into hospitality. And that's allowed us to do that now, to focus on that part of it and to take away the boring part of the job."

A Smooth Implementation

The transition to me&u was much simpler than expected, with minimal disruption to staff operations.

"The transition was minor. A lot of the staff wouldn't have noticed that there was much difference from their end. But from the back end, it's much better, a lot more detail, easier to traffic through the different parts of information and more information. So we're happy."

Customer-Focused Partnership

What particularly impressed Nelson was me&u's collaborative approach to addressing their specific business needs.

"I think it was just the relationship we had with the team when we first started talking to us about all the fears that we had about what would happen because we wanted to make sure we kept that old-style value where it wasn't just being taken over by technology and we take away that interaction. And they put us at ease, and everything they said to us in terms of their reaction from the customer came true."

Advice to Others

For those considering digital ordering, Nelson's advice is straightforward: "Yeah, I think anyone who's looking at doing it, just ring up the guys, send an email, have a meeting and discuss it because we were quite skeptical to start with. We'd been around a long time. We know our business really well and we didn't want to buy something that someone was telling us what we needed."

The partnership approach made all the difference: "We wanted to tell people what we needed and have them come to the party for us. It's exactly what we've had with me&u and the Power EPOS. They've tried to work out how they can change their product to suit exactly what we need."

His final recommendation leaves no room for doubt: "So my first advice would be just do it now. Don't wait. Don't wait for the end of this video. Time is up. Do it now. Because once you've done it, you'll be so happy you did it."

Tradition Meets Innovation

Pancakes on the Rocks demonstrates how even the most established hospitality venues can successfully implement digital ordering while enhancing rather than diminishing their cherished customer service traditions.