The Waterfront Tavern sits on the edge of Shellharbour Marina at Shell Cove, less than two hours south of Sydney. Since opening in December 2021 it has become the heart of the area's social scene, with a marina view bistro, the Whale Bar sports bar, function spaces and capacity for around 800 people. It is part of the Monarch Hotels group.
It is also, by its own management's measure, in rare company on volume.
Across several venues
Patrons at capacity
Food and beverage outlets in the country
"We are one of the highest volume food and beverage outlets on the coast," says Andy Parker, Venue Manager at the Waterfront Tavern. "Indeed, when we talk about hotels, one of the highest volume outlets in the country."
Volume is only half the story. Andy manages roughly 110 staff across several venues, with another about to open.
That is a lot of moving parts. Menus change. Servers need reprogramming. New staff need to pick up a POS terminal mid service and use it without a training session. Meals need to leave the pass in the right order and land on the right table, on a Saturday, with a full bistro and a full bar.
At that scale, the technology stops being a back office decision and becomes an operating constraint. If the system is slow, the venue is slow.
"Having the right technology in place is imperative," Andy says. "Whether it be a nice user friendly POS at the bar, or a relatively good interface back of house for us to be able to reprogram the server for new menu items, stuff like that. Absolutely, it's a necessity."
That is the test a high volume venue applies to a POS. It has to be simple enough that a bartender three shifts into the job can serve without hesitation, and deep enough that a manager can restructure a menu from the office without waiting on a support ticket.
"I think it is a combination of that, obviously meeting the need of the business, but also the user friendly interface”
Andy Parker, Venue Manager, Waterfront TavernThe venue's move to kitchen display screens was, in Andy's words, multifaceted.
“It's obviously the way of the future. It's how more progressive venues operate... it's kind of like a dashboard of what's coming up, of what's happening.”
Andy Parker, Venue Manager, Waterfront TavernThe practical value shows up in three places.
Total visibility on volume. The screens show the kitchen exactly how many meals are live at any moment, not just the docket in front of them. That is the difference between a kitchen reacting and a kitchen pacing itself.
A bump screen on the front of house side. A staff member on the pass can see and manage the flow of meals to the floor, and liaise directly with the kitchen on delivery.
"Eliminating tickets and eliminating dockets and having that one stop shop where you can see everything that is required," Andy says. "They've just become such a necessary piece of equipment for us."
One source of truth. No paper, no missed docket, no order sitting under a rail. Everyone works from the same screen.
For a venue running this kind of volume, that is not a nice to have. It is the thing that keeps service times honest when the bistro is full.
New kitchen technology is rarely welcomed on day one, and Andy is candid that the screens took some adjusting to.
"The kitchen display screens, although a little bit challenging for some of us older guys to get our heads around in the outset, has been a godsend for the business," he says.
It is a familiar arc. The resistance is real, it is short, and it ends the same way once the kitchen sees what the screens do to a busy service.
The other half of the value sits with management.
"I really enjoy the reporting capabilities of Bepoz," Andy says. "We do look at live data on a very regular basis. So I can log on from home if I like, or I just log on to my computer here, and I can see anything I want to see. Just putting in the right filters will give me the information that I need."
That last line matters more than it sounds. Plenty of systems can produce a report. Fewer let an operator answer a specific question, at the moment they think of it, without exporting anything or calling anyone. For a group running several venues with another opening, that is the difference between managing on data and managing on memory.
Asked what stands out most, Andy does not name a feature.
"For us, probably the biggest thing is the support team," he says. "Some of the team members from Bepoz have made things easier for us, whether it be to change, or to troubleshoot, or to work out server issues."
He frames it the way an operator would.
"Of course, we're in a people industry. Our staff will tell you that. I am always just looking for a positive customer outcome. Bepoz is obviously a people business as well."
Kitchen display and bump screens replacing paper dockets across the pass
One dashboard showing total live meals for kitchen pacing
Front of house able to manage meal delivery directly with the kitchen
Live data accessible on site or from home, filtered on demand
Menu and server changes handled in house, back of house
110 staff supported across several venues, with another about to open
With a new venue about to open, the Waterfront Tavern is heading into the next stage of growth with the systems already proven at volume.
"I'd be comfortable in recommending Bepoz to other venues," Andy says.
Bepoz is built for pubs, taverns and multi site hospitality groups that need speed at the bar, clarity in the kitchen and reporting they can actually use. Book a demo and see what it looks like in your venue.