Vapiano was founded in Germany in 2002 and currently has around 190 restaurants globally and a team of staff they proudly call Vapianisti. Pasta is at the heart of what they do and is freshly handmade in-house every day, together with its pizza dough, sauces, dressings and desserts.
Interestingly, the name Vapiano has been created from an Italian proverb ‘chi va piano va sano e va lontano’, meaning: ‘if you have an easy-going and relaxed approach to life, you’ll live healthily and longer.’
Rewind back to 2002 and the Vapiano service style was considered cutting edge and certainly quite a novelty in the industry. The guest journey was based on an RFID card (Radio Frequency Identification), a type of tracking system that can search, identify and communicate with people and items.
“Our guests would enter the restaurant, receive their card and order their meal directly from the chef. Once the dish and drinks were prepared, they would simply tap their card on the reader and the meal would be loaded,” explains managing director Craig Goslin.
“The final stage was to hand the card to the host and pay. Unfortunately, some guests were able to leave without doing so, which cost the business in 2019 alone around £140,000 in lost revenue due to walkouts.”
Fast forward to September 2020 and with Covid still having a major role to play in restaurant closures, Vapiano decided to dramatically pivot its service style to a digital journey, where guests scan a QR code on the menu via their mobile phone, place their order, have it delivered to the table and pay via mobile at the time of ordering.
To enable the brand to deliver such a momentous change in service style, it required QSR’s ConnectSmart Platform to deliver a streamlined, efficient service model across back-of-house.
“Efficiencies across back-of-house was a huge priority for us because at the time, our chefs weren’t controlling the pace of the restaurant, the guests themselves were,” says Vapiano UK’s IT and digital adoption manager Michael Szubarga.
“We required a smart technology solution which would allow us to produce dishes to the highest of standards, cooked and delivered to the table at the same time to enhance the guest experience. All the intelligence ConnectSmart has given us has ensured we’re a lot more efficient and incredibly streamlined. To be honest, its potential is endless.”
This video is one of a series of deep dives into operator’s businesses created by QSR Automations. Click here to see the first video, which featured Bone Daddies and here to see what BAO had to say about its use of technology. To find out how QSR Automations ConnectSmart Kitchen technology can drive efficiencies and streamline your back-of-house visit www.qsrautomations.com or call 020 3870 4571.
