{"id":314293,"date":"2021-10-21T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-21T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=314293"},"modified":"2021-10-21T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T13:00:00","slug":"from-outdated-pos-system-to-personalized-butler-with-mr-winston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/from-outdated-pos-system-to-personalized-butler-with-mr-winston\/","title":{"rendered":"From outdated POS system to personalized butler with Mr. Winston"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A lot of POS systems in the hospitality sector are outdated and complex. Koen Lavrijssen decided that things could be simplified and Mr. Winston<\/a><\/strong> was born: a POS system with the personality of a butler.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Mr. Winston?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“In the first place, it’s a kind of POS system. You can loosely interpret that as ‘something that keeps track of the bills,’ but in a hospitality business, it should be more than that. Namely, a system that relays the wishes of consumers. The underlying idea of our product, is that it is a ‘classic butler’. Winston assists the host in a personal way. It is a collection of digital solutions, designed to make the staff’s work as easy as possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also interesting<\/strong>:\u00a0Battling food waste with AI<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are examples of solutions?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Mr. Winston gives staff tips and reminders about certain things, just like a butler does. If a staff member hasn’t been at a table for a while, the waiters are notified. That way they don’t forget that one table around the corner. There is also the option of having Mr. Winston make recommendations. For example, when someone orders a special beer. The staff can then see: “These people are coming for a drink, maybe they would like some nachos or croquettes with it?” So they don’t have to consider those kinds of simple but important questions, and they can focus on the customer experience.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did the idea of your POS system come into being?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Other hospitality systems work from a registration mindset, as in, sending information from the staff to the manager. They are not set up to support communication with each other. Sometimes you type in a table number. Then you can see what’s on that table, but you don’t have an overview of the other tables. And if you place an order, it has to be done in a rather odd and cumbersome way. I used to work in the catering industry myself. Whenever I worked with people, I would spend half an hour working with the system and mistakes would still be made. Whereas in principle, it doesn’t have to be difficult. There is a list of what the customer can order, and then a list of the products that have been ordered. These appear on the receipt. However, that had been designed in such a way that it was still complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chef and hospitality manager were really struggling with the outdated POS system. Then the two joked, ‘Koen, you can program, can’t you make a system?’ All right, I thought. After a few months of making prototypes, I developed it into a first version over the next two years with guys from my study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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