“I find the interface so simple.”

One of the things Bonnie and the team love the most about Lightspeed is how easy the system is to use, thanks to its user-friendly interface.

“It’s just like using an iPhone,” comments Bonnie.

“With Lightspeed, it’s very straightforward… It’s definitely smoother, 100%. Everyone says that the interface particularly is very easy to use, which we love.”

“I found the whole thing really easy.”

Implementing a new POS system across four venues can be daunting, but with the help of Tom, one of Lightspeed’s Strategic Implementation Consultants, Bonnie and the team found the whole process seamless.

“I worked with Tom directly, which was fantastic. He was super helpful at every point.” 

“To be honest, after working with [our old POS], which was really archaic, I found Lightspeed to be a piece of cake.”

“Pretty much all FOH got new printers, and BOH, in regards to adding printers etc., was super easy, to be honest. We tested everything beforehand, so we were pretty much ready to go – just bite the bullet and change it over.”

“It definitely minimises mistakes.”

Bonnie loves how Lightspeed’s intuitive ordering workflows ensure accurate orders are always sent to the kitchen, minimising mistakes and keeping customers happy.

“Before staff would have to order the pizza and then click another button and then click, add extra ham, or whatever it was, but they forget,” explains Bonnie. 

“Whereas now you press it, and it prompts you straight away. Is it a gluten-free base? Do you want to add ham? Things like that. So it definitely minimises mistakes.”

“Everything I need to do my job.”

As the General Manager of a restaurant group, data is essential in understanding how each venue is tracking. With Lightspeed, Bonnie finds the wealth of information and ease of access a huge plus, which makes her job easier.

“I’ve been tracking a lot more data. For example, spend per head or the amount of covers we’re getting in,” explains Bonnie. “And all different profiles as well, so spend per head on the restaurant, or spend per head on takeaway, etc.”

“We’ve recently started a lunch menu in Brisbane. The data for that is really important to me right now—to be able to see it and split it. I could never split a lunch and dinner shift before, so now I can split lunch and dinner, and it’s just automatic. As soon as I log on, it’s right in front of me. I don’t have to go looking for it.”

“It’s interesting to see the data.”

Bonnie also uses Lightspeed data to create internal competitions and incentivise staff to upsell each week. 

“Spend per head for us is a big one… it’s basically the level at which your staff are upselling. The level at which they’re getting people to buy premium products or nice wine, etc.”

“We then use [the data] to do competitions with the staff, and there’s a monetary reward for an incentive,” explains Bonnie. “For example, if you keep your spend per head at this much, or you increase it next week. Then there’s an extra $200 cash for you at the end of the week.”

“They all speak with each other.”

One of the reasons why the Gemelli Group wanted to move away from their old POS was because it didn’t have the ability to integrate with other business tools.

“That’s also why we wanted to change to Lightspeed, because [our old POS] didn’t integrate with anything,” explains Bonnie.

Having a POS platform that seamlessly integrates with other tools, such as inventory and payroll software, makes accessing data and running your business so much easier.

“Now we have three systems, Restoke, Tanda and Lightspeed, and they all speak to each other.”

“It’s been fantastic.”

Before adopting Lightspeed POS and Payments, Gemelli Group had never used an integrated payment system before, which made reporting and end of day reconciliations difficult and time-consuming. 

“We have never used integrated credit card machines before, all of our systems were very archaic,” comments Bonnie. “We were using different EFTPOS providers, and I used to have so many issues with the evening reporting because every credit card machine provider, the report is different.”

 “I was tearing my hair out with the cash up and reading the credit card takings.”

Now they have Lightspeed Payments, the whole process is so much easier. 

“The cash-up is absolutely seamless, so thank you so much.”

“Freed up time.”

Another thing the Gemelli Group loves about Lightspeed Payments is how quick and easy it is for a table to settle their bill while always ensuring the payments are accurate. This saves the team time and makes it easier to turn tables.

“It just minimises mistakes completely. You can’t type in the wrong amount. The tip function is very obvious. As soon as they pay, they close off a bill,” comments Bonnie. “It’s just freed up time because as soon as the table pays. It’s done. That’s it, it’s very black and white.”

“Makes my life easier.”

With their old POS, it was difficult for the Gemelli Group managers to access data and reports easily, and it often fell on Bonnie to crunch the numbers and communicate the findings. 

After adopting Lightspeed, managers now have easy access to business data. 

“They can log on now and see straight away, this is how much money I’ve made at lunch today, without me needing to drive it home, this is what you’ve made, this is the report. They have access to numbers.”

“I feel like they’re starting to get to the point where numbers excite them as much as they excite me.”

“Being able to have 24/7 support is brilliant.” 

With their old POS system, Gemelli Group had no access to additional support, so if anything ever went wrong, the team had to figure it out on their own. 

“If something happened [with the old POS], there would be no one to help me. With Lightspeed, there’s a lot of support, which we never had.” 

“I’ve found [Lightspeed support] super helpful, especially if I’ve got confused or forgotten how to do something.”

“Something I needed to do the other day was create an account for someone which we’ve never done. I just logged on to support. We spoke about it. They told me what to do, and I’ve just downloaded that conversation which I’m going to look at later to figure it out.”