Glow Lounge starts the day with AccuPOS

The first round

Clapham’s Glow Lounge started up five years ago with the aim of bringing Australian bar culture to the UK.  The café bar’s founders, Bart Thomas and Kerri Clay, were keen to run an establishment far removed from the traditional ‘greasy spoon cafe’, instead focusing on tasty breakfasts, quality coffee, and real fruit smoothies. 

This philosophy also carried over to the Lounge’s evening offerings, where Australian lagers sit alongside Guinness and draught beers.  Popular weeknight promotions also have an authentic Australian influence, for example ‘Toss the Boss’ – having ordered their drinks, the bar staff flip a coin and if called correctly the round is free.

Having quickly established a loyal following, with all day breakfasts and a forecourt overlooking Clapham Common, the Glow Lounge was soon buzzing every day of the week. 

Happy Hour

Originally using a traditional till to manage transactions, Bart and Kerri soon found that to continue growing, a streamlining of transactions was essential.  

Bart Thomas, Co-Founder of Glow Lounge said:  “A big part of the Glow Lounge philosophy is to continually react to the wants and needs of our customer base.  We realised that to continue innovating, and ensure the best possible customer experience, we would have to invest in an EPoS solution.”

In 2005, the Glow Lounge installed AccuPOS, an award winning EPoS solution for small-to-medium sized retailers, on multiple service tills. AccuPOS automatically saves sales and customer information collected at the point of sale into the bar’s accounting software, QuickBooks, and eliminates data entry errors or the need to re-enter data.

A remote kitchen printer allows bar staff to quickly communicate orders to the kitchen direct from the till.  This ensures that orders can be quickly completed and served to the customer, as well as minimising the likeliness of orders being incorrectly passed on.

Front of house has reaped the benefits, as they no longer need to memorise the prices of different drinks and meals, increasing the speed at which orders can be entered.

AccuPOS has supported Bart and Kerri in ensuring the Glow Lounge continues to offer their customers exactly what they want.

“The stock-tracking function is extremely helpful, not just in terms of knowing what we need to order from our suppliers, but also allowing us to understand what sells and what doesn’t.  Other reports have allowed us to adjust our openings to maximise our revenue and not be open during quiet times,” says Bart.

Closing Time

AccuPOS will continue to serve the Glow Lounge as it continues to provide its patrons with a chilled alternative to the hectic Clapham scene, and giving Antipodean patrons a taste of home.

Bart says he would definitely recommend using AccuPOS to anyone looking for an easy to use EPoS solution, most notably due to the service that comes with the software.  “The AccuPOS staff are always helpful and responsive.  The solution has allowed us to concentrate on making the Glow Lounge the venue it is today without the usual headaches that come with running your own business.”