Comfort food with an NYC twist and added love from Tevalis and Dirty Bones

Inspired by the ever-evolving restaurant and bar scene of NYC, Dirty Bones opened its first venue in 2013 by transforming a basement space off the High Street of Kensington into a quirky subterranean cocktail bar, a private lounge, and restaurant. Since then, Dirty Bones has expanded across London, opening new venues in Carnaby, Shoreditch, Soho, and Oxford.

The teams at Dirty Bones started with an EPOS system that worked “relatively well” but by opening new venues and refurbishing their flagship restaurant, they quickly realised that this system did not provide the broad range of functionalities they needed. Their operations involved numerous systems and platforms that required advanced communications between them. They also needed an intuitive and navigable area for data analysis and complete multi-site control.  

“We had several different platforms all linked together, which essentially didn't talk to each other causing several issues. We were looking for something that was turnkey based, which did everything from stock to purchase orders and obviously the full EPOS environment,” explains Ricci Botterill, Head of Projects at Dirty Bones.

“We want to be number one in our concept in casual dining."

What did they need?

Dirty Bones’ key objective of upgrading their venues meant they needed a complete EPOS solution that could effortlessly integrate with additional industry-leading platforms, ensuring excellent customer service and simplified processes for staff.

Key functionalities included: swift installation across all sites, seamless communication between all systems, an aggregated delivery platform, automated processes such as accounting and reporting, and integrated payments.  

“When we selected Tevalis a few factors were at play with regards to how quickly they could complete the installation and how competitive they were in pricing. It was then handed over to me to take over the roll-out of the EPOS, which is no minor feat, but Tevalis supported me with a great project management set-up, which made it easy.”

“A key difference with Tevalis is we got to choose integrations to third-party software and platforms and essentially slot them into our ecosystem. Which has worked really well.”

Technology with a Tevalis twist

After thorough consultation between Dirty Bones and the teams at Tevalis, a comprehensive EPOS solution with several industry-leading integrations was developed and designed to fulfil the exact business requirements. Each site installed On-Premise technologies, including Kitchen Management Systems, TevX Handheld Ordering devices, integrated PDQs, and POS.

“We had a kitchen management system installed across all the sites. Some have one screen, and some have three, depending on the size of the kitchen. The install was straightforward and now we have data coming in on food and drinks timings which is an added asset for us. We brought in KMS to help the kitchen team see the times it took for dishes to come out.”

Discussing the Tevalis technology implemented, Ricci explains:

“We've got two handheld devices which the team use to roam the venue, placing orders at tables without having to run back to an EPOS, saving time. We've recently opened a sister venue called Roxanne’s, which is a Hip-Hop speakeasy bar, and that also has Tevalis implemented in it.”

In conjunction with the bespoke On-Premise hardware installed, the teams are also utilising the Tevalis Enterprise software: Business Analytics, Stock Management, Centralised Management, and Cash Management are all in place to monitor business performance, manage finance and stock efficiently, and control all sites from any location.

Dirty Bones enhanced their digital hospitality landscape through integrations with Tevalis’ industry-leading partners. These included Deliverect for a consolidated delivery platform, Xero for comprehensive accounting services, Dojo/Paymentsense for secure payments, and Yumpingo for detailed customer feedback.

Ricci continues:

“I've enjoyed that process of getting all the software to talk to each other with support from integrations. Currently, we've got four integrations which are working very well.”

Comfort food made easy

Revamping the 5 Dirty Bones sites was, describes Ricci, “no minor feat”, yet the complete Tevalis Ecosystem now benefits both the teams and their customers significantly. From seconds saved off payments, and granular feedback on dishes and service, to hours saved on accounting processes.

“We use our reporting daily, with automated emails going out to certain individuals in the business and filtering what information is needed for each team member, from reservations to operations, as well as the finance team.”

“This automation are great and save time. When you're living and breathing hospitality, you tend to wake up in the morning and see the sales coming through: you can filter many things of interest. Amongst other things, our sales, voids, anything that piques your interest.”

One function that Ricci benefits explicitly from is the complete control provided by the Centralised Management tool. He explains that:

“I’ve got remote access to all the sites. It doesn't matter if I'm in East London and there's a problem in West London, I can easily dial into a terminal and support the team. I find that's probably one of my favourite things: being able to log into any terminal across the estate and be right next to a team member, even though I'm on the other side of London. With Tevalis, we can expand faster than we could have in the past.”

Innovation through Integration

Another essential aspect of their technology solution is comprehensive integrations with their chosen partners. Ricci details the benefits of these:

“We have good integration with Delivered, which is an aggregator for takeaway services. Delivery has gotten bigger for us in Dirty Bones: many more orders are coming through. What we wanted to do was take the pressure off the team, place those orders physically on the POS, and deliver. It saves us time and money by pushing those orders through to the kitchen, giving more time back to the team on the floor and improving our customer service at the site.”

“Another one I really like, which we've just recently rolled out, is Yumpingo. They do customer surveys for us, and you can see live feedback from your customers, which helps us tweak our operations to make us better in our sector.”

Alongside Deliverect and Yumpingo is their Xero integration.

“We get our invoices and go straight to Xero: it saves a lot of man hours. We need to process purchase orders and invoices at a higher rate. A big factor is our gross profit: getting real-time tips is essential and Xero and two wireless integrations reduce that time.”

Dirty Bones’ complete technology ecosystem has boosted its teams through reduced operational times, increased revenues, and the capacity to focus more on customer service. Tevalis' customer service and support teams also impressed Ricci.

“If you don't have a good support structure, then it takes longer for those integrations to take. With Tevalis being 24/7 the platforms are readily available for anyone to dive in on a granular level to see exactly what is needed.”

“I felt supported throughout. I think the whole system, together with the integrations and the easy user interface, is great for the team to get the job done. You get everything that you need from the POS and a bonus is the ability to integrate with many platforms to cater to your services. Tevalis has been really approachable with regards to any problems and any issues, during service or after service, plus guidance on new platforms that are coming out.”

“Tevalis has been essential in helping us grow.”

Chat with the Tevalis team at stand Z40!