Following a successful implementation on V/Line, Queensland Rail has implemented the Redcat Polygon POS System for its long haul country services.

Queensland Rail is Queensland’s number one service provider, carrying more than 55 million passengers a year and connecting people and destinations throughout the state.

These services include Spirit of Queensland from Brisbane to Cairns, Spirit of the Outback from Brisbane to Longreach, The Westlander from Brisbane to Charleville, The Inlander from Townsville to Mt Isa, The Bundaberg and Rockhampton Tilt Train Services and also the Kuranda Scenic Railway from Cairns to Kuranda.

Some of these services take up to 30 hours, so catering is an integral part of the journey where they are often serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as light snacks and beverages. On many of these services they also provide a trolley service where transactions take place at the travellers seat. With so much food being served, it was vital that Queensland Rail get real time data to

ensure that wastage is minimised, determine the demand for all items on their menu and obviously to manage inventory. In addition, the Redcat POS reporting can assist in managing the performance of staff.

Previously, they had used a Quest till system that had restricted reporting where data

could only be accessed when the trains returned to Brisbane. With trains often away from Brisbane for up to four days at a time delays in accessing data was causing issues.

In 2014, Queensland Rail embarked on a comprehensive tender process. They considered upgrading their existing system but felt it better to look at implementing a totally new solution and adjusting their own business processes.

Luke Finter, Queensland Rail Manager On Board Product Strategy, explained their requirements, “In particular, we were looking for a proven solution that could meet our

reporting needs. We were also looking for hardware that could withstand the vibration and constant movement of train travel. We wanted a system that could give real time information and the ability to conduct transactions from our food trolleys at the customers seat.”

“We looked at a number of solutions both locally and offshore. After a lengthy evaluation process we found that Redcat was by far the best fit for out needs. They had successfully implemented their solution with V/Line

in Victoria. They had worked out a hardware solution for V/Line in Victoria and they were able to facilitate the use of tablets for the food trolleys”, he said.

In addition, they are Australian owned and are able to give us 24/7 support and with their remote access facility, they can quickly resolve any issues”, he said.

“The system has been operational now for a few months on eight lines and is meeting all our expectations. In particular, we have been able to fine tune our food and beverage offering and certainly reduce wastage”, he said.

Queensland Rail Introduces Redcat Point of Sale

“After a lengthy evaluation process we found that Redcat was by far the

best fit for our needs.”

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Spring 2015 Redcat Pty Ltd www.redcat.com.au 1300 4 Redcat

In this Issue Redcat Sponsors Restaurant and Catering Awards p2 | Streat Launches Cromwell Manor p2

Redcat Launches Polygon p3 | Sue’s Smart Approach p4

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Bennelong is BACK!Further Congratulations to Redcat client Peter Gilmore and The Fink Group who opened the doors to Bennelong on July 1, about seven months after it was announced they had signed a 10 year agreement with the Sydney Opera House to take over the iconic dining room and exactly 18 months since Guillaume Brahimi served the Paris mash underneath its ribs.

Third-generation restaurateurs and hoteliers, The Fink Group also owns the three-hatted Quay Restaurant and one-hatted Otto Ristorante (as well as having stakes in The Bridge Room and Firedoor). The lease-signing of Bennelong sparked rumours that

Gilmore and Finks were set to abandon Quay at the at end of the Overseas Passenger Terminal and concentrate their efforts across the pond, the number of cruise ships visiting Sydney has almost tripled in the past five years and while this has been great news for the tourism dollar, it’s not so great for Quay diners who increasingly find themselves playing Rear Window with RMS Queen Mary 2 instead of marvelling at the Opera House sails in all their billowed glory.

Leading Melbourne social enterprise, Streat, have recently announced the start of a 12 month development of its flagship site in Collingwood, Cromwell Manor.

Streat takes homeless young people, provides them with social support, hospitality industry training and work experience in their cafes.

This historic site will have a youth training academy, café, artisan bakery, production kitchen and coffee roastery. This site will also be a significant step in Streat’s growth, allowing training of over 250 young people each year, along with scaling the organisation to the point of financial self-sufficiency.

If you are interested in supporting this worthy cause, visit www.streat.com.au/get-involved/donation-page

As it turns out, the opposite is true.

“Quay will always be our flagship restaurant,” says John Fink, creative director of the Fink Group and son of its chairman, Leon Fink.

“Once we’ve bedded Bennelong down, we want to throw a bucket of money at Quay,” he says. “We want to refocus the room so it’s looking at the Harbour Bridge. Also, we’ve been there for 28 years and it’s no secret that the room needs a bit of a freshen-up.”

STREAT LAUNCHES CROMWELL MANOR

Redcat Sponsors Restaurant & Catering AwardsRedcat was proud to sponsor the recent 2015 Savour Australia Awards for Excellence. The awards evening was held at the Peninsula in Docklands, Melbourne.

Congratulations Quay Massive Congratulations to Quay Restaurant and Peter Gilmore, a Redcat client, for making it on to The World’s 50 Best list!

In Brief

“Quay will always be our flagship restaurant...”

Leading Australian POS Vendor, Redcat recently announced the launch of its latest software release, Redcat Polygon.

Redcat Polygon is a major upgrade providing users with the benefits of a cloud solution, including reduced costs of IT infrastructure with no local servers, WAN’s or VPN’s and complete scalability to manage fluctuating requirements. In addition, users will benefit from increased flexibility of work practices and collaboration, enhanced security and backup processes.

In terms of functionality, Redcat Polygon has genuine real time management and reporting capabilities. In fact, it’s one of the very few POS products in the world that can deliver real time profit and loss reporting without integration to a third party application.

Redcat Polygon also includes impressive real time inventory control features that will reduce wastage and maintain optimum stock levels as well as real time labour and staff management tools to keep clients /users across all the important metrics of their business. It includes faster more flexible data entry options for purchase orders, invoices, order processing, and it also provides facilities for automatic purchase order generation.

Redcat Polygon features improved security with different access levels and more flexible controls.

A key focus for Redcat Polygon is improving the user experience and making it more intuitive and easier to find information.

It features column sorting, colour coding and right click capabilities. This also makes it far easier for new staff to learn the system. Improved functionality has also provided far more flexibility in reporting with facilities to add attachments and enhanced data exports and communications to enable greater depth of information that can be emailed.

Redcat Polygon will also dramatically simplify complex data integrations and provide a unified experience for managing API-led connectivity.

Polygon Accounting features a new interface that provides faster and more flexible entry and reporting. In addition, there is improved

sorting, drill down and editing options so that information can be easily found and edited if required.

All of the key features that have made Redcat SmartSuite so popular are still there, however, they have been enhanced to make it easier for users to access information. This includes loyalty and mobile apps that have become an integral part of any hospitality business today.

Redcat continues to lead the industry with its rapid implementation and a range of comprehensive support options are also available.

Polygon will also dramatically simplify complex data integrations and provide a unified experience for managing API-led connectivity.

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REERedcat Launches Polygon

For more information please visit www.redcat.com.au

YOU WIN$250 prepaid VISA card

THEY WIN• Morefinancialcontroloftheirbusiness•Greaterefficiencies•Reducedcosts

REFER A HOSPITALITY BUSINESS OWNER TO REDCAT AND EVERYBODY WINS

Sue’s Smart Approach GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR POS TERMINALS USING BANNERS AND PROMPTS.

BANNERS Give your staff relevant information utilising a banner that flows across the top of the POS terminal whenever it is in idle mode – useful to communicate the daily specials or remind them to upsell!!

To program this:

Access the User Prompts section under File|System Settings

In the Pre-Sale Prompts, complete your text in the Pre-Sale Banner entry box.

The Banner Mode can be defined as either a ‘Notice’ which will appear in green text, or a ‘Warning’ which will appear in red text. The message can be up to 120 characters long and will display as running script at the top of the log on page.

PROMPTS Remind your staff to upsell promotional items, ask for customer loyalty cards, or confirm Dine In / Take Away status etc prior to finalising the customer sale.

For example, a prompt to offer a bottle of water for $1.00 would display like this. The staff member has the opportunity to Go Back and add the item to the sale before finalising.

To program this:

Access the User Prompts section under File|System Settings

In the Post-Sale Prompts, complete your text in the User Prompt entry box.

An Exclusion Trigger can be set to disable the prompt if the relevant item is already in the sale. In this example, the prompt will not display if the system finds the PLU ‘$1 Mt Franklin’ already in the sale.