The IoD

The Institute of Directors’ London home in Pall Mall is a massive operation to run, but with 18 TISSL terminals onboard – recording sales of food and wine, as well as hot-desks and business books – it runs efficiently

The London home of the Institute of Directors (IoD) – spread across two locations at 116 and 123 Pall Mall – boosts a huge food and beverage operation, ranging from banqueting facilities through to restaurants, bars and cafes. Members can order anything from a cappuccino and a croissant, to a bottle of Chateau Latour with roast rib of beef. Food and beverage is a large operation to run – accounting for a turnover of £8.2 million.

116 Pall Mall is a building of Georgian splendour, boosting a Grade I listing and was designed by the fashionable architect John Nash – who also planned the Brighton Pavillion and Marble Arch.

“We liked the TISSL system because it is easy-to-use and also very flexible”

TISSL has been onboard at the IoD for the past four years – providing Pall Mall with 18 EPoS terminals – all front-of-house and spread across a number of outlets.

“Because of the size and nature of our operation, selecting an EPoS supplier we could trust was a very important exercise for us,” says Serge Pradier, General Manager of Hospitality Operations at the IoD’s Pall Mall operations. “We had also just undergone a huge CRM (customer relationship management) exercise and were introducing new membership cards. So, everything had to work together.”

He continues: “We liked the TISSL system because it is easy-to-use and also very flexible. The team worked with us to provide a tailored solution.”

“We have to have a system we can rely on”

Before the IoD decided to sign-up with TISSL, Serge paid a visit to the restaurant, 1 Lombard Street, a long-standing TISSL customer.

“I wanted to see a TISSL system in operation and I was also keen to see how 1 Lombard coped with their wine list on the system,” he says. “We have an extensive wine list at the IoD and I was encouraged to see that the TISSL system managed wine sales at 1 Lombard Street in a logical and straightforward manner.”

Each day, the TISSL EPoS system at the IoD records thousands of transactions.

“At any one time, we can have up to 800 members in our lounges and cafes – so we have to have a system we can rely on,” says Serge. “Any problems we encounter are generally network-related. But, even when our network is down, the individual TISSL terminals continue working off-line and that gives us great peace-of-mind.”

Serge continues: “In addition, we are regularly required to pull off a wide range of reports – such as the average spend per customer and who is using various discounts, for example. The TISSL system gives us the flexibility to do this and it’s also quite straightforward.”

“TISSL worked with us to provide a tailored solution”

The TISSL system at Pall Mall is not just in place at the food and beverage outlets – terminals can also be found at reception, where members can utilise the membership cards and also buy items such as books.

“We have recently added a further TISSL terminal to record activity and purchases in our Office Solutions area, where members can hot-desk or use our virtual office facilities, and the system is working very efficiently there as well,” says Serge. “Again, we can pull off any reports we need.”