Hudson selected NEXTEP’s cloud based POS in 2012 for its distinctive news/cafe concept, Dunkin’ Donuts/Hudson News. The solution was implemented at three locations in New York City’s Penn Station. Nearly 500,000 commuters pass through Penn Station every day, and the stores process 20,000+ transactions every week.

“Hudson Group came to NEXTEP because they needed a rock solid solution to handle the massive volume they were going to see through Penn Station,” says Tommy Woycik, President of NEXTEP SYSTEMS. “Our cloud based POS performed to Hudson’s high expectations. We were thrilled to partner with them again on their projects at DFW, Dallas Love and New Orleans, and we’re confident that we will see similar success at these locations in the months to come.”

“NEXTEP certainly understood our focus and worked very diligently with us,” said Thomas Kornacki, Senior Vice President of Food & Beverage with Hudson Group “They have been very persistent about working with the system to ensure that it does everything we want.”

“We are committed to this relationship for the long term,” Kornacki added.

NEXTEP SYSTEMS features the world’s first fully integrated technology solution for foodservice industries. Its cloud based point of sale is the cornerstone of their fully integrated product suite that includes digital menu boards, self order kiosks and tablets, the World’s Fastest Drive Thru™, kitchen management, and a host of online management tools.

About NEXTEP SYSTEMS:
NEXTEP SYSTEMS, based in Troy, Michigan, is the leading provider of foodservice technology for restaurants, airports, corporate foodservice, grocery stores, educational facilities, and sporting venues. Founded in 2005, NEXTEP is the industry’s only turnkey provider of integrated solutions including cloud based Point of Sale, Self Order Kiosks, Online & Smartphone Ordering, Dynamic Digital Menu Displays™, World’s Fastest Drive Thru™, iPad & Windows based self order tablets, and iPod employee ordering.

About Hudson Group:
Hudson Group, the largest duty-paid travel retailer in North America, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of international travel retailer Dufry AG (DUFN) of Basel, Switzerland. The company operates some 700 newsstands, bookstores, cafes, specialty retail and duty free shops in 70 airports and transportation terminals in the United States and Canada, and additional newsstands in 12 more countries around the world. Dufry operates over 1,200 stores in 43 countries and 155 airports and transportation terminals. Visit us at www.hudsongroup.com and www.dufry.com.

For more information, please contact:
Tommy Woycik
President, NEXTEP SYSTEMS
866.654.8730

• Cloud based configuration & reporting
• Enterprise scalability
• Automatic updating
• Remote management from computer or smartphone
• Reduced dependence on in-store hardware

NEXTEP has been dedicated to the Deli 1-2-3® solution for over five years, which started from the idea that customers should be able to, “order the whole deli with the touch of a finger.” Deli 1-2-3® solutions have consistently delivered results for savvy grocers, with typical sales increases of 10% or more through the touchscreen kiosks over traditional counter sales. Deli 1-2-3® also captures lost sales during peak hours when long lines deter some shoppers from ordering at the deli counter.

Since the first Deli 1-2-3® installation in 2007, NEXTEP has continued to develop the solution and now offers online and mobile ordering options for grocers who want to capture even more sales from consumers on the go. NEXTEP also provides employee facing solutions with improved configuration and management support tools featuring 21st century architecture to ensure dependability and ease of implementation & management.

About NEXTEP SYSTEMS:
NEXTEP SYSTEMS, based in Troy, Michigan, is the leading provider of foodservice technology for restaurants, airports, casinos, convenience stores, grocery stores, educational facilities, and sporting venues. Founded in 2005, NEXTEP is the industry’s only turnkey provider of integrated solutions including Point of Sale, Self Order Kiosks, Online Ordering, Dynamic Digital Menu Displays™, World’s Fastest Drive Thru™, smartphone ordering, iPad touch screen kiosks, and iPod employee ordering.

For more information, please contact:
Tommy Woycik
President, NEXTEP SYSTEMS
866.654.8730

Read the Hudson Group case study here.
POS Integration Helps Travelers Pay on the Way
When travel retailer Hudson News needed to sell from two systems, NEXTEP brought them together.
By Richard Slawsky | Contributing writer FastCasual.com

The players

NEXTEP SYSTEMS, based in Troy, Mich., provides a complete suite of integrated foodservice technology solutions for gro¬cery stores, restaurants, casinos, airports and other high-volume foodservice venues. From self-order to point of sale to digital signage, NEXTEP provides and supports the complete integrated foodservice platform.

Hudson Group, the largest duty-paid travel retailer in North America, is a wholly owned subsidiary of international duty free travel retailer Dufry AG (DUFN) of Basel, Switzerland. The company operates some 650 Hudson News, Hudson Booksellers, cafes, specialty retail and duty free shops in 70 airports and transportation terminals in North America and additional newsstands in 12 more countries around the world. The combined Dufry/Hudson entity oversees more than 1,160 stores in 46 countries and 160 airports and terminals.

The challenge

Nearly everyone who’s been in an airport or train station in recent years is familiar with Hudson News. The company has been serving travelers since the first location opened at New York’s LaGuardia Airport in 1987. Unlike the tiny newspaper kiosks that populated airports and train stations in earlier days, Hudson News stores are brightly lit and carry hundreds of titles, encouraging travelers to browse while they wait for their connection.

Hudson News has operated locations in New York’s Penn Station for almost 25 years. Nearly 500,000 commuters pass through Penn Station daily, making it one of the world’s busiest train terminals. The station serves as a hub for Amtrak and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s subway, bus and Long Island Railroad systems as well as a number of privately owned transportation companies.

In May 2012, the company opened three combination Dunkin’ Donuts/Hudson News stores in the Amtrak concourses of the station. The stores are located near the Seventh and Eighth Avenue entrances and also next to the Amtrak Rotunda area. The “news café” concept allows travelers to grab their coffee, donut, magazines and snacks – all in a single space.

The stores employ 60 crew members. The Eighth Avenue store is open around the clock; one of the other location is open 20 hours a day while the third is open 18 hours a day. Because of the station’s proximity to Madison Square Garden and other New York landmarks, the stores occasionally stay open longer if business warrants.

“Dunkin’ Donuts and Hudson News are concepts that co–exist perfectly in airports and rail terminals,” said Hudson Group CEO Joe DiDomizio during a ribbon cutting event celebrating the new locations. “Teaming them up provides customers with just what they want – impeccable service, cleanliness and convenience – all under one roof.”

The company faced a number of issues when developing the concept, however. To make the idea work, patrons needed to be able to pay for both their food and reading material at the same register. The point-of-sale system used by Dunkin’ prior to opening the concepts, however, didn’t allow for the inclusion of Hudson’s more than 100,000 skus, while Hudson’s system didn’t interface with the Dunkin’ menu.

In addition, reliability and transaction speed were critical. Operating in one of the busiest transportation hubs in the world, any downtime could mean a significant loss of revenue.

“Penn Station epitomizes the daily commuter,” said Thomas Kornacki, SVP of food & beverage with Hudson Group. “You have to be quick and make it convenient for customers.”

The solution

Hudson had about 150 days before the store openings to find a POS system that could be configured to meet its unique needs.

“Hudson is a very customer-focused operation, and we wanted to offer the customer a unique experience with the news café concept,” Kornacki said. “Being able to offer them a full line of products through the Dunkin’ side of the business was important. Because the POS systems in place couldn’t handle that, we looked outside for a solution.”

To meet their needs, Hudson chose point-of-sale systems from Troy, Mich.-based NEXTEP SYSTEMS. NEXTEP POS systems feature conversational ordering, resulting in minimal training time for employees; cloud-based management reporting and database, meaning the system can be updated without having to take the terminals offline; and configurable menu flow and intelligent upsell, meaning staff can process each transaction quickly while suggesting additional items to maximize revenue.

“Being a leader in Internet-based POS systems, they had those abilities and they had a number of clients in high-volume venues similar to ours,” Kornacki said. “That gave us some comfort that they would be able to build the system and provide the service we needed in a short period of time.”

The results

Although each location originally opened with two registers, the company added an additional register to each of the two higher-volume locations. Overall, the locations process a total of about 26,000 transactions per week. Sales at two of the locations are expected to average in the range of $2 million per year, while the third will average in the range of $1 million per year.

The system allows Hudson to accept Dunkin gift cards and coupons as well as incorporate Dunkin’s national programs, giving consumers the same experience they would have at a standalone Dunkin location. The company continues to add new features to the system.

“NEXTEP certainly understood our focus and worked very diligently with us,” Kornacki said. “They have been very persistent about working with the system to ensure that it does everything we want.”

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which struck the New York area in late October 2012, the news cafes were the only businesses open in Penn Station for several days. The outlets processed several hundred transactions a day providing food to first responders.

Hudson plans to incorporate the NEXTEP POS in all future Dunkin’ Donuts news cafes. The company is in the process of opening locations in airports in Dallas/Ft. Worth, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Greenville, S.C.

“We have been very pleased with how quickly NEXTEP got this up and running,” Kornacki said. “We are committed to this relationship for the long term.”

About the sponsor: NEXTEP SYSTEMS, based in Troy, Mich., provides a complete suite of integrated foodservice tech¬nology solutions for grocery stores, restaurants, casinos, airports and other high-volume foodservice venues. From self-order to point of sale to digital signage, NEXTEP provides and supports the complete integrated foodservice platform.

NEXTEP saw a number of technological accomplishments in 2012, most notably the finishing touches on its cloud based restaurant Point Of Sale (POS), the first fully integrated cloud based POS on the market. The company was also awarded its first patent, with six more already in process.

Though its business focuses on several distinct verticals, NEXTEP had exceptional success with new restaurant sales, and with corporate cafeteria sales in partnership with major management companies Sodexo, ARAMARK, and Compass Group.

“It was an exciting year for NEXTEP,” says Tommy Woycik, President of NEXTEP SYSTEMS. “I could not be more pleased to see the growth we’ve made not only financially, but as a dynamic team. It’s also great to know that we can continue to deliver amazing customer service while improving the product suite through significant expansion into new accounts.”

As the company continued to grow, NEXTEP hired new employees to fill much-needed positions in their infrastructure. The company saw staff increase by 20% in 2012, and expects similar increases again in 2013.

This year also promises more product innovation. NEXTEP is accelerating development of its mobile and tablet ordering solutions, extending support to platforms beyond iOS, namely Android and Windows Phone 8.

NEXTEP SYSTEMS features the world’s first fully integrated technology solution for foodservice industries. Its cloud based point of sale is the cornerstone of their fully integrated product suite that includes digital menu boards, self order kiosks and tablets, the World’s Fastest Drive Thru™, kitchen management, and a host of online management tools.

About NEXTEP SYSTEMS:
NEXTEP SYSTEMS, based in Troy, Michigan, is the leading provider of foodservice technology for restaurants, airports, casinos, convenience stores, grocery stores, educational facilities, and sporting venues. Founded in 2005, NEXTEP is the industry’s only turnkey provider of integrated solutions including Point of Sale, Self Order Kiosks, Online Ordering, Dynamic Digital Menu Displays™, World’s Fastest Drive Thru™, smartphone ordering, iPad touch screen kiosks, and iPod employee ordering.

For more information, please contact:
Tommy Woycik
President, NEXTEP SYSTEMS
866.654.8730

Read the Cherokee Nation Entertainment case study here.
Self Order Kiosks Help Casino Feed Its Employees
Cherokee Nation Entertainment feeds its casino staff 24/7 with the help of self-order kiosks from NEXTEP SYSTEMS.
By Richard Slawsky | Contributing writer FastCasual.com

The players

NEXTEP SYSTEMS, based in Troy, Mich., provides a complete suite of integrated foodservice technology solutions for grocery stores, restaurants, casinos, airports and other high-volume foodservice venues. From self-order to point of sale to digital signage, NEXTEP provides and supports the complete integrated foodservice platform.

Cherokee Nation Entertainment is the retail, gaming, entertainment, hospitality and cultural tourism entity of the Cherokee Nation. CNE operates casinos in Tulsa, Claremore, Roland, West Siloam Springs, Fort Gibson, Sallisaw and Tahlequah, as well as the Cherokee Travel Plaza, two Cherokee Outpost convenience stores, six retail tobacco shops, four gift shops, two golf courses and three hotels. The company recently completed a $155 million expansion of its flagship resort property in Tulsa, which is now branded as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. The company currently employs more than 3,500 people throughout northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas.

The challenge

With eight casino properties operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it’s important for Cherokee Nation Entertainment to take care of its employees, especially when it comes to providing meal breaks. Due to the size and location of its properties, it’s simply not feasible for the company to expect employees to walk to the parking lot, get in their cars and drive to an outside food vendor.

Not only does that limit the time employees can spend enjoying their breaks, it has the potential to cause operational problems due to employees who might be late returning to work from a trip off the property. With 3,500 employees leaving the operation to visit a nearby food outlet, the odds of one of those employees getting into a traffic accident or even having car trouble while they are away are high.

The company already has extensive foodservice options throughout its properties to serve guests, so providing meals to employees was a logical step. Doing so, however, introduced other issues that needed to be addressed. The main issue was that, as a largely cash-based operation, the company has rules in place prohibiting employees from carrying cash while at work.

“Many of the employees’ uniforms don’t have pockets, so it’s difficult for those employees to carry credit or debit cards,” said Dave Surritte, manager of operational systems and support for Cherokee Nation Entertainment. “We really needed to have a way to deal with those concerns.”

The solution

When Cherokee Nation Entertainment talked with its point-of-sale vendor about what it hoped to accomplish with employee dining areas, that vendor suggested self-order kiosks from NEXTEP SYSTEMS.

“The vendor told us they had worked with NEXTEP before and the company had a good product,” Surritte said. “We talked with NEXTEP and we liked what we saw.”

The kiosks allow employees to select their meal choices via the kiosks’ graphical interface, allowing even those without a command of written English to place an order. A card reader allows employees who choose to pay via credit or debit card to swipe and pay at the kiosk.

At the company’s main Hard Rock property, offerings include an array of cafeteria-style options such as meat loaf, fried chicken and a salad bar. At the company’s smaller properties, employees can order food from the guest-directed foodservice operations at reduced prices.

A major selling point for CNE, however, was the fact that employees also have the option of swiping employee ID cards and entering a PIN to pay for meals through automatic payroll deduction.

“It’s convenient for the employees, because they don’t have to worry about spending their break leaving the property or having to have cash to eat meals,” Surritte said. “It’s convenient for us because it keeps employees on the property during their breaks and allows us to provide meals at prices better than what they could receive from an off-site restaurant.”

The results

Cherokee Nation Entertainment deployed NEXTEP kiosks at its flagship Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa property in 2010. Since then, the company has deployed the system in three other properties, and plans to install it in its four other properties in the near future.

“We deployed the system in our second-largest property last year,” Surritte said. “We expanded two other properties this year, and when we did we installed the NEXTEP kiosks.”

The biggest benefits, Surritte said, are the ease of use of the system, its simplicity and the fact that it interfaced easily with the company’s existing systems.

“There was a benefit all the way around, from the convenience for the employees to the ability of the payroll department to process transactions to giving us the ability to meet audit standards by not having employees carry cash,” Surritte said. “The people at NEXTEP have really stepped up and helped us deal with any issues we faced.”

About the sponsor: NEXTEP SYSTEMS, based in Troy, Mich., provides a complete suite of integrated foodservice technology solutions for grocery stores, restaurants, casinos, airports and other high-volume foodservice venues. From self-order to point of sale to digital signage, NEXTEP provides and supports the complete integrated foodservice platform.

Cloud Based POS Systems:Top Five Advantages of a Cloud Based POS

Adoption of a cloud based POS system has been long in coming; the basic model for a restaurant POS system has not changed in decades. This setup – which can surprisingly still be seen in many new bars and restaurants – typically consists of a POS terminal equipped with a cash drawer for entering and processing cash transactions; a server located on premise to store transaction data, manage the POS terminals and conduct reporting & inventory; and a separate terminal for credit card processing that runs on a dedicated line.

This antiquated “standard” relies heavily on the hardware and software that is initially installed which can be costly for operators to purchase and maintain. This system also proves to be cumbersome when bugs in the software need to be fixed, with updates and patches occurring infrequently, usually from quarterly to annually. While these restaurant POS systems may have been great at the time that they were introduced, they are increasingly losing their relevance with readily available cloud storage and faster internet speeds. Tragically, there are still POS manufacturers who offer these “bargain” legacy systems, but what is perhaps even more disappointing is that there are restaurateurs who still buy them.

Today, the best POS systems for restaurants are cloud based POS systems. Web based point of sale systems offer a myriad of advantages to include:

1. Web based configuration allows the operator to run their business from anywhere
2. Real time reports and alerts
3. Zero effort, real-time software updates
4. Smaller footprint with less hardware on premise makes failures easy to fix within hours instead of days
5. Support teams can quickly and easily troubleshoot problems remotely

As with any new technology, there are some cloud based POS systems that are better than others. Some web based POS systems are tablets and totally cloud dependent; the tablets pull everything from the cloud with little or no processing performed locally. While these may be portable, trendy and stylish, there is still a problem with transaction speed and these systems have 100% reliance on a constant, stable internet connection. The likelihood of the internet going down is very high compared to the likelihood of hardware failure or even a power outage, and transactions have to “run the loop” which may not be ideal for high-volume concepts. The bottom line is, your web based POS still needs to perform when the internet goes out and transactions need to be quick for the guest.

NEXTEP POS is a cloud based POS system that is the best POS system for restaurants featuring the advantages of a dedicated, on premise system, and the convenience and up to the minute management of a web based point of sale. You can manage your entire concept from any internet point, yet our stable, enterprise scalable solution still functions flawlessly when the internet is down. Contact NEXTEP and schedule your demonstration and see why we’re setting the bar for web based POS systems.

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