The restaurant is more than its transactions
A regular guest walks into a favorite restaurant and gets asked whether this is their first visit. Nothing has broken. The reservation exists, the table is ready and the payment system will work later. Yet something important has been missed.
That gap between processing a visit and recognizing a person runs through Beck and Chad’s conversation with Koen Lavrijssen of Winston POS at RetailNOW. Lavrijssen describes a product shaped by his years working in restaurants, especially table-service settings. He remembers systems that seemed organized around bookkeeping rather than the experience staff were trying to create.
His alternative begins with the kind of hospitality the venue wants to deliver. A quick-service visit and a long fine-dining meal do not have the same rhythm. A system designed to support one should not assume that the other is simply a slower transaction.
For an operator evaluating technology, this suggests a useful opening question: what does good service look like here? Define the moments the team wants to handle well before examining how the software supports them. A feature list becomes easier to evaluate when it is attached to a real guest journey.
Small reminders can protect the experience
Lavrijssen gives the example of a notification when a table has gone without attention for a period of time. The purpose is to help staff notice and check on the guests. It is a small intervention, but one that relates directly to the feeling of being looked after.
He also discusses guest relationship management, including information connected with reservations, ordering and loyalty. The intended benefit is continuity: recognizing returning people and understanding previous visits. He describes both Winston’s own capabilities and working with other providers, rather than claiming the entire experience must live inside one product.
The challenge he identifies is collecting useful information without getting in the way of staff or guests. A busy floor is a poor place to add a separate administrative ritual. The information needs to support service naturally enough that the team can use it while still paying attention to the person in front of them.
A practical test follows from that observation. Ask a server to walk through the relevant moment, such as greeting a returning party or noticing a table that needs attention. Where does the information appear? Is it understandable? Can someone act on it without abandoning the interaction? Those questions connect the demonstration to the restaurant’s actual work.
A good introduction is more than a discount
Chad asks about the little details that can change a visit. Lavrijssen recalls a restaurant experience from years earlier: after an enjoyable meal, a guest could send a friend a letter that included a bottle of wine on a future visit. He presents it as an example of hospitality extending through a personal introduction.
The distinction matters. He is recounting an experience that informed his thinking, not announcing that every Winston installation includes that exact program. The idea is to make a recommendation feel like a gift from one person to another rather than an anonymous promotional message.
For an operator, the practical application is to start with the relationship the gesture is meant to support. What would a delighted guest genuinely want to share? How would the restaurant welcome the recipient? What work does the team need to do to make the promise feel personal when it is redeemed?
Technology can help carry information between those moments. The human meaning still needs to be designed. A well-recorded referral is useful; a welcome that feels thoughtful is the reason the referral might matter.
Find partners who understand the fit
Winston’s move toward the U.S. market also grew through relationships. Lavrijssen says hardware and channel contacts encouraged the company to explore an opportunity that had not initially been on its near-term roadmap. RetailNOW became a place to demonstrate the product and meet potential partners.
He is candid about the challenge of finding the right ones. Some prospective dealers wanted to place the product into many kinds of venue, while the company had a clearer understanding of where it worked best. Growing through a channel still requires choices about fit. Saying yes to every opportunity can stretch a smaller organization beyond the work it is prepared to support.
He describes dealer meetings, shared meals, product sessions and efforts to bridge time zones. He also distinguishes remote support tools from the physical relationships restaurants may still need. Resolving something remotely can avoid an unnecessary trip; it does not eliminate every reason for a local person to visit.
The product’s name reflects the same philosophy. Lavrijssen says the team imagined a classic butler helping the venue run smoothly while leaving the final act of service to the host. That is a useful ambition for restaurant technology: organize enough of the background that the people delivering hospitality can remain present in the foreground.
