Highlights — TLDR

1. Unique Pub Concept and Growth: Leo’s Group, founded in 2013, started with Leopold’s Tavern in Regina, focusing on a friendly dive bar atmosphere. They rapidly expanded, adding more taverns and restaurant brands.

2. Reluctance Turned Necessity for Delivery: Initially hesitant about delivery due to their focus on in-house experience and booze sales. The COVID-19 pandemic forced Leo’s Group to pivot to delivery and takeout as primary revenue sources.

3. Operational Transformation with Deliverect: Deliverect was crucial in managing high-volume orders from multiple delivery platforms, integrating them directly into Leo’s Group’s POS system, saving time, and streamlining operations.

4. Improved Efficiency and Data Management: The integration allowed for more efficient kitchen operations, easier menu management, and better data tracking, significantly increasing the Group’s capacity to handle orders.

5. Continued Embrace of Delivery Post-Pandemic: The success of the delivery model during the pandemic convinced Leo’s Group to continue offering delivery services even as restaurants return to total capacity, recognizing it as a valuable additional revenue stream.

Leo’s Group is convinced to stick with the delivery after success with Deliverect.

Leo’s Group was founded by five friends in 2013, with the opening of the first Leopold’s Tavern in Regina, Saskatchewan. The idea was to create a laidback hangout they would want to frequent. The focus was on excellent service and a down-to-earth atmosphere. 

“They found a small pub in Regina and wanted it to be a traditional dive bar,” reveals Director of Corporate Affairs for the Group Carly Gowan, “Like a basement hangout, you would have in your own home – with pub food, comfort food. It was wildly successful, and they quickly realized it was filling a niche, so they opened an additional bar in Regina and then expanded to different cities and provinces.”

The Group has since grown into a restaurant management company that creates unique, comfortable spaces for several restaurant brands. Having just opened its 13th Leopold’s Tavern with one Victoria Tavern and two Güd Eats locations, the company is still growing and thriving.

Forced into delivery by Covid-19

The Group’s success was built upon exceptional levels of service, the unique settings, and the good vibes of the restaurants, so delivery didn’t make much sense to them at first. 

“Before Covid, we were very hesitant,” Carly explains, “We did everything we could not to do delivery and takeout. We always said it wasn’t something we wanted to do because we wanted people to come in-store.” 

There were many reasons for this. As Carly explains, “What makes Leopold’s successful is people love the experience when they come in. We welcome people as they come through the door, and we’re engaging – all our staff are hired for their personalities. We have an enjoyable and inclusive environment in the stores, which you don’t get unless you’re there.”

She continues: “The other bigger point is that we make our money on booze sales because we’re a pub, and we don’t get to sell you pints if you’re not in the restaurant. We also have tiny footprint restaurants, so our kitchen spaces are very tight.”

She explains why they didn’t want to offer delivery: “We were busy enough as it was, our restaurants were super successful, and we didn’t even really see the need. And we wanted customers in the restaurant rather than eating the food at home.”

But then Covid-19 struck, and the restaurants were suddenly unable to open for dine-in guests. The team had no other choice but to offer delivery and takeout.

“We went with Deliverect right away,” Carly recalls, “We just knew there was no way we would be able to keep up with the pace without having orders directly integrated into our POS.”

The team used Deliverect to manage orders coming in from SkipTheDishes, DoorDash, and Uber Eats, and soon enough, the model turned out to be so successful that it changed their minds about delivery.

“During Covid, delivery has been game-changing for us,” Carly tells us, “It’s filled a gap. We’re reverting to 50% capacity. It’s really allowed us to make additional revenue we needed to make to survive and get through.”

"Deliverect speeds up everybody’s jobs, from our office staff who are updating those menus, through to our kitchen staff who are making the food, to our front-of-house staff who don’t have to punch in the orders." - Carly Gowan, Director of Corporate Affairs

Delivery would have been impossible without Deliverect

Carly explains that several of Deliverect’s key features made it possible to offer delivery in challenging circumstances.

“We do such a high volume of food, and we sell a lot through Deliverect,” She says, “So adding the additional front-of-house labor of manually punching in orders was just too time-consuming. We just wouldn’t have been able to keep up with it. That was our biggest challenge, and Deliverect solved that for us. It also enabled us to be more streamlined in how the orders were coming in and how we could control them.”

The POS integration freed up front-of-house staff to deliver the brand’s outstanding service levels and made things easier in other areas of the business. 

“It’s not just on the operational side,” Carly adds. “On the data entry, system side, sending menus to all three delivery partners has been amazing. It made it much easier for us than managing all those stores individually because we would be doing all 13 taverns individually, times three!”

Exceptional service makes the difference.

Carly reveals that Deliverect’s incredible one-on-one support had a personal effect on her: “I’ve never been more frustrated in my entire life than when I’m having to deal with delivery apps. Having [support rep] Daniel being able to help me and answer those questions has been amazing! We got help multiple times a day for a long time.”

“The service with Deliverect has been super, super great,” She adds, “It just made getting onto those delivery services that much easier. It was a game-changer when we were able to integrate with SkipTheDishes. So that was a huge bonus.”

"Adding the additional front-of-house labor of manually punching in orders was just too time-consuming. We just wouldn’t have been able to keep up with it. That was our biggest challenge and Deliverect really solved that for us."

Deliverect enables Leo’s Group to take 10 times more orders.

 Carly sums up the most significant benefits of using Deliverect for Leo’s Group: “The menu management and not having to punch in orders were the biggest time save...having all of that integrated, immediately pushing orders through to the kitchen, chits auto-sending has been helpful. I honestly don’t think we’d be able to do it without the integration. That’s the number one reason we can continue with it.” 

In closing, Carly says that without the support and time-saving features of Deliverect, they wouldn’t have been able to offer delivery. But now, they will continue to provide it even when the restaurants are back to total capacity. 

“Deliverect has increased our efficiency, and the integration makes it so we’re able to take probably 10 times the orders we’d be able to without it,” Carly reveals, “It speeds up everybody’s jobs, from our office staff who are updating those menus, through to our kitchen staff who are making the food, to our front-of-house staff who don’t have to punch in the orders.”

“Now we’re seeing it as this great additional revenue stream,” She concludes, “Even when we’re back at 100%, we want to continue with it because we’re seeing significant growth there, and we’re excited about it.”