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Versatile POS supports expansion for Mexico City barbecue entrepreneurs

The success of their first restaurant encouraged the owners of Pinche Gringo to open a second restaurant in 2017. An enhanced customer display system enabled the restaurants to keep pace with increasing traffic and allowed for more creative in-store marketing.

A versatile customer display system welcomes customers to Pinche Gringo as Abel Adan Solis Flores prepares orders. Photo courtesy of Pinche Gringo.

July 25, 2018 by Elliot Maras — Editor, Kiosk Marketplace & Vending Times

Partners Dan DeFossey and Roberto Luna Aceves did not realize how quickly American style barbecue would take off in Mexico City when they launched their first restaurant, Pinche Gringo Patio, in 2013.

As noted in part one of this two-part series, customers were receptive to the fare, which the partners highlighted with an emphasis on American culture through décor and an American food trailer that functioned as the kitchen and serving counter.

DeFossey also credits the point-of-sale system with enabling them to meet increasing levels of traffic as the restaurant's popularity grew. Customer count can be as high as 1,000 people on any given night.

American barbecue fare has proven to be a big hit for Pinche Gringo in Mexico City.

The success of the first restaurant in a middle class section of the city encouraged the partners to open a larger space in a more upscale part of town.

In May 2017, they opened their second restaurant, Pinche Gringo Warehouse, in a 37,000-square-foot building with 180 seats.

Another turning point came in late 2017 when the partners introduced the Revel Systems enhanced customer display system, which is designed to provide more transparency and accuracy at the point of sale.

The system can promote special offers and display explanatory images and animations to offer customers a visual representation of the various food options.

This has saved both customers and staff a lot of time since it is no longer necessary for servers to explain menu items. The system also allows the restaurant to offer loyalty rewards.

Enhanced marketing

Customers, for their part, are able to see their order as it is being entered, and can make changes on the touchscreen. They can also sign and tip on the screen and receive paperless receipts.

"The customer display screens give us the ability to market some of the events and other products that we're offering at that point in time, and people are surprised by the way they can order in one place and then when they arrive, their order is waiting for them," DeFossey said.

Mauricio Eddy Hernandez, left, and Jorge Cetina Ramirez serve Pinche Gringo fare at a festival in Mexico City.

On Valentine's Day, the partners run an annual food promotion comprised of a heart-shaped meat dish presented on a wooden board.

In the past, Pinche Gringo promoted the special with promotional flyers in display stands, but these looked cheap and cafeteria-like, and the previous year's sales had been pretty meager.

This year, though, they were able to send promotional graphics to the POS screen by taking a picture on a phone and uploading it to the POS through the back-end management console.

The remote upload capability also enables instant graphical updates to the POS without the need to be onsite at the location.

A promotion that had previously taken as much as 30 minutes to set up now took about five seconds. More importantly, the increased customer awareness delivered a 200 percent increase in sales over the previous year.

The partners are now looking forward to utilizing the customer display system for future promotions, including their Super Bowl extravaganzas and Halloween parties. There will be less emphasis on promotional marquees and printed materials.

The partners also plan to launch a customer loyalty program and introduce other features such as emailed receipts and customer surveys.

For DeFossey and Luna Aceves, state-of-the-art display technology has played a key role in introducing Mexico City residents to Texas style barbecue.

Photos courtesy of Pinche Gringo.

About Elliot Maras

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Elliot Maras is the editor of Kiosk Marketplace and Vending Times. He brings three decades covering unattended retail and commercial foodservice.