Restaurateurs
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10 Jun, 2024
Starting in 1988 as a classic motorcycle dealer & shop in Cheltenham, Melbourne, The Naked Racer Moto Co has expanded to include a workshop, antique motorcycle museum, the Classic Racer Club and The Naked Racer Café, which “makes the best hollandaise sauce” by day, and transforms into a bustling live music venue and restaurant on weekends.
Photographer and Office Manager Samantha Capol – who started working with owner, Johnny, 10 years ago – says they set up the café, bar and restaurant in 2016 so people could have a bite to eat while they waited for their motorcycle to be serviced. She adds that they have become well-known for their food and live music, and regularly hit a full house of 150 people on Saturday nights.
Capol says they often have a wide range of vintage and classic vehicles out the front of their venue, and they have sold motorcycles to people who have come to the restaurant.
“Half of the café is in the showroom where motorcycles are on display [and] a few people have come to have a coffee, saw a bike that they fell in love with and ended up purchasing it,” she says.
Reducing Labour and Saving Time
Before finding out about ResDiary, Naked Racer Moto Co didn’t have a centralised booking system. If a customer wanted to make a booking, they’d have to call the venue, and a staff-member would write it in the diary. With the venue at capacity on weekends – and functions featuring bookings of 30 people at a time – the team would spend plenty of time figuring out logistics, and juggling tables to fit everyone in.
She says ResDiary has saved time and manual labour that would otherwise be assigned to bookings.
“The diary is very well designed and easy to use and control once you get the hang of it,” Capol says.
“The table management can automatically join two tables of five to put together a table of ten. [In the past] this would have required us to work out how many tables we had, how many were left and make a call in line with our 150 people limit. ResDiary works really well for us, particularly for functions and events [where we’d] have to work out how to fit everyone in.
“It also helps that we can visually see which tables are available on the program.”
Another ResDiary feature that Naked Racer Moto Co makes use of is the contact database, which updates whenever somebody makes a booking.
“Knowing who is a regular customer, and being able to make notes for certain bookings have helped [our] staff know exactly what is going on,” she says.
“The VIP [status alert feature] is also good, as there are customers who come by every week. We know when they’re coming, what they like, and can cater to them from there.”
“The amount of people who use the website to book is insane”
The booking widgets on The Naked Racer Moto Co’s website and social media platforms have also become important features. It has led to more bookings, and provided useful data regarding where bookings are coming from.
“Back in the day, people didn’t want to book online. Now everyone’s used to doing it. Customers might be too busy to pick up a phone, and we sometimes miss calls. Now they go online and book themselves, which is easy to do,” Capol says.
“The booking reminders are also a great feature. We don’t have to contact customers all the time – rather, notifications are sent out automatically.”
And, with staff based overseas, the ability to use the platform from anywhere has proven useful. The team can view the number of tables that are available, and make decisions without having to ask staff on-the-ground to put bookings through.
Capol says the venue is planning to use more of ResDiary’s features once they are able to re-open following COVID-19 restrictions.
“The staff at ResDiary have been extremely helpful with the questions we have had and always provided excellent feedback and responses when asked for help,” she says.
“ResDiary has [helped to] increase the number of bookings, made it a lot easier to manage our bookings and [helped to make] sure none are missed.”
Disclaimer: This guide is general in nature and does not take into account your individual circumstances. Before acting on any information, you should consider whether this is right for your business.
