Karel van Tjops, a specialist ‘low and slow’ barbecue restaurant in Diksmuide with an extensive catering division, opted for Unipage’s kiosk and till system to manage the high staff costs in the hospitality industry. The result: faster service, greater clarity and a system that is fully compliant with the law.
Meat that’s smoked for seventeen hours at 128 degrees requires patience. The guests you serve afterwards, a little less so. Karel knows this better than anyone. As manager of Tjops in Diksmuide, he combines a speciality restaurant serving American low and slow barbecue with a fully-fledged catering division: a four or five food trucks that hit the road every week to festivals, corporate events and private functions throughout Belgium.
That’s a great story. It’s also a complex one. Running two business units, managing a growing team, keeping the books up to date, and serving guests quickly and efficiently. Anyone who has ever run a catering business will recognise the workload that goes hand in hand with it.
Staff costs are one of the heaviest fixed costs in the hospitality industry. This is certainly true for a business like Tjops, where quality and craftsmanship are paramount, yet profit margins are limited. Karel and his business partner began actively considering how they could keep these costs as low as possible without compromising the guest experience.
A self-service kiosk was one of the first ideas to come up. Not a temporary compromise, but a strategic choice: if guests can order and pay for themselves, the staff have more time for what really matters, namely the meat and serving customers on the floor.
The question was not whether they would install a kiosk, but which system would be best suited for the job.
Karel eventually opted for Unipage. A West Flemish company, just like Tjops. That was no coincidence, nor was it a mere afterthought.
"We're from West Flanders too, so I always enjoy working with people from the same region," he says.
Regional ties were a factor in the decision, but that wasn’t the only reason.
The fast delivery, the availability of the team and the range of options offered by the system were the deciding factors. Unipage is not just there to install the system, but to work with the business owner to consider how it can work best for their specific business.
"You need to sit down together and discuss how we can make that system work as well as possible for us," says Karel.
That consultation paid off: after a few phone calls and visits from people who arrived promptly and were always friendly, a tailor-made solution was found.
The Unipage system is based on two pillars at Tjops: the self-service kiosk and the link to the till system.
The kiosk displays the menu with photos. That might sound like a minor detail, but it’s a deliberate choice. Pulled pork, ribs, chicken on a tin: these are dishes with a story, but also dishes that not everyone is immediately familiar with. A dry list of names is simply not enough. With a visual menu, guests can see exactly what they are ordering, which lowers the threshold and speeds up the decision-making process.
Once the order has been placed and paid for, everything runs smoothly. Guests are served their drinks, and fifteen to twenty minutes later the main course is on the table. For a business that operates on a high turnover, this is a real advantage: more guests in an evening, without the need for extra staff.
The integration with the till system is one of the most valuable features for Karel. At the end of the shift, everything is clearly laid out: turnover, orders, and history. And everything complies with Belgian government regulations.
"For us, it’s simply about ease of use," says Karel.
No duplication of effort, no manual checks afterwards.
It is difficult to put into a single figure exactly what Tjops has gained from the Unipage system. It is about speed and efficiency, but also about peace of mind: the certainty that the administration is in order, that the system scales with the business, and that someone is available if there is a question.
Karel is honest about running a business: there have been sleepless nights. But there have also been plenty of wonderful moments. A system that works with you rather than against you makes all the difference.
Reducing staff costs in the hospitality industry starts with reassessing which tasks really require human intervention and which can be automated. The ordering process is a good example of this: when guests order and pay independently via an ordering screen, staff have more time to focus on serving and kitchen duties. Karel van Tjops in Diksmuide chose a self-service kiosk from Unipage, linked to a POS system, for precisely that reason. The result was smoother service with fewer manual tasks at the counter.
Fixed costs in the hospitality industry consist largely of rent, energy and staff costs. Of these three, staff costs are the most variable and therefore the most controllable. Business owners who focus on efficient work processes, such as an integrated ordering and till system from Unipage, can serve more guests with the same team. This increases turnover per hour worked without a proportional rise in labour costs.
Faster service starts with a smooth ordering process. When guests don’t have to wait at the counter but can order independently via a screen, a major bottleneck is eliminated. The order goes straight to the kitchen, payment is processed immediately and staff can focus on serving. At Tjops in Diksmuide, the average waiting time after ordering is between fifteen and twenty minutes, even on busy evenings.
In Belgium, hospitality businesses are required to use a registered cash register system, known as the ‘white cash register system’. Unipage’s integrated system, in which the kiosk and cash register are linked, ensures that all transactions are automatically recorded and reported. This provides the business owner with a complete overview at the end of each shift, without the need for manual input or the risk of errors.
A food truck or catering company often involves multiple locations, rotating teams and different customer segments. A POS system that is mobile and centralised helps to keep track of turnover, orders and reporting. Karel van Tjops manages both his permanent business and the catering activities of his food trucks from a single system , which gives him peace of mind when it comes to operational monitoring.
What do I need to know as a hospitality business owner before investing in a digital ordering system?
A digital ordering system works best if you have a clear idea in advance of what you want to achieve with it: fewer staff at the till, faster throughput, better reporting or a combination of all three. Discuss this in detail with the Unipage POS supplier so that the system can be tailored to the specific operations of your business. Every business is unique, and a good system adapts to that rather than the other way round.
Tjops is a barbecue concept with a niche focus: the trucks are authentic American, the team is growing, and the catering business requires its own specific planning. The Unipage system fits into this perfectly as a practical and reliable partner working behind the scenes: one that doesn’t need to be told how the hospitality industry works.
For other business owners thinking about how to streamline their service and manage their staff costs, Karel’s message is simple: have a chat, and work together to find what works for your business.
Request a free demo and take your time to see which modules best suit your concept.
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