How partner collaboration between EVO andPolaris Elements helped enhance Turtle Bay’s guestexperiences

Turtle Bay

With over 40 restaurants across the UK, Turtle Bay is bringing the flair and flavour ofCaribbean food out of the World Food aisle and into the culinary mind-sets of Britishrestaurant goers.Whether it’s bottomless brunch, a special occasion or after-work drinks, their Caribbeaninspired cuisine, reasonably-priced menu and expansive selection of tropical cocktails havemade Turtle Bay a destination in its own right and the leading operator of Caribbeanrestaurants in the world.

Positive engagement at all junctures of thecustomers’ journey

Key to Turtle Bay’s success and growth has been their ability to give a full sense of theirunique vibe while setting guests’ expectation high from the moment they make a bookingwith colourful confirmation emails and tailored content. Inviting imagery of blue skies andwhite sandy beaches compliment the future promise of fiery jerk chicken wings, burgerswith tropical toppings and rum-based, beachside drinks.Balancing that need to then deliver this top-rated customer experience at their reggae-chicinspired outlets while supporting staff within a busy environment meant that Turtle Bayneeded an innovative payment solution. It needed to enhance their customer service whenordering and paying instead of just automating those interactions with point of saletechnology with payment integration.They have found this with EVO Payments and Polaris Elements collaborating to deliver abespoke payments solution that does exactly that. Ben Hibbard, Head of Marketing at TurtleBay, and Neil Westwater, Managing Director of Polaris Elements, discuss how the mPaysolution has benefitted Turtle Bay, their staff and guests.

Payments as a pain point

When reflecting on how well Turtle Bay’s team interact with their guests, Ben notes thattaking payment had historically been an area they wanted to enhance.

“One issue that used to come back from mystery diners, and we all experience when we eatout, is in relation to paying the bill. It can take time to get a server’s attention, and,particularly with us where most of our guests opt to pay with card, there is good bit of backand forth before the bill and card machine are presented to the table.”Not only did payments add friction to customers’ experiences, Turtle Bay’s team also felt aninnovative point of sale system with payment technology would increase the ease ofcarrying out their role.

Ben notes how Turtle Bay looked into ordering and pay at table options but none of theoptions fit with their approach. “We put such an emphasis on engaging with our guests, whywould we want to remove that and make them do the ordering through their phones? Itworks for others but it didn’t suit our business. So, we spoke with Neil from Polaris to seewhat could be done.”

mPay

Neil reflects on how Polaris searched the market to find a fitting solution and, with EVOPayments, they built a bespoke solution through a PAX A920 Pro terminal.mPAY is a ground-breaking SmartPOS terminal that helps increase the speed of servicewhile optimising staff’s time with customers.“Orders are instantly processed on a single device with menu item availability visible on thedevice and integrated with Polaris ePos.”“Staff can take orders on the mPay device and send the order though to the kitchen or bar.At the end of the meal, customers can then pay seamlessly by card with staff carrying themobile device around with them, rather than having to go to a single point of sale unit orthen having to double back for a card terminal.”Easy to set-up and use from the get-go, Neil mentions that the longest part of the process isputting in the WiFi password.

A payment solution adding value to serviceProving hugely popular with Turtle Bay teams and users, mPay has not only streamlinedordering and billing but has added to the ordering experience.“The issues we had are gone now because our team have it in their hands – that ability totake orders and settle bills.”

Polaris data points to huge improvement in efficiencies and Neil offers a story he heard thatsums up how it benefits both customers and staff.“Someone recently told me how they ordered their drinks at a Turtle Bay and just as thewaitress had finished talking them through the menu, the drinks arrived. Without thesolution, staff would have to go to the bar to log the drinks order and lose out on engagingwith customers about their meal.”Ben notes how these kind of interactions are invaluable in maintaining Turtle Bay’s highreputation and brand. “It’s hard to put a figure on it and our teams already do it so well butenabling them to chat a bit more with guests and build that rapport further gives themadded insights into who we are as a brand. This has helped us build on an already industry-leading net promoter score.”

Payment collaboration meeting heightenedcustomer expectation

For Neil, an open and collaborative nexus between merchant, software vendor and paymentservices provider has been key to the solution’s success.“It has become a much more collaborative environment and that’s where you realisesuccess. We’ve gone on a huge journey since we originally started working with Turtle Bay in2009 as a tech supplier. Now, more than ever, demand trickles down from the consumerand drives change.”“Ben and the team speak with their customers who then convert their feedback into arequirement that we work with them to deliver. The technology we’ve created here withEVO, nobody else really does it, and it keeps us as a top service provider by developing thetechnology required by our customers.”Turtle Bay has set themselves apart as industry leaders in the UK’s hospitality sector. Giventhe consideration they give to every step of their customers’ journey, it comes as littlesurprise they resource such effort and thought into meeting their guests’ paymentexperience.  With EVO and Polaris they’ve achieved this with Turtle Bay customers free frominconvenience and distraction to enjoy what the Caribbean outlet does best: Rum, Reggae &Jerk.