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Fifteen years is a long time in hospitality. Long enough to see booking diaries replaced by software, cash give way to cards, and Instagram transform how diners discover restaurants.
But while the restaurant industry has changed dramatically since Sydney steak house Osso first opened its doors in 2009, director and group general manager Tristan Cassell says the most important things haven’t changed much at all.
“We’ve tried to keep really true to who we are as we’ve grown.”
At Osso, that means great steak remains the main event. Across the group’s restaurants in Penrith, Campbelltown, Rouse Hill and Miranda, diners can choose from an extensive menu that ranges from wagyu to a 500-day-aged sirloin – with all steak aged on site.
Just as enduring is the restaurants’ relationships to suppliers. “One of our meat suppliers is in Penrith and we’ve worked with them since we opened,” says Tristan. “We know exactly where the product comes from. If we need something, we can pick up the phone and speak directly to them. There’s no sales rep or somebody else in the middle.”
That consistency extends beyond the kitchen. Walk into any Osso venue and you’ll find the same warm service, upbeat energy and modern agrarian aesthetic that have helped build a loyal customer base across Sydney’s west.
Maintaining that consistency across four busy venues requires the right systems behind the scenes – which is where Square comes in. “It’s foolproof and reliable,” says Tristan, who relies on Square’s data to shape menus and drive cost efficiencies. “It’s saved us a huge amount of work each week.”
Built for busy venues
First and foremost, Square is easy to use. “It’s basically unbreakable,” says Tristan, who recalls spending hours updating the restaurants’ menus each season using the group’s previous point-of-sale technology.
With Square, the process is much simpler. “I can get all four sites done in 20 minutes.” Menu-mapping is equally straightforward.
Staff training with Square takes 30 minutes, and taking orders is simple thanks to pre-programmed prompts. “Steaks are a massive part of our menu, and everybody has a different cooking temperature,” says Tristan, who has customised Osso’s Square terminals with pop-ups that prompt staff to ask how diners want their steaks cooked, which sauces they would like as well as details such as how many glasses diners would like with their bottle of wine.
Every second counts
Speed is where Square really excels, says Tristan. Staff are equipped with handheld point-of-sale devices that send orders to the kitchen or the bar within seconds. “They’re really easy to use, and once you hit ‘send’ it prints almost instantaneously.”
That speed matters in a busy restaurant. “For some bigger groups, we can have their drinks on the table while the staff member is still standing there taking the rest of their order.”
Those moments add up, he says. “All those efficiencies realistically add $4 to $5 a head.”
Data that drives sales
It’s one thing to achieve consistent service when you have one restaurant, but with four locations spread across Sydney, tracking performance remotely is vital, says Tristan. “It’s not as though I can just pop down for a couple of hours every day to check and see how things are going.”
With Square, Tristan can review daily and weekly performance for each restaurant and across the group, as well as the performance of specific dishes. “Square data has really helped with menu development. We’ll often run specials before they go on the menu, and [Square data] gives us a really good ability to see what’s actually selling.”
It was Square data, for example, that highlighted the popularity of communal dishes at Rouse Hill, and led to the creation of Osso’s iconic “Butcher’s Board”. “That’s now a staple on our menu.”
Reading the room
Tristan doesn’t just review performance at the end of a shift, he can track it in real-time, thanks to an integration between Square and SevenRooms.
A colour-coded tracker helps him see at a glance how many minutes a table has been waiting to be served or how much a group is spending. “So, we can see which tables are spending really big [and] give them a little bit more time. Or we might be able to see that this section of tables isn’t spending much – maybe the staff member needs assistance or further upskilling.”
Making regulars feel remembered
The SevenRooms integration also allows Osso to connect ordering history to diners’ profiles. That means that on any night it’s easy for staff to see who’s celebrating a birthday or whether there are any regulars with favourite food or wine preferences.
“It’s about having a connection with our customers. Everyone likes to feel a bit special,” says Tristan, who explains that knowing someone is celebrating a birthday means staff can wish them happy birthday when they arrive. Similarly, knowing that a particular diner prefers premium wine means staff can offer more relevant recommendations. “It just means we’re not just winging it.”
Capturing new demand
Partnering with Square has also enabled Osso to offer online bookings. “Our food isn’t really an online takeaway product, but [Square’s online ordering] has allowed us to compete a bit more with QSRs,” says Tristan, who explains that staff who work in the Westfield shopping centre at Miranda will often pre-order food from Osso and collect it at lunchtime. “There’s 5000 people working in the shopping centre, and the only place they have to go is a food court. This gives them another option.”
A gateway for new customers
Gift vouchers are another benefit available with Square, and over the past year, Osso has sold more than 400 gift cards.
“They’re really popular at Christmas and for birthdays,” says Tristan, who notes that gift cards are an important way to reach new customers.
As with all Square’s features, gift cards are simple to issue and redeem, he adds. “That’s the thing about Square – it’s really straightforward. It does everything you want it to do, without any extra nonsense. We’ve looked at a lot of [tech] over the years – just different bits of software – and all of them are great, but it’s just so important to be able to do what you want without complicating it.”
