Wally’s Cafe has been a California gem for 18 years. Authentic Lebanese food and consistent one-of-a-kind hospitality have made this restaurant a community staple and a Yelp Top 100 Restaurant for four (non-consecutive) years. The family behind the magic? Father and son duo Wally and Roni Matar. Dad and namesake Wally Matar was originally a dentist in Europe when the separation from Lebanese food and culture began to take root.
“Being away from family and home-cooked meals from his mom and his brothers and sisters, [Wally] ended up practicing his own cooking, and [turns out] he really enjoyed it,” said Roni Matar. After dabbling in a few restaurants in Europe, Wally decided to open Wally’s Cafe in 2007 after moving to the U.S. The restaurant is an ode to Lebanese cuisine, culture, and also to family.
Roni initially became involved with the business over time to simply help support his father’s dream. But when they banded together, Roni sought out some simple operational tweaks that would eventually make a huge impact on the business’s bottom line.
The challenge: Streamlining the chaos of online ordering
When Roni became embedded in the business, he noticed an immediate challenge. The business was using a different system that required the use of several different tablets to operate for online orders. “I would come into the restaurant and I would see [the payment system] on the counter, an Uber Eats tablet, a Grubhub tablet, DoorDash tablet. Then, at one point, we were using Otter to streamline all three tablets, but then Otter wouldn’t work well, so you still have to haveleave all these tablets,” Roni Matar explained.
The tablet mania ultimately made it challenging to resolve customer problems. Because each third-party delivery system had a tablet, whenever customers would call in to voice an issue with their order, Roni had to ask them a series of probing questions to identify which delivery system the issue stemmed from. After a while, the lack of clarity began to impact the customer experience, and he knew it was time for a change. “It was just crazy. I was like, ‘There’s definitely got to be a better way to do this,’” Roni Matar said.
2-3x
increase in online ordering
The solution: Centralizing orders through a consolidated system
Roni examined every POS system on the market and eventually decided to switch the business over to Square for Restaurants, citing the centralized system as the selling point. “My focus was, I want everything on one screen. I don’t want different channels. I don’t want any confusion in the kitchen,” Roni Matar said. “It was just a fully integrated system all in one place. The reporting was also in one place, so it just made everything much easier to manage and handle,” Roni Matar added.
The business also now uses Square Online — and the Square Door Dash integration — for its website and to process online orders, and it’s seen impactful results. “We’ve increased our online ordering by 2 –3x our just by [switching],” Roni Matar said. “Instead of having to figure out which tablet messed up and which integration broke and who do we call, or which customer service line; we have everything under control now,” he explained further.
The impact: Expanding locations with confidence
With centralized business tools and reporting, Roni saw a clear improvement in everything from staffing to his ability to make business decisions. “It just made it much easier also to train staff. You don’t have to train staff how to use six, seven different tablets, as opposed to just, ‘Look, this is our system. That’s how everything comes through,’” Roni Matar explained. With staffing made easier, Roni had one less thing to worry about.
20
hours saved per week
With business reporting simplified, he had fewer less things. “Not having to pull out a calculator to see literally revenue this month. It’s a click of a button, as opposed to getting seven different reports and just crunching the numbers to even get to that. It just saves a lot of time,” said Roni Matar. According to Roni, he saves around 20 hours per week using Square tools. The business ultimately became so seamless and efficient that Wally’s Cafe opened a third location in Costa Mesa in 2024.
When I set up Square and built all these systems, it got to a point where I was like, ‘I think this is becoming a little too easy to open a location, so it almost doesn’t make sense not to do it.’ It’s just literally almost as easy as copy/paste. ”
Roni Matar
With smoother operations and an adaptable system that he can refine and tailor as needed, Roni is considering opening more locations. But the focus isn’t expanding just for the sake of expanding. He’s focused on keeping the story of his father’s dream intact.
“It’s not just like, ‘Wally’s Cafe is open, it’s a Yelp Top 100, come eat, it’s Mediterranean food,’” Roni Matar said. “It’s more about who’s opening this restaurant, why does it matter, and who are these people. That’s what matters to people … It’s just all about the story.”
