St Mary's University College has around 4000 students of which 700 are resident and are on a catered meal plan. The College also offers its staff (600) a subsidised meal plan. The Catering Service is 'In-house' and looks after all food and beverage requirements on campus.
There are three main outlets on campus: The Refectory Main dining area, Dolche Vita espresso bar and Bernie's Bar. There is also a satellite bar in the Billiards Room (Old House) which is used for events.
St. Mary's required an EPOS, Cashless Payment and Stock system to effectively control the catering business and provide a much more rewarding experience for its customers.
The tender brief stated that the system must be robust and able to work both online and offline offering all our customers greater flexibility, faster service and control over how they spend their money on campus. Also a system that cashiers can operate effectively and allows management to control and update regularly. The chosen system must integrate with Kinetics, the finance system (Unit 4 QLx) and OCCAM student record system.
MCR Systems once again were successful in winning the contract based on thorough comprehensive tender documentation, positive and informative site visits and their solid credibility in the education sector.
The MCR projects team working closely with the St Mary's IT and Catering team are currently installing the first phase of the solution, comprising of 8 J2 630 colour Touchscreens with Mifare readers for cashless payments, integrated Vx820 contactless payment chip and pin terminals, cashless payment for catered students and staff with web funds loading via Web Page Marketing along with the centrally hosted web enabled Metro Symphony software.
"We are in the implementation phase of this cashless EPOS project and are excited about the capabilities of these new tills. There are some excellent systems in the market but we believe that MCR is the right service partner for us. MCR has a solid reputation in the Education sector and this was backed up when we spoke to various universities who run their systems. From the day we made our first enquiry, right through the Tender process and now in the implementation phase, MCR have been very responsive and offer excellent service and support. As we build the till systems with MCR, we look forward to seeing happy staff, happy students and hopefully a happy accountant!"
Nikhil Santos, Catering services at St Mary's