Boasting an impressive collection of restaurant & cocktail bars, the House of Pocket Group has a knack for crafting some of Sydney’s most loved bar venues.
With familiar names like Stitch Bar, Pocket Bar Terrigal, and their latest edition, Kasippu, each venue is distinguished by its unique brand and customer experience. But one thing’s for sure—what unites them all is the exceptional service and mouth-watering food and drink offerings.
President of Independent Bar Association NSW and Vice President of YCK Laneways, House of Pocket group CEO Karl Schlothauer knows the importance of efficiency when it comes to operating multiple bar venues. We spoke to the hospitality veteran about how he sets his team up for success.
The struggle to find enough hours in the day
With three bustling venues, giving enough love to everything that goes into making a venue successful remains one of the biggest challenges for the House of Pocket group.
“Where do you begin, there is just not enough time in the day to address all things equally”
One of the team’s most time consuming tasks involve answering the numerous daily phone calls from customers, enquiring about making reservations, opening hours, upcoming events, promotions and more.
With the group focused on providing an excellent experience for customers, the phone consistently ringing off the hook can take away from the service received in-house.
The priceless addition of Sadie AI
With the integration of Now Book It’s Sadie, AI receptionist at all Karl’s venues, the team have now switched their focus back to in house customers, business operations and maximising turnover
“We use her for everything, not only does she take bookings, she answers all questions about promotions, access information, gigs and all the other things people call for that take our staff off the floor”
Over the past month, Sadie answered an impressive 439 calls for the group. With each call lasting an average of 1 minute 30 seconds, House of Pocket has gained over 660 minutes back in their roster monthly. This newly freed time allows the venues to focus on giving their attention to other aspects of the business and get the team back to serving.
In the group’s humming venues, the gift of time is priceless—reclaiming 660 minutes of labour monthly has provided a transformative advantage, and a newfound efficiency to each venue.
Empowered to innovate with continuous support
Integrating new systems & adapting to change can be a daunting task. However, with a pain-free setup and direct access to dedicated support, the House of Pocket group was confident incorporating Sadie would be seamless with the Now Book It team.
“The setup was pretty easy and the support is great, having a number to call makes it super handy to resolve problems quickly”
This continuous support from Now Book It has allowed the group to hit the ground running when adding Sadie into their venue’s daily operation – providing the confidence needed to welcome their new AI assistant with open arms.
“Embrace change, AI is going to enable our industry to do big things and it’s going to be mind blowing. I never have to worry about missing a phone call, with Sadie never being hungover or calling in sick—I can rely on her every day”
Enhancing customer service with Sadie
With full access to their Sadie AI dashboard, the venues can listen to every phone call answered by Sadie, quickly update the knowledge base & ensure all common questions are resolved swiftly.
“It’s great looking through the call log and seeing people’s questions being answered”
The dashboard allows you to easily see a snapshot of the subject of each call & its outcome. This could be a simple Q&A, a reservation put directly into your Now Book It diary, an amended booking or a call being transferred to a team member. You can also listen to Sadie in action with your customers, ensuring you still have full control over the customer journey at your venue.
“We all know, that the true love of every hospitality worker is interacting with people & since the addition of Sadie, the teams at all House of Pocket venues have been empowered to focus on the heart of hospitality – customers”
Reach out now to learn more about how Now Book It and Sadie AI can help your venue gain back precious time & enhance your customer’s experience.
Book a table at a House of Pocket’s venue here.
