Success story: Hubbox

Hubbox is an essential stop-off for amazing American-inspired street food and great drinks. Starting off in St Ives in 2003 with one restaurant called Hub, they combined their chef’s passion for making the perfect burgers with an obsession for great hospitality and customer service, tapping into the emerging market for casual dining. Since then, they have opened another seven sites across the South West and continue to expand, with plans to grow to 21 sites by 2021.

With a thriving young business and ambitious expansion plans, and having successfully adopted Access EPoS, Hubbox decided to implement both Access People and Access Procure Wizard as its labour and P2P systems.

This upgrade aimed to push closer to their main goal—short, efficient bursts of screen time that enable Hubbox to refocus on customers, product, and staff. Like many other Access customers experiencing rapid growth, Hubbox needed to automate numerous manual processes, equipping staff with the tools to excel across the estate.

The success seen with Access EPoS gave Commercial Manager Jonny Findlay full confidence that implementing additional Access systems was the best move for the business. Having already used Access EPoS for several years, Hubbox found their systems to be reliable and beneficial, and the new implementations have been no exception to this.

In terms of systems, we didn't really have any; we were just relying on bits of paper and pens here and there.

Olly Rainbow - Head Chef

What Access looked to do with Hubbox is enable their managers to really spend their time front of house serving their customers by giving them the tools and data they needed to manage their site without spending hours behind a computer screen inputting data on spreadsheets. 

The nature of our business constantly demands well-planned rotas and quick reactions to changes in sales. With Access, we’ve found a system that can help us deliver the best results.

Jonny Findlay

Using the systems has streamlined many of Hubbox’s processes. The stock module within Access EPoS is especially beneficial because it provides real-time data for everything. You can see sales, identify patterns, track spend per head, and monitor everything really easily. That’s what I love about it,” says Jade Ramage, Operations Manager at Hubbox Truro.

In the kitchen, the software helps Hubbox effectively and efficiently manage their ordering process, cutting waste, improving margins, and allowing for better forward planning. Jonny adds, “Access Procure Wizard has saved us a significant amount of time each week; I would estimate I’ve regained two full days! On top of this, there have been countless other wins since moving to Access Procure Wizard. We can now build menus in advance, using the engineering tools to predict how new dishes will contribute to the overall theoretical GP. We’re holding suppliers to agreed prices, ensuring credits are paid, and keeping all allergens up to date and accurate.

We can control which specific products are available to sites in our markets and link the same product via multiple suppliers to ensure stock is correct, regardless of which supplier is used.” These tools and data are having a tangible impact on Hubbox’s success and profitability.

The beautiful thing about the stock module is that it provides us with precise numbers of items sold, so when it comes to ordering, we know exactly what we need. It has given us crucial data that, now, I would be lost without.

Olly Rainbow - Head Chef

Since first searching for an EPoS, the relationship that the Access team developed with Hubbox has truly enabled them to succeed in implementing the right solutions for their business and continue maximizing the benefits of their software.

Another significant reason I trust signing Hubbox up with Access products is their support team. It’s absolutely top-notch in every sense—great people who care about supporting a great product. I cannot speak more highly of the support teams across our EPoS, labour, and procurement; they’re instrumental in our ongoing evolution of the way we use their systems, and I wouldn’t want to do my job without them!

Jonny Findlay

Well beyond implementation, Access continues to work closely with Hubbox to ensure maximum return on investment from every aspect of the solution.

We’re still learning to leverage more and more of Access People’s benefits every week. The labour optimization tools are something new to us as a young, growing company, but as we learn how to best use the system, we start to see how those tools and features positively affect our business and help us move forward.

Jonny Findlay

Hubbox is also excited about the future of their Access solution, particularly when considering Access Workspace, an innovative product set to give Hubbox managers and staff even more freedom to excel in their roles.