Old-school reservation management, without the support of digital tools, limited the service and guest experience at La Table Kobus. Learn how Serge Herscher transformed the daily lives of his staff with ZenchefOS.
"Bistronomic" cuisine in a 1900 brasserie setting My name is Serge Herscher, I am 57 years old, and I plunged into the world of restaurants at the age of 13. Today, I am based in Épernay. The capital of Champagne, it is a small town with a population of 22,000, but has become very touristy since its classification as a UNESCO heritage site, thanks to its landscapes and vineyards. That’s why it’s so interesting to have taken the step with your platform!
I have owned La Table Kobus since December 1996. The establishment offers not only a restaurant service, but also a catering service under the name La Cuisine de Serge. We have a capacity of 60 seats and our menu reflects a semi-gastro/bistronomic style.
The major uniqueness of La Table Kobus lies in the possibility, during the week, to bring your own bottle, thanks to what is called the corkage fee . This uncommon practice in the restaurant sector broadens horizons, especially for Champagne houses that cannot be found elsewhere.
From the use of the paper notebook The organization of the restaurant was done as in the Middle Ages, by means of the good old reservation notebook, with names, phone numbers and sometimes... mistakes. A reservation page with 30 lines is not very practical. Cancellations lead to scribbles, making readability increasingly difficult.
We also faced a significant volume of calls. For months, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the phone could ring non-stop, posing real problems for management and guest reception.
At times, guests would walk in saying: "Even a small table for 2, don't you have one? " But we had to say we were fully booked because, operationally, we were not able to serve them, even if there were available seats inside. Not a great guest experience…
To getting cutting-edge tech Digital tech was something that I’d never been offered. The first proposal I had was Zenchef. It was a revolution for me . The video interview with Amandine was very thorough. I was presented with something that I could understand, even though I am 57 years old (laughs). I'm not from the digital era, it's not my cup of tea, the vocabulary can be quite frightening. But here someone has simplified things to such an extent that after our meeting, Zenchef appeared as an obvious choice , we had to transform our way of working.
