An upgrade to 3Business Broadband Advanced has helped restaurant business Gourmet Food Parlour to meet its growing connectivity needs. “Having a decent connection is imperative to our business,” says digital marketing executive Jack Gilham. And with four restaurants in Dublin and one in Galway, the company faced mounting challenges when it came to keeping staff and customers connected.
Those challenges begin at the moment a customer gets in touch to make a booking. “Our reservations team might get a query about a booking and, at a busy time for the restaurants, the customer would potentially not hear back instantly: that risks the loss of the booking,” says Gilham. “This is something that no restaurant can afford.”
When customers were dining in one of the restaurants there were times when connecting to the wi-fi was a problem. “When it got to our busier periods not everyone was able to connect due to demand,” he adds.
3Business Broadband Advanced was identified as the solution to the issue following discussions with Three. “This superfast 5G solution is ideal for any business wanting to stay connected in multiple ways and in this case across multiple sites,” says Three head of SME Padraig Sheerin. “This was the ideal solution for Gourmet Food Parlour. Things move quickly in business, and Business Broadband Advanced is designed to be installed as quickly as possible to get a business up and running without interruption.”
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He says that people have two options with the product. “It’s very straightforward. Customers can self-install the service by setting up the modem and connecting their devices. They are up and running straight away. With the advanced product a technician installs a small box, which is about the same size as a domestic alarm box, on the outside of the building to house an antenna. They then run a wire into the building to connect with the router. Customers can then use that for local area connections or wi-fi connections. Customers love it. Once it’s installed they start asking if it’s available at their home or other business locations.”
The restaurants now have access to far higher capacity and speeds than they had previously. “We use instant messaging quite a lot with the restaurants, so we have instant access between restaurants and our reservations team,” says Gilham.
This allows the teams to manage bookings quickly, ensuring customers aren’t left waiting to find out if, and where, they can book, he says. That means less dwell time and more bookings.
Those dining in now find it easier to connect to the wi-fi uninterrupted too. “Whether they are taking pictures of their food or browsing the web, diners can connect to the wi-fi without delay during the busiest periods like weekday lunch or weekend brunch,” says Gilham.
The solution is also supporting innovation at Gourmet Food Parlour. “The restaurant experience has changed because of Covid,” says Gilham. “Some people have become familiar with using QR codes for menus. Others prefer the traditional paper menus. While we won’t be phasing out one or the other, 5G helps us serve our customers.”
Speed is critically important, according to Sheerin. “We’ve come a long way from the old 56kb modems through ISDN, ADSL, 3G, 4G and now 5G. There is just no comparison between 5G and its forerunners,” he says. “Speaking from personal experience, when I do tests I get download speeds of between 500 and 600Mb at the busiest period of the day.
“Of course speeds can vary for multiple reasons. They depend on the distance from the 5G mast, whether you are using a wi-fi or a wired connection, the speed of the device being used – but it’s right up there with the best fixed-line connections. We are very proud of our rating from Ookla which confirms that Three’s 5G service continues to be the fastest in the country.”
Flexibility is also important with the solution allowing customers to scale up and down as they need. “We hope to open another site soon and we’ll be looking to add that to our plan as soon as we need it,” says Gilham.
5G availability is potentially transformative for businesses and individuals around the country, says Sheerin. “We have been investing in building and growing our 5G network for several years, and we now have 86 per cent population coverage. That means lots of people around the country are no longer dependent on access to fixed-line connections. This changes the game completely. It doesn’t require expensive cable runs or trench digging, and it enables many more people to get superfast broadband regardless of where they are located.”