STADIA - MICROS & Emirates Stadium - Nov 2006
One-stop shop: A new hospitality management system provides seamless point-of-sale
MICROS has been providing information technology solutions for the hospitality and retail industries since 1977. Over 200,000 of the company’s systems are currently installed in table and quick-service restaurants, hotels, motels, casinos, leisure, entertainment, and retail operations, in more than 130 countries.
Its newest solution is the 9700 Hospitality Management System (HMS), recently installed at Arsenal’s new Emirates stadium, which seats 60,432. The system was implemented in July 2006 throughout the stadium’s entire hospitality venue, including: the exclusive club level (members only); corporate hospitality boxes; concession outlets; bars; restaurants and kitchens.
Over 590 MICROS electronic point-of-sale terminals, including 104 hand-held units, are used to input and process food and beverage orders – the hand-held units ensure sales can be made from anywhere in the stadium, including the restaurant and bars on the club level. A suite of MICROS software packages provides Arsenal with an integrated solution that can accommodate advanced table reservations in the dining outlets throughout the prestigious club level area of the stadium; manage all conference and banqueting requirements; as well as service all food and beverage requirements in the boxes, including online ordering. The software also tracks and manages inventory levels throughout all food and beverage outlets. In addition, mymicros.net provides near real-time reporting, with web-based, enterprise-wide business intelligence reporting tools to manage the overall food and beverage operations at the stadium.
MICROS 9700 HMS has been designed with a Microsoft backbone, providing high database performance by running on the Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition. The solution is built upon Microsoft Visual Studio.Net, Windows CE.Net, and embedded Visual C++, with Microsoft Server 2003 Enterprise to provide fault tolerance and redundancy via clustering.
“It really changes the flow of the business – you can capitalise on every opportunity,” explains Dave Hoffman, product manager of leisure and entertainment at MICROS. For the US market, Hoffman believes the system is particularly suited to the requirements of suite operators seeking self-service.
“We have a suite application that allows customers to order as much as they like and have it delivered,” explains Hoffman. “As a result, a single suite can be used in different ways for different types of events. The users just have to log on to a website to place their specific orders, and when they arrive on site on the day of the event, everything is ready for them in their suites. We can put some customer-facing technology in place to allow the hosts to re-order from their own suites, if they desire, throughout an event.”
RFID is another area MICROS is interested in developing. “In the next 18 months, I think we’ll find RFID really taking over stadia,” says Hoffman. “At the moment, the problem with enabling customers to place orders on their own cell phones is that we don’t know their location. If we had RFID-enabled devices, which are being built into cell phones today, which give you a way of knowing where the customers are, we could go ahead and allow them to place their own orders.”
For more information on the 9700 Hospitality Management System (HMS) from MICROS, or r to get a quote for any of the MICROS solutions contact us on +44 (0) 1753 536 969 or email mfuksales@micros.com
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