Nimax Theatres serves up a seamless guest experience

Despite the rich heritage of the theatres that date back to 1889, Nimax, which was established in 2005, has brought its technology bang up to date since teaming up with Zonal.

We all know that queuing for a drink during the interval can be time-consuming and was something Nimax was keen to resolve with an EPoS solution that could manage its 40,000 plus weekly footfall.

The search for a suitable EPoS partner was brought into sharp focus back in 2016 when The Palace was chosen to become the home of the award winning Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2.  To meet the unique demands of the play that runs over two performances and create a magical experience beyond the stage, the 1,400 seat theatre had to undergo a complete refurbishment from the stage to the bar areas.

“A total sell out, often with two performances in a day, meant we had to reimagine our bar areas to manage the unusually large number of people visiting both performances, so it was the ideal time to update our technology to optimise the trading opportunity,” explained Nimax’s customer experience manager, James Charlton.

Having asked contacts in the hospitality industry who they would recommend as their EPoS partner, Zonal’s name kept cropping up.

James added: “Zonal had that ‘star’ quality we were looking for and we’ve not been disappointed.  The levels of support, training and service we required have been surpassed, especially as we need to know that someone is there to help in the evenings, including weekends.”

Nimax has now installed 50 Aztec EPoS terminals into all six theatres, as well as its integrated card payment solution and digital signage system, AdMargin.  In terms of sales and customer experience the upturn has been immediate.  “As soon as we go live with Aztec in a theatre, the impact is tangible with a significant increase in sales highlighted in the weekly reports, which we can now access hassle-free.

“Everything has sped up and made us far more efficient from the real-time reporting we can access across the group in terms of trading trends, stock levels and tracking waste, to taking efficient contactless payments.  In the past our staff had to do the mental arithmetic and enter everything manually, now it’s managed through the EPoS, so they can spend the time preparing drinks and deliver a superior service.  The room for error has also been removed.”

In addition, AdMargin is proving to be an exciting addition to Nimax’s marketing, as the team can remotely manage promotions and advertise shows in other theatres by automatically streaming dynamic content, such as images and video, onto the digital signage system.

The system’s unique technology enables Nimax to tailor campaigns to respond to date, location and time of day for a truly personalised experience.

For James, Zonal technology has taken the ‘drama’ out of service and released the pressure on the interval drink, helping the group deliver memorable experiences (for all the right reasons) that match the quality of the shows it puts on.