Hersheypark 'Sweetens' Operations with Ibertech, Inc.'s Aloha POS
Hersheypark has selected Aloha as its point-of-sale (POS) solution. The famed Pennsylvania amusement park, which covers over 110 acres, has already installed Aloha on nearly 40 terminals, and expects the installation to be complete in the near future.
Hersheypark previously had a manual cash register system, said Bill Sheaffer, director of information services for Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. He explained that the main feature the park searched for in a touchscreen solution was system redundancy, which would keep terminals up and running in case of network failure.
"The key that had to be in our solution of choice was the capability to allow a terminal to run in stand-alone mode should a network temporarily go down. Aloha was the only system we found that demonstrated that specific ability.
Steve Balliet, food and beverage manager for Hersheypark, said that the data redundancy of Aloha was a big factor in choosing the solution. "The data redundancy capability was the best we'd seen." He added that this feature assured Hersheypark there would be virtually no risk of downtime. "As the food and beverage manager, I need to know that day in and day out, we have the ability to sell. That is the peace of mind I must have. Hersheypark cannot be in a position in which we can't sell, and that's where Aloha stepped in."
Its simplicity, the graphical touchscreens, and the supersite architecture of Aloha also played major roles in HersheyPark choosing Aloha, Sheaffer said. "The ease of use of Aloha and the touchscreen capabilities made it very appropriate for Hersheypark. Plus, the supersite architecture was a huge selling point and helped make the decision for us." Balliet added, "The more colorful, the more exciting, the more fun the system, the easier our employees find it to use and learn more about it. Another plus on the side of Ibertech was how quickly the installation of Aloha was completed."
Hersheypark chose IBM for the hardware portion of the install, and Balliet said that the combination of IBM hardware and Aloha software has provided dependable quality. "The durability of the IBM product is amazing, and the Aloha software moves right along. We haven't had a second of downtime since installing the solution, and in this kind of situation (a multi-revenue operation), that's somewhat shocking."
Hersheypark is enjoying other features of Aloha, as well. Balliet said that two in particular are of great benefit to operations like Hersheypark. The first is the employee password capability — with so many terminals throughout the park, employees must provide passwords to log on to them, providing greater security.
The second feature is a centralized database. "With Aloha, we are able to have a single database to maintain all the menu panels," he said. "From that one database, we assign certain screens to operators while keeping all the revenue centers running from the same place."
Balliet noted that the park will soon upgrade to the Aloha ARENA™ product. ARENA™ is broadly applicable to theme parks, sports arenas, airports, malls, and other large sites where multiple restaurant and sales outlets require centralized management.
Hersheypark previously had a manual cash register system, said Bill Sheaffer, director of information services for Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. He explained that the main feature the park searched for in a touchscreen solution was system redundancy, which would keep terminals up and running in case of network failure.
"The key that had to be in our solution of choice was the capability to allow a terminal to run in stand-alone mode should a network temporarily go down. Aloha was the only system we found that demonstrated that specific ability.
Steve Balliet, food and beverage manager for Hersheypark, said that the data redundancy of Aloha was a big factor in choosing the solution. "The data redundancy capability was the best we'd seen." He added that this feature assured Hersheypark there would be virtually no risk of downtime. "As the food and beverage manager, I need to know that day in and day out, we have the ability to sell. That is the peace of mind I must have. Hersheypark cannot be in a position in which we can't sell, and that's where Aloha stepped in."
Its simplicity, the graphical touchscreens, and the supersite architecture of Aloha also played major roles in HersheyPark choosing Aloha, Sheaffer said. "The ease of use of Aloha and the touchscreen capabilities made it very appropriate for Hersheypark. Plus, the supersite architecture was a huge selling point and helped make the decision for us." Balliet added, "The more colorful, the more exciting, the more fun the system, the easier our employees find it to use and learn more about it. Another plus on the side of Ibertech was how quickly the installation of Aloha was completed."
Hersheypark chose IBM for the hardware portion of the install, and Balliet said that the combination of IBM hardware and Aloha software has provided dependable quality. "The durability of the IBM product is amazing, and the Aloha software moves right along. We haven't had a second of downtime since installing the solution, and in this kind of situation (a multi-revenue operation), that's somewhat shocking."
Hersheypark is enjoying other features of Aloha, as well. Balliet said that two in particular are of great benefit to operations like Hersheypark. The first is the employee password capability — with so many terminals throughout the park, employees must provide passwords to log on to them, providing greater security.
The second feature is a centralized database. "With Aloha, we are able to have a single database to maintain all the menu panels," he said. "From that one database, we assign certain screens to operators while keeping all the revenue centers running from the same place."
Balliet noted that the park will soon upgrade to the Aloha ARENA™ product. ARENA™ is broadly applicable to theme parks, sports arenas, airports, malls, and other large sites where multiple restaurant and sales outlets require centralized management.
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