Zonal is a UK-based provider of technological solutions for leisure and hospitality businesses. It’s a family-owned company with more than 100 tech partners, thanks to whom they are able to offer seamless integration solutions, gather large quantities of data efficiently, and provide their clients with valuable insights and control over their money flow.
With more than 16,000 businesses that chose them as their payment service provider, Zonal is one of the industry’s leaders in the UK.
Sections
Features
Behind Zonal’s success in the industry stands a long list of products designed to improve the way their clients are doing business.
Hospitality EPoS
Zonal’s hospitality EPoS system helps businesses establish full control over their operations. It helps streamline operations, increase revenue, and reduce unnecessary expenses while giving businesses the freedom to work on developing their products and services.
EPoS for Pubs and Bars and EPoS for Restaurants
Zonal’s pub and bar EPoS system is designed to optimise front-of-house operations by reducing queues and increasing profits. It reduces button presses, and has a fully customisable interface, quick ordering functions, and fast payments with an integrated EFT solution.
The system also has an extremely efficient centralised stock management module with an option for quick ordering, which leaves the staff stress-free and reduces stock holding.
The system’s finance module keeps track of profit margins, business targets, and daily cash movements.
Finally, Zonal’s EPoS system provides detailed reports on sales, discounts, promotions, loyalty transactions, and payments. This can help businesses identify their best-selling products and the most preferred promotions.
EPoS for Hotels
Zonal’s EPoS system for hotels provides a solution that works equally well for multi-site estates, independent boutique hotels, and low-cost hostels. It makes hotel food and beverage management more efficient than ever and offers stock control technology, reporting facilities, and seamless front and back-of-the-house management.
Front-of-the-house management is designed to facilitate efficient F&B operation thanks to the minimisation of button presses. The system can be easily integrated with a PMS and staff can spend less time reconciling orders and more time providing excellent customer service.
Handheld Ordering
iServe is a cost-effective alternative to order pads. You can install it on any iPad or iPod Touch and get an instant, handheld EPoS terminal. With a simple user interface, payment processor, and receipt printer, it brings unparalleled service to your customers.
Even with an unavailable WiFi connection, iServe can still take orders. It will notify the user and process orders once the connection is established again.
Hardware
Zonal’s wide range of hardware combines style with smart functionalities designed to help staff in hospitality businesses work more efficiently.
Here’s an overview of Zonal’s hardware.
I700 PoS Terminal
Designed for the hospitality and leisure sectors, the Z500 Series terminal sets the standard. Its versatile design and various finishes ensure seamless integration. The TFT colour touch screen offers clarity and user-friendliness, while a high-resolution graphical display supports branding and promotions.
Z500 PoS Terminal
Crafted to the highest standards, the Z500 terminal is versatile with various mounting choices and accessories. Its clear TFT colour touch screen offers ease of use, while a high-res graphical display supports branding and promotions.
Z8 PoS Terminal
The Z8 terminal provides a robust and versatile solution, specifically designed for high-speed customer service environments, such as those found in the hospitality industry. Its premium finish is carefully crafted to match modern hospitality venues. With various mounting options and accessories available, the Z8 seamlessly blends into any setting.
It comes with multiple port formats to accommodate peripheral hardware such as cash drawers, receipt printers, Chip and PIN devices, barcode scanners, and has the option for integrated customer display screens.
Integrated Payment System
Zonal’s integrated payment system offers a swift and secure solution to meet the demands of modern customer expectations. Recognising the importance of efficient payments in enhancing the dining experience, Zonal’s Card Payment System (ZCPS) facilitates seamless transactions at both tableside and point-of-sale locations.
With the “Pay at Table” functionality, staff can easily manage payments without returning to the POS terminal. The integrated technology allows printing bills, accepting partial payments, adding gratuities, and issuing payment receipts right at the table through the payment device.
Integrated seamlessly with Zonal’s EPoS system, this payment solution eliminates the need for manual re-keying, enhancing processing speed. Its accuracy minimises errors in payment amounts, streamlining cash handling and reconciliations, and ensures PCI compliance, which guarantees data security.
Additionally, Zonal’s integrated payment system accommodates various methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay, embracing diverse payment preferences.
Online Ordering Systems
Exclusively for Zonal EPoS users, online ordering solutions provide innovative avenues for customers to order food and drinks. This includes remote ordering for in-store pickup through Click & Collect and on-site mobile ordering via a branded Order and Pay solution. Most importantly, you retain control, toggling these channels as needed during peak times to manage orders smoothly and efficiently.
Order and Pay
Zonal’s Order and Pay solution, tailored for Zonal EPoS users, revolutionises the contactless dining experience. This exclusive offering presents a fully customizable tableside ordering approach with a simple ordering and payment system available from patrons’ smartphones.
Eliminating the need for apps or downloads, the system capitalises on QR codes or web links to connect customers with digital menus. The branded solution ensures a consistent user experience without any third-party distractions.
Through real-time integration with Zonal’s EPoS, customers access accurate pricing, stock levels, and menu offerings, while the tailored promotions and site-specific deals enhance customer engagement.
Click and Collect
Zonal’s Click and Collect system, exclusively available for Zonal EPoS customers, meets the evolving demands of today’s diners.
This integrated online takeaway ordering solution offers diverse ordering options, including the growing trend of Click and Collect. It’s a responsive web application, ensuring seamless user experiences across devices.
The platform is white-labelled for a consistent brand journey, building customer confidence. It’s fully integrated with Zonal’s suite of technologies, enabling operational efficiency through real-time data sharing. EPoS integration eliminates manual re-keying, enhancing accuracy.
Noteworthy benefits encompass delayed ordering, real-time menu and stock updates, and site-specific promotions. The system allows controlled order volumes per time slot, ensuring kitchen efficiency. With Zonal’s Click and Collect, venues optimise flexibility, customer experience, and operational ease, improving the dining landscape.
Reservation Systems
Online reservations help enable efficient table management and can enhance the customer experience in restaurants since they save time and prevent disappointment when tables are unavailable.
The online reservation system helps the staff with planning and leverages previous reservation patterns to make predictions about waiting times, which can reduce pressure during peak times.
Zonal Bookings
Zonal’s hospitality reservation and table management system increases yield, helps with revenue generation, and reduces pressure on staff.
This is possible thanks to its centralised reservation system, which includes real-time table bookings, enquiries, events and parties, guest communication, pre-orders, deposits, and payments.
Booking by Phone
Exclusively for Zonal’s liveRES Tables customers, the Bookings by Phone solution ensures professional handling of phone reservations. Automated queries swiftly collect booking details, integrating them into the central reservations system. SMS confirmations are sent to customers, enhancing the user experience.
This commission-free solution eliminates the need for costly central reservations offices, aligning with modern booking expectations. Prices start at £25 with fixed monthly fees, providing budget predictability. It mitigates the risk of double bookings associated with multi-channel bookings, seamlessly integrating with a cloud-based reservations diary in real-time.
New bookings instantly update the system, ensuring real-time availability and preventing operational disruptions, which optimises booking management and customer satisfaction.
Reserve with Google, Facebook, and Instagram
Reserve with Google, Facebook, and Instagram from Mozrest functions by incorporating a “book now” button into your online presence. This button is integrated with Zonal’s Table Reservation System and makes real-time reservations.
Displayed on Google Search, Google Maps, Facebook, and Instagram profiles, the button showcases availability pulled directly from your Zonal system. Live availability is synchronised across these platforms. When bookings are made, they’re promptly reflected in your reservations diary.
Instant confirmations via email, SMS, and reminders enhance the customer experience. This feature efficiently converts online interactions into tangible reservations, benefiting both patrons and businesses.
Inventory and Order Systems
Inventory and order systems by Zonal are designed to help businesses obtain a better understanding of their purchasing and stock levels and to speed up the process of counting their stocks. These systems are only available to Zonal EPoS customers.
Purchase-to-Pay
Zonal’s integrated Stock and Order solution, Acquire, revolutionises inventory management for Zonal EPoS customers. This comprehensive platform ensures real-time oversight of stock and orders, fostering operational efficiency and informed decision-making.
Acquire’s unified data approach eliminates discrepancies across systems, providing accurate, end-to-end supply chain visibility. The purchase-to-pay system streamlines purchasing, curbing over-ordering risks and minimising cash tied up in stock. It empowers data-driven financial decisions by identifying successful goods and negotiating favourable supplier rates.
For multi-site operations, Acquire streamlines procurement with approved suppliers, preventing ad-hoc purchases. The system intelligently selects suppliers for specific items, simplifying ordering. Customisable templates enhance efficiency, while real-time updates and reporting ensure optimal stock management. Acquire seamlessly integrates with a range of suppliers, from local artisans to national wholesalers, further enhancing operational agility.
Mobile Stocks
Zonal’s exclusive Mobile Stocks application, designed for Zonal EPoS customers, streamlines stock counting. This mobile solution enhances accuracy and efficiency by enabling counts by location. Integrated with the Stock and Order solution, it eliminates the need for manual entry into the EPoS system and printed count sheets.
The process is simplified as counts are seamlessly imported into the EPoS Stock module. Offering flexibility, Mobile Stocks allows simplified stock counting by selecting products from a list, searching, or scanning using the integrated barcode scanner. This application revolutionises stocktaking, enhancing convenience and accuracy for improved inventory management.
Menu Management System
Zonal’s Menu Management System, exclusively for customers and seamlessly integrated with Zonal’s EPoS, streamlines menu creation, cost calculation, and allergen management.
This user-friendly online tool empowers you to craft comprehensive and accurately priced menus by storing critical data such as ingredients, nutrition, prices, recipes, and suppliers.
Ensuring consistency, the Recipe Builder defines portion sizes, maintaining quality and cost control. The system offers menu analysis, allowing modelling of price changes’ impact on profitability.
Thanks to the possibility of importing CSV files and automatic updates of supplier-driven changes, data management is almost effortless.
Crucially, the solution simplifies allergen management, ensuring compliance and customer safety. By centralising the recipe database, the Menu Management System minimises paperwork, enhances accuracy, and seamlessly integrates across Zonal’s EPoS, Stocks, and Purchase & Pay, delivering comprehensive operational benefits.
Reporting and Business Intelligence
Dimensions+ is Zonal’s advanced EPoS reporting tool that enhances analysis by offering a comprehensive dashboard to track KPIs, make year-on-year comparisons, and visualise data trends across brands.
Leveraging Microsoft Power BI, it aggregates EPoS and external data for a holistic view, aiding the swift identification of operational trends.
Dimensions Publisher complements Dimensions+ by empowering users to control report distribution. It allows precise scheduling, distribution list management, and tailored report publishing.
Both tools simplify data analysis, ensuring real-time insights, comprehensive reporting, and easy data visualisation accessible on various devices. These reporting tools elevate business intelligence by providing a unified, accessible, and actionable overview of operations, enhancing informed decision-making.
Kitchen Management System
Zonal’s exclusive Kitchen Management system, Kitchen iQ, addresses the pressing issue of speed and service in the hospitality industry. With a significant portion of diners valuing quick service, this system enhances customer satisfaction by reducing waiting times, improving service quality, and maintaining consistency.
Kitchen iQ offers a suite of sophisticated components that can function as a standalone tool or as part of a comprehensive service management solution, suitable for businesses of any size.
It integrates seamlessly with Zonal’s EPoS system and technology suite and ensures accurate communication between front-of-house and kitchen teams.
Orders are electronically displayed in the kitchen, providing real-time updates and task prioritisation for kitchen staff. This visibility minimises bottlenecks, optimises customer wait times, and enhances the overall operational efficiency. The system can adapt to various kitchen setups and offers personalisation options.
Kitchen iQ empowers kitchens to manage incoming orders efficiently, track cook times, and improve dish preparation accuracy. It facilitates effective communication between kitchen and service staff, streamlines order processes, and ensures timely delivery of dishes.
Overall, it significantly contributes to an enhanced customer experience and smoother operations. It makes service faster and increases efficiency in the hospitality sector.
Property Management System
Zonal’s Property Management System (PMS) is a robust and versatile cloud-based solution designed to streamline and optimise hotel operations, catering to a range of establishments from independent hotels to multi-site hotel groups.
With a strong focus on enhancing guest experiences and driving revenue, Zonal’s PMS offers comprehensive features that span various crucial aspects of hotel management.
The system includes a Channel Manager for effective online exposure, a responsive Hotel Booking Engine for seamless online reservations, and Contactless Check-in options for a safe and convenient guest experience.
Integrated with Zonal’s full tech suite, the PMS gathers real-time data to enhance customer understanding and satisfaction. It incorporates a Payment Gateway for secure transactions and a Reporting Suite for sales forecasting and business analysis.
Zonal’s PMS empowers event management with an Events and Conferencing module, while the Revenue Management dashboard allows dynamic rate adjustments.
The Marketing Suite facilitates communication with guests pre-stay and post-stay, enhancing upselling and generating reviews.
Overall, Zonal’s PMS is a comprehensive solution that not only streamlines operations, saving time and reducing mistakes, but also increases revenue through direct bookings and efficient promotions.
It provides a centralised hub for hotel management, offering control, efficiency, and a heightened guest experience across the board.
Pricing
There’s no publicly available information about Zonal’s pricing system, except for the PoS rental packages, which are described below.
PoS Rental Packages
Zonal offers tailored tech rental solutions designed to empower independent hospitality businesses.
The PoS essential package is available for £199 per month. It equips establishments with essential tools to enhance operational efficiency and customer service.
The 3-in-1 Tech Suite, priced at £265 per month, is a comprehensive solution that integrates POS, Online Ordering, and Table Reservations functionalities.
Both packages require an upfront payment of £1,000 (POS Essentials) or £1,200 (3-in-1 Tech Suite), which covers installation, training, and data services.
With a minimum of 36-month rental commitment, these packages offer cost-effective ways to optimise business processes and elevate customer experience.
Company History
Zonal, a pioneering technology company, was founded in 1979 with a vision to revolutionise the hospitality industry through innovative fin-tech solutions. Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, by entrepreneur Ralph McLean, the company initially focused on developing point-of-sale (POS) systems for bars and nightclubs.
Zonal’s dedication to technological advancement quickly propelled it to the forefront of the hospitality sector.
Zonal has continuously evolved to meet the changing needs of the industry. In the early 2000s, the company introduced electronic table management and order-taking systems, significantly enhancing service efficiency.
The launch of its EPoS system further solidified its position as a leading provider of integrated technology solutions for pubs, restaurants, hotels, and leisure establishments.
Zonal’s commitment to innovation continued with the development of online ordering, bookings, and payment solutions, which empowered businesses to cater to the evolving customer preferences.
The company’s focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences led to the introduction of mobile and contactless solutions, catering to the modern demands of convenience and speed.
Over the decades, Zonal’s influence expanded beyond the UK to international markets, cementing its reputation as a global technology partner for the hospitality industry.
Today, Zonal remains dedicated to driving operational excellence, streamlining processes, and enhancing guest interactions. With a rich history of technological innovation and a customer-centric approach, Zonal continues to shape the future of hospitality technology.
Reviews
On the Featured Customers website, Zonal has a 4.8/5 stars rating. The rating is based on 1097 testimonials.
On Trust Pilot, Zonal has a 3.2/5 stars rating. The rating is based on a single review.
Reviewers on Expert Market have rated Zonal with an average grade of 4.5/5 stars. It’s not clear how many people have provided their reviews and ratings.
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