Based in Staffordshire, Parogon Pub Group run a number of iconic pub restaurants in the surrounding area. Since their inception in 2007, they have expanded into neighbouring counties and are synonymous with the high-quality gastropub dining scene in the area.

We started working with Parogon Pubs before the opening of their newest restaurant, The Red House at Lilleshall. From here, we were tasked with modernising their existing restaurant websites, as well as their Parogon Group site.

The sites use Quadranet, a reservation system which allowed diners to book a table online via their widget. The widget itself was clunky and often unreliable – not ideal for restaurants that are regularly fully booked.

Further issues came when attempting to book on mobile devices; the system was not mobile friendly, meaning it was difficult to use and often frustrating for the user. The majority of the Parogon Group’s traffic came from mobile devices, and therefore improving the user experience on mobile became a priority.

We wanted to create a collection of websites which accurately reflected the premium feel and service of their establishments. Relaxed, welcoming but with a touch of luxury – we looked to encompass the Parogon experience within their websites.

We set out to create a new fully automated booking system directly linking to Quadranet’s API to streamline the booking experience, especially on mobile, and increase the number of booking being taken via this method.

Within the new integrated booking system, we wanted to monopolise on the opportunity to cross-sell. When one of the venues was fully booked for a specific time, the system would suggest other Parogon venues with tables available, therefore retaining the booking within the group.

The confirmation emails were to be redesigned to reflect premium feel of the new sites, and included the ability to easily cancel the booking. This would encourage customers who cannot make the booking to simply cancel, and therefore open up the table to other diners, avoiding becoming a no-show.

In addition, we wanted to create a dynamic menu system to make the dining experience for those with allergies easier and more enjoyable. To save the inconvenience of multiple printed menus when dining at the restaurant, we looked to collate the menu on a tablet which could then be filtered by allergens if required.

Finally, to further reduce the number of unnecessary calls to the venues, we looked to set up an automated chatbot to handle basic requests and enhance customer experience. The system used AI learning and therefore required very little input to maintain once responses were established.

The new websites were a huge success, and saw website traffic increase by 257.43% on average and bounce rates drop by 66.56%. The improved booking experienced helped to boost online reservations to 27,000 a month and with the introduction of cross-selling, Parogon saw an additional 242 bookings a month that would have otherwise been lost.