Case Study: Café Strudel achieves increased table turns and reduced walk‑aways with CAKE (from Sysco) Guest Manager & POS

Integrating Point of Sale with Guest Management Insights

Café Strudel, a small West Columbia, SC restaurant opened by Trip and Marila Turbyfill, was struggling with a paper-based waitlist that made wait times unpredictable, increased walkaways, and left the team without actionable data to improve service. As the cafe grew, hosts spent too much time checking tables and the owners felt “in the dark ages,” so they looked for a simple technology solution to speed table turns without disrupting operations.

They implemented CAKE Guest Manager integrated with CAKE POS, a plug-and-play system that provides automatic, real-time table-status updates and allows the restaurant to text wait estimates to guests. The quick install required no extensive training and gave staff and owners remote access to data; results included a 6% increase in table turns (about two extra tables per day and a projected $14,000 in annual revenue), a 28% reduction in walkaways, and clearer operational insights for improving service.

Cafe Strudel

Tripp Turbyfill

Owner