Case Study: Penelope achieves 28% fewer walk-aways and $27,500 incremental revenue in 60 days with CAKE from Sysco

Streamlining Host Operations with CAKE Guest Manager

Penelope is a busy, single-unit restaurant in Murray Hill, NYC that was losing more than 25% of walk-in guests to 60+ minute waits, receiving about 12 weekly complaints about wait times, and had little guest data or staff buy-in for change. The restaurant needed a simple, fast-to-install solution that improved the guest experience during waits and captured customer information without disrupting host operations.

Guest Manager delivered an iPad-based waitlist, a consumer mobile app, and automated email reports with a 15-minute setup and under-five-minute host training, achieving instant staff adoption. Results included a drop in walk-aways from 25.6% to 18.4% (28% decrease), 1,101 additional seated guests and roughly $27,500 in incremental revenue over 60 days, a 66% decline in wait-time complaints (from 12 to 4 per week), unanimous host approval, 3,800+ customer profiles with 700+ loyalty sign-ups, 90% guest-reported improvement, and a 45% higher retention rate for app users.

Penelope