Ballie Ballerson: The Nostalgic Cocktail Bar With Its Sights Set On Expansion

The backdrop to unstoppable fun

While exploring Amsterdam, Wenny Armstrong stumbled on a small ball pit tucked away in a local bar, the concept of which sparked inspiration. Envisioning this nostalgic find as the centrepiece of a revolutionary drinking experience, Wenny and co-founder George Armstrong got to work creating Ballie Ballerson-now recognised as the world's biggest ball pit cocktail bar.

The pursuit of creating a fun, freeing, and distinctive cocktail experience has since propelled Ballie Ballerson to remarkable success. They currently have three thriving locations across the UK and an ongoing ambition to expand to cities like Manchester as well as internationally, with their sights set on Las Vegas and Boston.

A scalable ePOS that supports success

Recognising the early success of their original Shoreditch bar, the team at Ballie Ballerson quickly realised that ensuring seamless service wouldn’t be child’s play if their point-of-sale system lagged behind.

General Manager, Karl Selendic, began searching for an ePOS that could support Ballie Ballerson’s growing customer base and ambitious expansion plans, ensuring both scalability and flexibility. Karl explained that the switch to Lightspeed was a clear choice, as it proved to be "the most ergonomic, easy, and user-friendly front-of-house and back-of-house system" that effortlessly met their growing demands.

Seamless training for a growing team

As success set in, Karl explained how Ballie Ballerson never stopped looking for ways to enhance their customers' experience. And, with this persistent motivation brought the realities of growth and expansion.

So, as Ballie Ballerson flourished, the heightened demand called for the recruitment of more staff, which in turn required dedicating time to training.

Karl praised Lightspeed’s platform for its accessible, uncomplicated interface, which he expressed was especially useful when training new and junior staff. “My favourite feature is the system’s guaranteed ease of use. When I train anyone, I know they can pick it up very quickly, allowing staff to start using it straight away.”

Everything under one roof

In a fast-paced environment, it's crucial that your payment system accommodates both your service speed and the volume of customers you cater to. With Ballie Ballerson's expansion, they recognised that integrating payments was the optimal solution to meet their escalating demands.

Karl played a pivotal role in transitioning to Lightspeed Payments, carefully considering factors such as rates, connectivity, integrations, and efficiency. Lightspeed emerged as the top choice. Adopting the integrated payment system provided Karl and the team with the assurance that they could execute “seamless transactions at the click of a finger,” regardless of the crowd size or service demand.

Karl went on further to explain that “thanks to having integrated payments and having everything under one platform, it makes fiscal reporting extremely simple, without having to access different logins to consolidate everything”. With time saved on figure reporting, staff like Karl can dedicate their time to enhancing customers' experiences.

Boosting tips and team satisfaction

One of the most positive changes the Ballie Ballerson team has noticed since switching to Lightspeed Payments is an increase in tips, thanks to the user-friendly interface. Karl says that the gratuity function has “encouraged guests to tip significantly more”. He goes on to explain that this increased tip revenue has, in turn, boosted team satisfaction because 100% of these additional takings go directly to them, rewarding their hard work.