Effort and relaxation under one roof: uninterrupted ordering during and after sports via QR
Utrecht · Bowling and leisure
For more and more people, the perfect night out is an hour of padel or golf followed by a good drink and a snack at the bar. Or bowling with friends and easily ordering a round of beers and bitterballen during the game. Hal 22 and Chi Chi Golf Resort are two sport-led venues in the Utrecht region that have leaned into digital ordering and payment.
“Since we let groups order themselves during bowling via a QR code, the average spending is significantly higher.”
Hal 22, part of Utrecht Horecagroep, was founded in 2021 with exactly this in mind: pairing sport with proper hospitality. Chi Chi makes golf accessible not just to seasoned players but also beginners, in part by adding interactive game formats. Both venues understand, like few others, that visitors in 2024 expect a certain level of service and quality both during and after their sport. It shows: the interiors are beautifully designed, and the menus offer a wide range of drinks and dishes that hold their own against any restaurant.
Chantal, who works for Utrecht Horecagroep (which also runs Dengh, Club Claar and Basta), says: "From the start of Hal 22 it was obvious to us we'd need a form of QR-based ordering. That way we can let groups order their snacks and drinks during bowling or pool whenever they like, without needing a lot of staff."
Manager Floris at Chi Chi started with Butlaroo for similar reasons: "It isn't economic to staff up all day just to take orders from our golfers. We welcome everyone and explain they can order via our team or via the QR code. Guests respond well to that, they find it convenient rather than intrusive, and it doesn't break their golf flow."
Guests can keep playing without interruption, and the team brings their food and drinks fast.
Both Chantal and Floris admit the convenience of QR ordering surprised them, as did the upside it brings. Chantal: "We don't always have enough staff and the place sometimes runs over us. Because guests can always order via QR, we can keep our service level steady."
The Hal 22 team sees the biggest gains with groups: "Taking orders from a large group is often hard and chaotic. By letting groups order themselves we get past that, and we see average spend per group is much higher than before. Everything ordered goes onto one bill that's settled at the end of the night, which also saves a lot of admin work."
Floris adds: "We run upsell competitions among the team every month to see who can sell the most. A lot of our crowd is open to suggestions, an oyster with a glass of wine, a portion of bitterballen with a beer, once you put the idea out there. Those upsells are also baked into Butlaroo and they get used a lot. Good thing Butlaroo doesn't enter the competition itself, because it would probably win against my staff."