Maple Branch Craft Brewery Beats a Rate Hike and Replaces Five Systems With One
Maple Branch Craft Brewery
A Fort Worth brewery was running five separate systems when word came that its processing rate was going up, with the only advice being to pass it on to customers. BridgeWave consolidated the taproom onto one platform with better rates, QR ordering at the table, and automated tip-pooling.
A Rate Hike and No Good Options
Maple Branch Craft Brewery in Fort Worth, Texas had a setup that worked, right up until it didn't. For four years the taproom ran on Arryved, a POS the team genuinely liked: easy to use, with mobile ordering that fit the way a busy brewery moves.
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But around that POS, the tech stack kept sprawling. TapMango for loyalty and marketing. Sling for scheduling. Gusto for payroll. DoorDash, UberEats, and GrubHub for delivery. Five separate systems, none of them talking to each other.
Then the real problem hit:
- A sudden rate increase: The brewery was told their processing rate was going up. When they pushed back, the only answer they got was to pass the cost on to their customers, something they did not want to do. That was the whole solution offered.
- Forced hardware buyout: A new processor taking over meant buying all new card readers, spending money just to keep accepting payments the same way.
- No integrations: The POS could not connect to the tools around it, so every system lived on its own island.
- Not an all-in-one: Loyalty, scheduling, payroll, and ordering all needed separate logins, separate bills, and separate workarounds.
One Platform, Taproom to Food Truck
BridgeWave moved Maple Branch onto SpotOn, consolidating the sprawl into one platform built for how the brewery actually operates, taproom and food truck both.
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The new setup included:
- 5 POS stations with customer-facing displays for a faster, more transparent checkout at the bar
- Handhelds that keep the mobile ordering the team loved about their old system
- QR code ordering at the table, so guests can order another round without flagging anyone down
- A kitchen display screen in the food truck, connected with its own access point, so tickets flow straight from the taproom to the truck
- Online ordering run through the same system instead of another third party
- Loyalty built into the POS, replacing the separate loyalty platform
- SpotOn Teamwork for scheduling, with automated tip-pooling that ends the manual math
What Changed
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- Better processing rates: the increase rolled back, without passing the cost onto customers
- One system instead of five: POS, online ordering, loyalty, scheduling, and tip-pooling under one roof
- Taproom and food truck on the same page: orders route straight to the truck's kitchen screen
- Guests order more, easier: QR codes at the table keep rounds coming during the rush
- Automated tip-pooling: fair, consistent, and done without spreadsheets
Keep What Works, Fix What Doesn't
Maple Branch was not looking to blow up a system they liked. They liked the ease of use. They liked the mobile POS. What they could not accept was a rate increase they never agreed to, a forced hardware purchase, and a stack of disconnected tools.
The right move kept everything they liked, brought the rest into one platform, and fixed the rate. That is the job: not selling a new system for its own sake, but building the setup the business should have had all along.
Watching your processing rate climb while your systems multiply? Let's talk.