About Urban Italian Group

Urban Italian Group (UIG) is a successful restaurant group established in 2017, now operating in eight cities across Sweden and internationally, from Marbella on Spain's coast to Umeå in northern Sweden. With over 400 dedicated employees, UIG manages popular trattorias such as Basta and Florentine, each deeply rooted in authentic Italian culinary traditions. Their emphasis on blending traditional Italian hospitality with modern efficiency has made them a favored choice among customers.

The Challenge

Managing restaurant operations involves coordinating staff, maintaining efficiency, and ensuring customer satisfaction. Payment processing often presents a key challenge due to its complexity.
 
Before implementing mobile POS, staff had to share physical payment terminals, potentially causing unnecessary friction at the end of the guest journey. For a team already managing high guest volumes and full sections, the additional step of retrieving a payment device often interrupted the flow and delayed table turnover.t processing. Staff had to fetch payment terminals, causing inefficiencies and potential distractions.

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Henrik Rydberg, Business Intelligence & IT Coordinator at Urban Italian Group, explains:

"One word: distraction. When someone asks for the bill, instead of saying ‘Wait, I'll bring the terminal,’ we wanted to sort it out right away."

Traditional payment terminals limitations:

• ❌ Workflow Disruptions: Fetching a terminal caused delays and distracted staff.
• ❌ Guest Experience: Customers often experienced unnecessary waiting to pay.
• ❌ Staff Challenges: Shared terminals created bottlenecks, frustrating employees.

The Solution: POS and payments in one mobile device

To address the challenge of interruptions caused by traditional payment terminals, Urban Italian Group implemented Heynow’s mobile POS integrated with the Softpay tap-to-pay app. This allowed staff to manage orders and accept secure, contactless payments on a single Android device, eliminating delays and distractions.

Heynow managed the onboarding and system adaptation seamlessly. Henrik Rydberg noted, “Heynow had a very strong onboarding process that left us with very few questions.”

Staff now use a single Samsung phone throughout service, improving operational flow and guest interactions.

The shift to SoftPOS delivered immediate benefits:

• ✅ Enhanced Guest Experience:
  Guests appreciated faster, smoother payments, resulting in increased satisfaction and higher tips.
• ✅ Faster Table Turnover:
  Quick payments at the table helped reduce guest wait times and accelerated turnover.
• ✅ Improved Staff Efficiency:
  Eliminating shared terminals reduced distractions, allowing staff to stay attentive to guests.

“We’ve noticed improvements in all areas,” Henrik concluded.

This case demonstrates how integrating SoftPOS solutions can significantly improve efficiency, service quality, and operational simplicity for hospitality businesses.