The tech that drove LEON forward

From humble beginnings back in 2004, when there was a gap in the market for ‘good food, fast’, to receiving three nominations in the MCA Retailers’ Retailer of the Year Awards 2022, LEON has been on quite the journey. 

The group wanted to move away from the ideology that fast food was intrinsically bad for you and embarked on creating a menu with a difference, and it was a huge success.

One store became many, and retail products were created for supermarket shelves, allowing LEON to offer consumers natural and nutritious food both in and out the home. 

Expanding a hospitality business is not easy and since its launch in 2004 the changes across the industry have been significant, not least consumer behavior.

The pandemic has accelerated the need for widespread digital transformation, and at Leon technology has played a pivotal role in allowing the group to move with these changes and build an agile organisation. 

Cloud-based hospitality tech provider Centegra has been at LEON's side since the very beginning. As an emerging brand itself, Centegra says it was able to understand what the company’s mission was, what operational issues it was starting to experience and what it wanted to achieve by continually investing in a technology platform (Centegra Plus), that would enable its business to grow. 

With a broad menu, it was important that the group had real time data to analyse and make informed decisions about specific menu design and new product development. It was also vital that the performance of each store was able to be compared and improved upon, where necessary. 

To help with this process, LEON has used Centegra’s Managed Service option, which looks after all of its product and price changes, allowing the group to focus on what it needs to, in order to grow the business.

“Centegra are not just good tech partners, they are part of the family. They’ve been by our side as we challenged the parameters of what’s achievable in a new digitised restaurant environment,” says LEON Restaurants managing director Glenn Edwards. 

“From the basics of a low-cost POS solution in 2004, to the more complicated infrastructure and reporting requirements that support kiosk ordering, app and loyalty, third party integration, full KMS implementation and BI tools they’ve been by our side the whole time. Centegra think like operators, not POS people. Now that’s invaluable”

As the popularity of LEON grew, so did the group's Centegra Plus solution. The consumer market moves at an incredible pace and as more integrations were needed the platform was able to evolve to meet these additional needs.

The initial POS installations grew with more analysis reporting, using Centegra's BI cube, which was especially useful when Leon migrated from Centegra's legacy POS to Silver POS giving the group the ability to view data, no matter which POS had been used to enter the sale. Centegra says it has given Leon the ability to continually track, analyse and improve.

More recently, Centegra has completed a full digital roll-out, with Centegra Plus being central to LEON's  digital strategy. Whether an order is placed via Silver POS, Vita Mojo kiosk, Uber, Deliveroo, Just Eat, or click and collect, all the information is consolidated, then delivered in real-time to a fully bespoke kitchen management solution and to its Enterprise Reporting.

LEON's first location, on Soho's Great Marlborough Street ​

LEON has grown and evolved with Centegra and is described as a true success story of a long-standing relationship. The relationship between Centegra and LEON was further strengthened when LEON presented Centegra with its first Super Supplier award in 2018. 

Last year LEON was bought by EuroGarages, with its expansion then increasing rapidly throughout the UK and Europe. Centegra has recently installed solutions in LEON's first drive thru site near Leeds, in a food court operation in Asda in Milton Keynes, and also in Honswijk in The Netherlands.

These developments have been recognised with the nomination for ‘The Best Use of Technology’ for its digital screens and drive-thru tech, and the ‘Evolution Award’ which recognises the brand's move into drive thru. 

The Centegra Plus technology has been at the heart of this progression, further demonstrating the importance of flexible but innovative tech solutions working to empower hospitality brands to achieve success in new markets.

“The digital operations of LEON have helped transform the business and working alongside a partner like Centegra and using their Centegra Plus platform has meant we are able to continually adapt to the fast-changing consumer environment, to evaluate performance and have complete control over every part of our business operations," says LEON Restaurants head of digital Hugo Engel. 

"A platform that consolidates all digital partner sales channels, as well as traditional walk-in sales including like for like, is integral to us gaining a much wider understanding of the organisation, being able to drill down to gain further insight in specific areas and streamlining our operations."

"Centegra also. recently supported us in our digital transformation process, taking time to understand what we wanted to achieve and delivered on all aspects of it, on time with constant communication along the way. As we continue to move forward with growth, we look forward to continually working alongside Centegra Plus.”

Centegra managing director Jon Horsfield says his group is very proud of its longstanding partnership with LEON Restaurants. "It is a testament to our continually evolving technology platform, Centegra Plus, award-winning support offering, and the constant communication between both of our companies that we are still working together so closely, after 18 years.”

To find out more, request a demo or to talk to one of the Centegra team email pbagnpghf@pragrten.pb.hx​​ or call 01270 585200. ​