Author
Founder, Grace OS
Simon runs The Nuthatch and built Grace on the floor of a working independent restaurant.
Grace is built and tested in a working venue. If a feature cannot survive a Friday-night service, it does not ship.
20 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Hospitality Operations
If a new till takes your team weeks to learn, you bought the wrong till. Here is how to get a team genuinely confident in about half an hour, and what that says about the system.
Read18 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
Discounting a quiet night trains people to wait for the cheap night. Loyalty does the same job better: it pulls demand to your empty tables without eroding the price of your full ones.
Read13 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reporting
Most venue reporting fails in one of two ways: too much, so you read nothing, or too little, so you fly blind. Here are the numbers that actually run a venue, and how to read them.
Read11 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
Most venue income arrives after you have already paid for the stock and the staff. Deposits, prepayments and tickets flip some of that, bringing money in before the night and easing the squeeze.
Read7 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
Most guest management software is sold with a feature list built for hotel chains. Here is the much shorter list an independent venue actually uses, and what you can safely ignore.
Read5 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
A text gets read in seconds, which is exactly why it is so easy to misuse. Here is when SMS is the right tool for a venue, and when it quietly burns your list.
Read3 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
A deposit on every table loses you good bookings. No deposit at all leaves you exposed on the nights that matter. The skill is knowing which bookings to ask, and which to trust.
Read31 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Guest Data
Most venues do not have too little guest data. They have plenty, scattered across systems that never compare notes. Here is the operational story of pulling it into one place, and what changes when you do.
Read29 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
The hardware choice underneath your till matters more than the brochure suggests. Here is the honest version of iPad versus traditional terminals, with the downsides included.
Read27 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Hospitality Operations
Switching the system that runs your venue feels like changing the wheels while driving. It does not have to be chaos. Here is how to do it without losing data or a night's trade.
Read24 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
The paper stamp card is the most common loyalty scheme in hospitality and one of the weakest. Here is why it falls short, and what real loyalty does instead.
Read22 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
When a regular quietly stops coming, most venues do nothing, because nothing tells them it happened. The win-back email is the highest-value message you are probably not sending.
Read20 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
When you adopt a hospitality platform, you hit a choice about card processing. Here is how to weigh the platform's payments against bringing your own, without getting talked into either.
Read17 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
Your booking system knows one Sarah. Your till knows another. Your WiFi knows a third. Here is why that costs you more than it looks, told through one regular's evening.
Read15 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Hospitality Operations
Running five separate systems costs more than five bills. It costs the time to wrangle them and the data lost between them. Here is the honest case for consolidating, and the honest case against.
Read13 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
Most venue marketing is a newsletter sent to everyone and a hope. Here is how to use what you already know about your guests to actually fill tables, and how to tell what worked.
Read10 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
Most tills know what was sold and nothing about who sat there. When the till and the booking system share one record, small things change all night, and they add up.
Read8 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
Three payment options that suit three different kinds of venue. Here is the honest version of who each one is really for, and what to check before you switch.
Read6 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
A standalone loyalty app can only reward what it can see, which is usually a check-in. Loyalty built into the till sees the whole bill, and that changes what it can do.
Read3 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
Three booking setups, three different bets about where your covers come from. Here is the honest version of who each one suits.
Read1 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
Card fees are one of the larger costs in a venue and one of the least understood. Here is what you are actually paying for, how to read a rate, and how to get money in before the night even starts.
Read29 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
Most loyalty schemes either do nothing or quietly train your best guests to wait for money off. Here is how to build one that actually brings people back, from someone who has run the floor.
Read26 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
Plenty of products carry the word CRM. Far fewer do the five jobs a hospitality CRM is actually for. Here is the working checklist.
Read24 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
Three very different kinds of till get pitched to independents, and they suit very different venues. Here is the honest version of who each one is really for.
Read22 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
A pound or two per cover feels like nothing in the moment. Across a year it can be one of the biggest cheques you write, and you are often paying it on guests who would have come anyway.
Read
19 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
"CRM" is one of the most misused words in hospitality software. Here is what a hospitality CRM actually is, why it matters to your margin, and how to choose one that does the job rather than just storing email addresses.
Read
17 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
The till is the most-used piece of kit in the building and the one operators consider least. Here is how to choose an EPOS in 2026 without signing up to three years of regret.
Read
15 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
Most operators pick a booking system the way they pick a broadband provider, then live with it for years. Here is how to actually choose one in 2026, from someone who has signed the wrong contract more than once.
Read
2 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Founder Insights
Order a meal out in the UK and 20% of the bill is VAT. In France, Spain and Italy it's 10%. There's a campaign to fix that, and we're backing it.
Read
15 April 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
You can't cost-cut your way to a good year in hospitality. The growth, when it comes, mostly comes from the same people coming back more often — if you can see who they are.
Read
4 March 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
The tempting fix for no-shows — a deposit on every table — mostly just costs you bookings. Here's what actually moves the number, and where deposits genuinely earn their place.
Read
1 February 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Guest Data
The most expensive thing in an independent venue isn't rent or stock. It's that your booking system, your till, your WiFi and your marketing each think your best regular is a different stranger.
Read20 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Hospitality Operations
If a new till takes your team weeks to learn, you bought the wrong till. Here is how to get a team genuinely confident in about half an hour, and what that says about the system.
Read18 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
Discounting a quiet night trains people to wait for the cheap night. Loyalty does the same job better: it pulls demand to your empty tables without eroding the price of your full ones.
Read13 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reporting
Most venue reporting fails in one of two ways: too much, so you read nothing, or too little, so you fly blind. Here are the numbers that actually run a venue, and how to read them.
Read11 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
Most venue income arrives after you have already paid for the stock and the staff. Deposits, prepayments and tickets flip some of that, bringing money in before the night and easing the squeeze.
Read7 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
Most guest management software is sold with a feature list built for hotel chains. Here is the much shorter list an independent venue actually uses, and what you can safely ignore.
Read5 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
A text gets read in seconds, which is exactly why it is so easy to misuse. Here is when SMS is the right tool for a venue, and when it quietly burns your list.
Read3 August 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
A deposit on every table loses you good bookings. No deposit at all leaves you exposed on the nights that matter. The skill is knowing which bookings to ask, and which to trust.
Read31 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Guest Data
Most venues do not have too little guest data. They have plenty, scattered across systems that never compare notes. Here is the operational story of pulling it into one place, and what changes when you do.
Read29 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
The hardware choice underneath your till matters more than the brochure suggests. Here is the honest version of iPad versus traditional terminals, with the downsides included.
Read27 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Hospitality Operations
Switching the system that runs your venue feels like changing the wheels while driving. It does not have to be chaos. Here is how to do it without losing data or a night's trade.
Read24 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
The paper stamp card is the most common loyalty scheme in hospitality and one of the weakest. Here is why it falls short, and what real loyalty does instead.
Read22 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
When a regular quietly stops coming, most venues do nothing, because nothing tells them it happened. The win-back email is the highest-value message you are probably not sending.
Read20 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
When you adopt a hospitality platform, you hit a choice about card processing. Here is how to weigh the platform's payments against bringing your own, without getting talked into either.
Read17 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
Your booking system knows one Sarah. Your till knows another. Your WiFi knows a third. Here is why that costs you more than it looks, told through one regular's evening.
Read15 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Hospitality Operations
Running five separate systems costs more than five bills. It costs the time to wrangle them and the data lost between them. Here is the honest case for consolidating, and the honest case against.
Read13 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
Most venue marketing is a newsletter sent to everyone and a hope. Here is how to use what you already know about your guests to actually fill tables, and how to tell what worked.
Read10 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
Most tills know what was sold and nothing about who sat there. When the till and the booking system share one record, small things change all night, and they add up.
Read8 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
Three payment options that suit three different kinds of venue. Here is the honest version of who each one is really for, and what to check before you switch.
Read6 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
A standalone loyalty app can only reward what it can see, which is usually a check-in. Loyalty built into the till sees the whole bill, and that changes what it can do.
Read3 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
Three booking setups, three different bets about where your covers come from. Here is the honest version of who each one suits.
Read1 July 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Payments
Card fees are one of the larger costs in a venue and one of the least understood. Here is what you are actually paying for, how to read a rate, and how to get money in before the night even starts.
Read29 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Loyalty
Most loyalty schemes either do nothing or quietly train your best guests to wait for money off. Here is how to build one that actually brings people back, from someone who has run the floor.
Read26 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
Plenty of products carry the word CRM. Far fewer do the five jobs a hospitality CRM is actually for. Here is the working checklist.
Read24 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
Three very different kinds of till get pitched to independents, and they suit very different venues. Here is the honest version of who each one is really for.
Read22 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
A pound or two per cover feels like nothing in the moment. Across a year it can be one of the biggest cheques you write, and you are often paying it on guests who would have come anyway.
Read19 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · CRM
"CRM" is one of the most misused words in hospitality software. Here is what a hospitality CRM actually is, why it matters to your margin, and how to choose one that does the job rather than just storing email addresses.
Read17 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · EPOS
The till is the most-used piece of kit in the building and the one operators consider least. Here is how to choose an EPOS in 2026 without signing up to three years of regret.
Read15 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
Most operators pick a booking system the way they pick a broadband provider, then live with it for years. Here is how to actually choose one in 2026, from someone who has signed the wrong contract more than once.
Read2 June 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Founder Insights
Order a meal out in the UK and 20% of the bill is VAT. In France, Spain and Italy it's 10%. There's a campaign to fix that, and we're backing it.
Read15 April 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Marketing
You can't cost-cut your way to a good year in hospitality. The growth, when it comes, mostly comes from the same people coming back more often — if you can see who they are.
Read4 March 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Reservations
The tempting fix for no-shows — a deposit on every table — mostly just costs you bookings. Here's what actually moves the number, and where deposits genuinely earn their place.
Read1 February 2026 · Simon Hatfield · Guest Data
The most expensive thing in an independent venue isn't rent or stock. It's that your booking system, your till, your WiFi and your marketing each think your best regular is a different stranger.
Read