Hotel Online Special Report
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Hersheypark "Sweetens" Operations with Aloha POS
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HURST, TX - July 1998 -  Ibertech, Inc. announced today that Hersheypark TM has selected Aloha as its point - of - sale (POS) solution provider. The famed Pennsylvania amusement park, which covers over 110 acres, has already installed Aloha on nearly 40 terminals, and expects the installation to be complete this fall. 

Hersheypark previously had a manual cash register system, said Bill Sheaffer, director of information services for Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. He explained that the main feature the park searched for in a touchscreen solution was system redundancy which would keep terminals up and running in case of network failure. 

"The key that had to be in our solution of choice was the capability to allow a terminal to run in stand-alone mode should a network temporarily go down. Aloha was the only system we found that demonstrated that specific ability." 

Steve Balliet, food and beverage manager for Hersheypark, said that the exceptional quality of data redundancy of Aloha was a big factor in choosing the solution. "The data redundancy capability was the best we'd seen." He added that this feature assured Hersheypark there would be virtually no risk of downtime. "As the food and beverage manager, I need to know that day in and day out, we have the ability to sell. That is the peace of mind I must have. Hersheypark cannot be in a position in which we can't sell. and that's where Aloha stepped in." 

Its simplicity, the graphical touchscreens, and the supersite architecture of Aloha also played major roles in HersheyPark choosing Aloha, Sheaffer said. "The ease of use of Aloha and the touchscreen capabilities made it very appropriate for Hersheypark. Plus, the supersite architecture was a huge selling point and helped make the decision for us. 

Balliet added, "The more colorful, the more exciting, the more fun the system, the easier our employees find it to use and learn more about it." 

"Another plus on the side of Ibertech was how quickly the installation of Aloha was completed," Balliet continued. "I can't speak highly enough of the Ibertech personnel who came on-site." 

Hersheypark chose IBM for the hardware portion of the install, and Balliet said that the combination of IBM hardware and Aloha software has provided outstanding quality. "The durability of the IBM product is amazing, and Aloha moves right along. We haven't had a second of downtime since installing the solution, and in this kind of situation (a multi-revenue operation) that's somewhat shocking." 

Hersheypark is enjoying other features of Aloha, as well. Balliet said that two in particular are of great benefit to operations like Hersheypark. The first is the employee password capability - with so many terminals throughout the park, employees must provide passwords to log on to them, providing greater security. The second feature is a centralized database. "With Aloha, we are able to have a single database to maintain all the menu panels," he said. "From that one database, we assign certain screens to operators while keeping all the revenue centers running from the same place." 

Balliet noted that during this summer, the park will upgrade to the Aloha ARENA TM product. 
ARENA is broadly applicable to theme parks, sports arenas, airports, malls and other large sites where multiple restaurant and sales outlets require centralized management. Ibertech was recently awarded a 1993 Microsoft Certified Solution Provider Award for ARENA in the category of Best  Information - Management Solution. 

Founded in 1992, Ibertech is an innovative software company that provides a comprehensive suite of point-of-sale solutions to the food service and hospitality industries. Ibertech's world renowned products allow its customers to implement hospitality systems that precisely meet the needs and demands. Ibertech's family of software products includes Aloha TableService, Aloha QuickService, and Aloha Back Office Solutions. For additional information, call (800) 79-ALOHA, or visit www.alohapos.com

Aloha is a registered trademark, and Aloha TableService, Aloha QuickService and Aloha Back Office Solutions are trademarks of Ibertech, Inc. 

Hersheypark is a trademark used under license.

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Contact:
David Puzas
Director of Marketing
Aloha POS
817-252-9499
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Also See:
Ibertech's Aloha Enters New Arena / March 1998 
Aloha Welcomes Release of QuickService 4.0 / Dec 1997 

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