At Islington’s Homeboy Bar, guests are welcomed with warm Irish hospitality to a space where they can enjoy delicious home-cooked food, quirky cocktails, and (of course) Guinness on tap.
Homeboy Bar first opened in 2018, and it soon earned a strong reputation — as well as winning awards — for being a world-class cocktail bar. As the locals poured in, they’d come back time and again with friends and family.
Jacqui Murrell, Co-ordinator at Homeboy Bar, was eager to capitalise on their existing loyalty when full-time in-house kitchen operation returned in February 2023, having previously ran smaller food offerings from opening, with pop ups post-Covid. But, as a small team, they needed the right processes in place to make the reintroduction of their kitchen a success. “There are fewer than ten of us on the team, including the owner”, Jacqui explains. “I look after bookings, social media, and some digital marketing.”
With so many responsibilities on her plate, it was essential for Jacqui to make food bookings as straightforward as possible for herself and her customers. That’s why she decided to add TheFork to Homeboy Bar’s existing suite of restaurant management tools.
For Jacqui, the primary reason for joining TheFork was to tap into the platform’s well-established customer base of foodies, adding to Homeboy Bar’s reputation of being a brilliant bar as well as a brilliant place to eat.
“TheFork has really helped increase our food bookings,” Jacqui says. “Many diners have discovered us from TripAdvisor, where we use TheFork’s booking widget.” This seamless user journey from discovery to booking has provided Homeboy Bar with an invaluable new channel for acquiring customers and filling tables at quieter times.
Participating in TheFork Festival during autumn has been a particularly powerful initiative for Homeboy Bar, helping the team attract diners looking for a cosy spot to enjoy quirky cocktails and a hearty meal.
To help make these promotions a success, Jacqui receives plenty of support from TheFork’s expert customer support team. “Edith has been a brilliant account manager,” Jacqui tells us. “She’s always easy to get hold of and very helpful.”
Looking to the future, the Homeboy Bar team is eager to launch a new brunch menu, which they will promote through their listing on TheFork to draw in the ever-growing brunch crowd.
Summing up her experience using TheFork, Jacqui says: “I would definitely recommend TheFork to other restaurants. Their social team give us a lot of promotion, we’re getting great reviews, and Edith is brilliant — it’s all been really positive.”
To find out how you can increase your restaurant’s visibility with TheFork, get in touch.