How a Treasure Island restaurant uses Homebase to work easier

On Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay, there sits a lovely, unique restaurant dedicated to good food and a great experience. Mersea offers a stunning view of San Francisco to go along with the comfort casual cuisine, and co-founding partner Meesun Boice said the idea for the unique place came about after she met executive chef and restaurateur Parke Ulrich in the Treasure Island Yacht Club. Meesun, who previously had a long career in tech and calls herself an “accidental restaurateur,” learned of both Parke’s dream to one day open a restaurant and of the need for a restaurant on the island, and it was then that the idea for Mersea was born.

The two began crafting their proposal to present to the board and were given the suggestion by friends to incorporate shipping containers into the concept. While the execution of the idea was neither as easy nor as quick as those friends led on, Meesun said it made for an interesting and amazing experience and resulted in the realization of a place that has something for everyone and makes its guests feel at ease.

“I think there’s a magic to this place. It has a magical aura where you feel like you’re coming into our home," Meesun said.

Meesun said one of the most amazing joys of operating Mersea in the year and a half that it’s been open has been witnessing how the customers react to both the incredible view of San Francisco and the great food. The menu options are made with care by Parke, touted by Meesun as “one of the best chefs in San Francisco.” She added that it’s Parke’s commitment to the food that makes the cuisine truly shine.

Meesun and Parke discovered Homebase through Clover, their POS system, and initially used it strictly for clocking in and out and schedule building before discovering other tools that could make their lives much easier: the Schedule Events and Hiring features.

Easy Event Planning

Mersea hosts many events for large groups, ranging anywhere from a dinner party of 12 to 1500 guests. Initially Meesun was juggling different programs to try and schedule staff for the events and said the experience was “disjointed” until she found she could do it much more efficiently on Homebase. “I can add events within Homebase as I’m doing the schedule and I can see if I have enough people,” she said. “The user interface is amazing because all I have to do is color code. I found it to be one of the most user-friendly, efficient, effective tools to manage my team and, in a way, my operations, because I can better manage my employees, especially because of the various events that come up.”

Hiring Made Simple

Meesun and Parke use the hiring feature to turn an often exhausting task into a streamlined, efficient experience. Instead of using several different hiring channels to find employees, the two can view resumes in their Homebase dashboard. The best part? They know the candidates they find with the tool will require less training when they start on the job because they already use Homebase. “We found some amazing staff, and I saw the value in the seamless integration,” Meesun said.

A Good Clover Complement

Clover and Homebase working in tandem to cover all aspects of Mersea’s operations has made for an easy business-running experience. “We use Clover primarily for financials to look at the reporting, and as far as labor I defer to Homebase because it pulls in that data and I’m able to see how we’re doing,” Meesun said.

Meesun added that Homebase is Mersea’s “baseline to look at the reports” while offsite because of the easy-to-use dashboard, making it “a tremendous tool.” Thanks to all the features Homebase has to offer, what was once a simple timesheet program to Mersea is now key to running the show. “It’s become a great focal point of our business and operations,” Meesun said. Learn more about how Homebase can help your business manage your team.