Royal Agricultural University (RAU) x Lolly – From Intuition to Insightful, Data-Driven Decisions‍

About RAU

Royal Agricultural University (RAU) operates a diverse catering service from its Cirencester campus, serving students, staff, visitors and the wider public. The university runs one main dining area, a café and retail outlet, and several bar spaces, alongside regular pop-ups and off-site services for graduations, conferences, weddings, funerals and catered meetings.

Catering is a major part of RAU’s commercial activity, operating almost all year round and generating up to 30% of the university’s commercial revenue, compared with a sector average of around 16%, according to the 2025 CUBO Benchmarking Report . The team balances commercial performance with its responsibility to serve the needs of students and staff.

The challenge

Before partnering with Lolly, RAU was limited by an outdated EPOS system that offered little more than basic till functions. “It was no better than a calculator,” explains Ryan Hanson, Director of Campus Experience at RAU. “We had no meaningful data at site level, no breakdowns by time of day, outlet or user, and no KPIs to inform strategic or operational decisions.”

This lack of visibility meant managers were relying on instinct when planning staffing levels, designing menus and setting prices. Communication with customers was also restricted, with no easy way to share promotions, updates or marketing messages. Gross profit reporting was delayed and retrospective, and real-time insight into expenditure and revenue simply wasn’t possible.

Temporary and mobile services posed an additional challenge. Sales at outdoor events or pop-up locations were processed manually, often with cash tins and standalone card machines, meaning there was no integrated data or stock visibility. “We couldn’t track how well these events performed or feed that information back into the wider business,” says Hanson.

The solution, a collaborative approach with Lolly

Through sector networks and TUCO events, RAU discovered Lolly and subsequently entered a competitive tender process. Lolly’s flexible, collaborative approach, combined with strong functionality and value, won unanimous support from operations, finance and IT stakeholders.

“Some suppliers offered rigid, one-size-fits-all systems,” says Hanson. “Lolly’s team listened and adapted. When we asked, ‘Can you do this?’, the answer was always, ‘Yes, and we’ll work with you to make it happen.’”

Deployment began in the summer, with Lolly EPOS terminals installed across fixed sites, Lolly Move devices enabling mobile service at events, and the Lolly app introduced to power meal plans, loyalty programmes and direct communications. The rollout placed minimal demand on internal IT, with outlet managers supported directly by Lolly’s responsive team.

Service efficiency and operational uplift

The impact has been significant:

•Data-led decision making: Managers now have live insight into sales, expenditure and gross profit by outlet, daypart and event, enabling targeted decisions on menu mix, pricing and promotions.

•Smarter staffing: Workforce planning is now based on actual transaction volumes rather than “gut feel”, allowing hours to be reallocated where demand is proven.

•Cashless flexibility: App-based prepayment options mean younger visitors, such as international summer school students aged 11–17, no longer require cash, supporting RAU’s cashless campus ambitions.

•Mobile trading with visibility: Move devices enable pop-up and outdoor events to feed stock, sales and transaction data directly into the system, replacing manual processes.

•Faster service and sustainability gains: Near-live reporting speeds up transactions and eliminates the need for printed receipts. Push notifications and digital loyalty replace paper stamp cards and support targeted marketing.

•Reducing waste: Direct messaging allows RAU to alert users to discounted surplus food, complementing its “Too Good To Go” initiative and helping cut food waste.

Early adoption of the Lolly app has already surpassed 200 users before the new term. Meal plans are now integrated directly into the app, removing previous delays caused by linking them to student ID cards.

The future

Looking ahead, RAU plans to deepen its use of real-time reporting, refine loyalty and meal-plan journeys, and expand mobile trading across more events. Smart fridges and autonomous retail points are under consideration to extend service without adding to staffing pressures, allowing team members to focus on high-value, guest-facing tasks.

“RAU’s experience shows how the right technology can quickly transform university catering,” says Peter Moore, CEO of Lolly. “From day one, our focus was on delivering a solution that solved their core challenges and gave the team the visibility they needed to make better decisions. We’re pleased to see how quickly they’ve embraced the system and are already exploring new ways to build on its capabilities.”

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