Margot’s secret ingredient isn’t on the menu

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Kitchen Day host Dominique Fourie McMillan recently sat down with Margot co-owner Juno Miers to talk about everything from opening a restaurant as first-time business owners to building the kind of team culture that keeps people coming back.

One thing stood out: behind every great hospitality experience are systems that quietly make everything work. For Juno and the team at Margot, Droppah has been one of those systems from day one.

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Walk into Margot on any given night and it's easy to see why the restaurant has quickly earned such a loyal following. The room feels calm without being quiet, polished without feeling pretentious, and the hospitality is world class. Everything feels effortless.

Behind it all are owners Tom Adam and Juno Miers, who opened Margot as first-time business owners with plenty of ambition, but not much in the way of time or resource. "When you're starting a restaurant, every decision matters," says Juno.
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"We knew we needed systems that would save us time from day one."

One of those decisions was Droppah.

The pair were introduced to Droppah before Margot even opened its doors, and it quickly became one of the easiest calls they made.

"As first-time business owners, we opened Margot with little money and little time, so knowing Droppah was going to be a big time saver was a no-brainer. It's easy to use, we can build regular rosters that repeat week to week with the click of a button, and it integrates really well with our payroll software."

For Tom and Juno, the biggest win isn't flashy features. It's the quiet efficiency that removes hours of admin every single week.

Every member of the Margot team clocks in and out using Droppah's Photo Time Clock, giving everyone visibility over the hours they've worked. Those hours then flow directly into payroll, eliminating manual data entry and the inevitable back-and-forth that often comes with paper timesheets.

"We do payroll on our days off," Juno explains. "Keeping that work to a minimum on our personal recharge time is invaluable."

It's a simple benefit, but one that reflects something bigger about how they run their business. Margot has built its reputation on warm, thoughtful hospitality, and Juno believes that starts long before a guest walks through the front door.

"If we can make our team feel that same warmth and kindness, it naturally flows through to our customers. Droppah gives everyone transparency. Our team trusts they'll be paid correctly, and we're not interrupting their time away from work with questions about rosters or hours."

That trust creates confidence. Confidence creates happier teams. And happier teams create better hospitality. It's an often-overlooked connection, but one that many successful operators understand instinctively.

Droppah has also become an important planning tool behind the scenes. The platform allows Tom and Juno to forecast wage costs before a roster is published and compare those predictions against the actual cost of worked shifts, helping them make informed decisions without sacrificing the experience they're trying to create.

More importantly, it gives them something every restaurant owner wishes they had more of: time.

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"Because we're spending less time on admin, Tom and I have more time to actually run the business. More time to be creative in the kitchen, more time developing our beverage programme, and more time focusing on the parts of hospitality that we love."

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Ask Juno why Margot has stayed with Droppah since opening, and her answer is refreshingly uncomplicated.

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"It saves you time and stress, gives you certainty, and puts all the information you need in one place."

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Sometimes the best hospitality technology isn't the software you notice. It's the software that gives operators more time to look after their team, their guests, and the restaurant they've worked so hard to build.

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Company: Margot

Website: www.margotnewtown.co.nz

Industry: Hospitality

Customer since: July 2022
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