Greene King Breaks New Ground with Ticketless Carveries to Cut Queues and Allow Diners to Eat Together

An innovative ticketless approach to pub carveries in Greene King’s Farmhouse Inns and Farmhouse Kitchen is removing a familiar service bottleneck while allowing guests choosing a roast and those ordering from the main menu to receive their meals at the same time.

The ticketless carvery is a virtual queuing system that replaces the traditional process of ordering at the bar, receiving a paper ticket and then joining a separate queue at the carvery. Instead, carvery choices are added directly to the table’s order and then customers are alerted when menu dishes are being prepared in the kitchen, ensuring carvery diners have time to choose their meats, vegetables and accompaniments before returning to the table as the remaining dishes arrive.

Customers ordering their meal at the bar are advised to return to their table and a team member will invite the carvery guest up to the deck when the kitchen meal is nearly ready. For those ordering via the app, a new digital order confirmation message explains to customers that they are in the queue, and a team member will explain the process when delivering the drinks order.

New communications headsets mean kitchen teams and front of house teams are now connected throughout the pub restaurant and can communicate with each other immediately when a kitchen order is nearing completion. This improved efficiency alongside updated kitchen management software allows front of house teams to have clearer visibility of restaurant demand and when orders are ready to be served.

The new system, rolled out across 65 pubs, tackles one of the key challenges associated with mixed orders. Previously, a carvery diner may return to the table well before someone waiting for a cooked-to-order dish arrives from the kitchen, leaving one meal to cool or guests to start eating separately.

Jodie Tate, Greene King’s chief operating officer, said: “Ticketless carveries are a game changer for our customers and our teams. It is brilliant to see this in action in our pubs. The age-old issues with queues and customers having their meals at different times are gone. When you go out, you want to eat together, it’s all part of the experience and occasion. Coordinating the two meal journeys with the ticketless carvery system means families and groups can select their favourite carvery and main-menu orders and still share the meal together.”

There are further benefits for the pub teams as chefs can manage and replenish the carvery more efficiently and team members spend less time checking tickets and more time welcoming and serving guests. The approach does not remove the all-important in-person service and clear communication around the carvery journey remains essential. Guests are welcome to join the carvery queue whenever they are ready and do not need to wait for a digital notification or prompt. This flexibility supports guests visiting under time constraints, such as a lunch break.

The ticketless carvery system is available in all Farmhouse Inns and Farmhouse Kitchen venues, including the new Farmhouse Kitchen in Willington, Derbyshire, which officially opened its doors to the public in September.

Notes to editors

Greene King is the country’s leading pub company and brewer trading c2,500 pubs, restaurants and hotels across England, Wales and Scotland.

At Greene King we are passionate about delivering our purpose to ‘pour happiness into lives’. That’s for our customers, our team, our pub partners, our suppliers and the communities in which we live, operate and serve. Founded in 1799 with offices in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk and Burton on Trent in Staffordshire we employ around 38,000 people across the group and operate three business areas including Managed Pubs, Pub Partners and Brewing & Brands.

• Managed Pubs: Our Managed Pubs bring together our best-known pub and restaurant brands nationwide, including Greene King pubs, Hungry Horse, Chef & Brewer, Farmhouse Inns and Flaming Grill. We offer great service, quality and value for a wide range of eating and drinking occasions. Ventures includes Hickory’s, Premium (Crafted Pubs & Metropolitan Pub Company) and Hotels, which operate independently of Greene King’s managed pub brands.

• Pub Partners: Pub Partners runs our tenanted and leased pubs business and Hive and Nest franchise pubs. These options combine entrepreneurial independence with practical support, enabling partners to run successful local businesses within a market‑leading estate. We have c.1,000 leased, tenanted and franchise pubs.

• Brewing & Brands covers the brewing sides of the business. Quality ales are brewed at the Westgate brewery in Bury St Edmunds and the Belhaven Brewery in Dunbar. Our industry-leading portfolio includes Greene King IPA, Abbot Ale, Ice Breaker and Belhaven Best and our premium beers, Level Head and Hazy Day, brewed for the modern-day drinker.

For further information please contact Greene King Press Office via pressoffice@greeneking.co.uk.

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