Boom + Batten Restaurant & Café: How an Award-Winning Waterfront Restaurant Uses Squirrel to Rank Among Canada’s Top 100 Brunch Spots
Welcome to our Q&A Spotlight series, where we explore real-world stories of full-service restaurants finding success with Squirrel. We are excited to have Chantaille Ash, Guest Relations & Marketing Manager of Boom + Batten, one of Canada’s Top 100 Brunch Spots, share her experience and how Squirrel has helped transform the restaurant’s operations since day one.
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
# of Seats: 236 seats and over 750 covers per day


Summary
Boom + Batten, an award-winning restaurant located in the prestigious Victoria International Marina, is renowned for its Pacific Northwest flavors and stunning harbor views. Patrons can enjoy watching floatplanes while savoring a diverse menu crafted from local ingredients, complemented by an extensive wine list recognized at the Vancouver International Wine Fest. The restaurant’s commitment to culinary excellence and impeccable service has made it one of the top bunch spots in Canada.
How would you describe your business to someone who has never visited?
Boom + Batten is a unique waterfront restaurant just across the water from downtown Victoria.
We’ve tried to fixate on the West Coast appeal, not just in our interior design and aesthetics but also in our food and drinks. Our culinary and bar teams are amazing and draw much inspiration from the Pacific Northwest. Our menu changes often because we love showcasing new recipes and keeping things fresh. We work closely with local suppliers to support and nurture our community. We aim to offer an authentic taste of the West Coast with excellent service and a welcoming atmosphere.
Could you describe your restaurant operation and POS setup?
Our total seating capacity, including the patio, is 236 seats.
We want to maximize face-to-face interaction at the table. Our servers take all orders with pen and paper before entering them into one of our eight stationary Squirrel terminals, which are strategically placed throughout the restaurant. For the patio area, we use two iPads to maintain efficiency and allow our staff to attend to guests faster and with less walking.
On your busiest nights, how many staff members are typically on duty?
During peak hours, 34 staff members, including managers, support staff, hosts, and baristas, serve an average of 750 daily covers.
How did you first hear about Squirrel, and what were your initial thoughts?
Boom + Batten was opened in 2019, and prior to that, the managing partner used Squirrel at the sister restaurant, Glo Restaurant + Lounge. He absolutely loves the program, its simplicity, the user interface, and the phenomenal support team at Squirrel. It was an easy decision to implement Squirrel at Boom + Batten because of its success at Glo. We wanted to bring the same level of success to our new restaurant.
What kind of impact has technology had on your restaurant’s operations and service?
Technology has a significant impact on restaurant operations, regardless of the type—whether full-service or casual.
We’ve integrated kitchen automation with our POS system, and the team loves it. There have been no complaints so far. The system helps the team with food preparation, coordinating timing to ensure everything is ready at just the right moment.
What are some of the most loved features in Squirrel POS?
The Squirrel system is user-friendly yet robust. Our servers like how the menus are organized into different sections with color highlights, making it simple to find items. The countdown feature showing how many wines or dishes are left eliminates the need to constantly check in with a manager or kitchen to see the remaining stock count.
The back-office functionality is a standout on the management side. We frequently update our menu, and with Squirrel, it’s easy to make changes on your own without needing technical support.
Finally, our team loves the ability to set happy hour menus to activate and deactivate automatically. For example, we can set our happy hour menu to turn on at 2:00 PM and off at 5:00 PM without any manual adjustment from a manager.
Would you recommend Squirrel POS to other restaurants or colleagues, and if so, how would you explain its benefits to them?
Absolutely. Squirrel takes away all those difficult back-end tasks, so our team can focus on what’s most important—our guests. The positive feedback we’ve received from our team gives us the confidence to recommend it to other restaurants and businesses.