Askew Brook needed to understand, design, develop, integrate and test the replacement within a compressed delivery window.
The Pipe and Glass
A replacement online gift voucher platform and bespoke order-management system, designed, developed and brought to successful client testing before support for the incumbent service ended.
The Pipe and Glass is a Michelin Starred Pub in South Dalton, East Yorkshire, run by chef and proprietor James Mackenzie alongside his wife Kate Mackenzie.
The business already sold gift vouchers online, but its incumbent provider advised that support for the service would be withdrawn within weeks, creating a fixed deadline for a dependable replacement.
Northern Retail Services (Scarborough) Ltd provides the point of sale technology used by the Pipe and Glass. This was not intended to become a wider website redesign. The priority was a reliable standalone voucher platform that fitted naturally with the Pipe and Glass brand, integrated with Northern Retail’s established POS system and could be understood, built and tested before the existing service lost support.
Askew Brook needed to understand, design, develop, integrate and test the replacement within a compressed delivery window.
The replacement needed to support both digital vouchers and physical vouchers requiring postal fulfilment.
Payments, voucher issuance, generated documents and transactional messages had to stay connected through the order lifecycle.
Askew Brook’s new platform needed to integrate with Northern Retail’s existing API so vouchers could be redeemed instantly through the Pipe and Glass POS system.
The platform needed to work with existing suppliers, domain arrangements and IT responsibilities rather than replacing the systems around it.
The customer journey had to remain simple and recognisably Pipe and Glass despite the operational work happening behind it.
Both digital and printed purchases needed to be available for the client to test as complete journeys before support for the incumbent service ended.
A standalone purchasing experience follows the Pipe and Glass identity without attempting to redesign the wider website.
Customers can choose the value of the voucher they want to purchase within the rules of the service.
The journey supports vouchers delivered digitally by email and printed vouchers prepared for postal fulfilment.
Purchasers can provide recipient details and a personal message to be included with the voucher.
The Askew Brook platform connects to Northern Retail’s existing API for voucher issuance and seamless, instant redemption through the point of sale system used by the Pipe and Glass.
Online payments and their status form part of the same order record and operational workflow.
Postmark delivers purchaser and staff notifications, with delivery status visible to the administration team.
Customers who explicitly opt in can be added to Mailchimp without mixing marketing consent into the transactional journey.
Staff can review purchaser, recipient, voucher, payment, delivery and fulfilment information from one order view.
Generated voucher PDFs, postal details and dispatch status are kept with the order as it moves towards completion.
The customer sees a calm, straightforward Pipe and Glass-branded journey: choose a value, select digital or printed delivery, add recipient details and include a personal message.
Behind that restrained interface, the administration system follows payment, voucher issuance, PDF preparation, email delivery and physical dispatch. Its integration with Northern Retail’s existing API means issued vouchers can be redeemed instantly through the restaurant’s POS system. Staff can see voucher codes and expiry information alongside purchaser, recipient, payment and fulfilment details.
That distinction matters. The value of the project is not complexity on the page; it is the operational software that makes a simple buying experience dependable for customers and manageable for the Pipe and Glass team.
The replacement reached successful client testing in under three weeks.
The Pipe and Glass team successfully completed digital and printed voucher purchases during testing.
The expected emails arrived and the printable voucher included its generated attachment.
Staff have a bespoke order record spanning payment, issuance, delivery and fulfilment rather than a simple payment form.
Successful collaboration between Askew Brook and Northern Retail connected the new voucher platform to the existing POS technology, allowing vouchers to be redeemed instantly at the point of sale.
Northern Retail’s POS system, Stripe, Postmark, Mailchimp and the client’s existing domain arrangements are connected around the new platform.
The working core provides a clear base for further operational improvements as real seasonal fulfilment needs are reviewed.
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