The project was approved on the day of the initial enquiry, with terms signed the following day.
The Pipe and Glass Inn
A replacement online gift voucher platform and bespoke order-management system, taken from initial enquiry to successful client testing before support for the incumbent service ended.
The Pipe and Glass is a Michelin-starred restaurant and inn in South Dalton, East Yorkshire, run by chef and proprietor James Mackenzie.
The business already sold gift vouchers online, but its incumbent provider advised that support for the service would be withdrawn within weeks. The Pipe and Glass approached Askew Brook to investigate a replacement.
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 and could be understood, built, integrated and tested before the existing service lost support.
The project was approved on the day of the initial enquiry, with terms signed the following day.
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.
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 platform connects to Northern Retail for voucher issuance while keeping the customer and staff experience within the new system.
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. 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 project moved from initial enquiry to 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.
Northern Retail, 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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