Platform
Our Customers
Platform's Story
Platform Shoreditch is a gaming bar founded by brothers Nicolò and Tomaso Portunato. Ten semi-private gaming booths kitted with Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5. Craft beer, cocktails, wood-fired pizzas, and bottomless brunch. It's where friends come to battle it out over FIFA, Mario Kart, and Counter-Strike, and where corporate teams book networking nights, tournaments, and watch parties.When the brothers rebuilt the business with new investors in 2024, HGEM was one of the first partners they came back to.
Challenges
With the UK hospitality market contracting through 2025, Platform was set up to grow against the trend. Three priorities shaped the partnership from day one.
-
Visibility
With both founders stepped back from operations, Platform needed honest, independent evidence of how the venue was performing when they weren't on site, plus a way to draw insight from the 30-50 reviews landing every week.
-
Team accountability
Performance had to hold up on quieter shifts as well as packed ones. The founders needed a measurable standard the GM and team could be held to, plus visibility of which team members were driving the best guest experiences on the floor.
-
Growth
Ambitious targets for covers, spend per head, and group size, alongside a 10-50% price rise on the 2026 roadmap. Platform needed evidence the guest experience justified the ask, and insight into what guests valued most.
Solutions
HGEM delivered the programme in phases. Mystery Audits first. Review Management layered on. The Hub pulling it all together into a single board-ready view.
-
Mystery Guests Audits
A bespoke audit programme was shaped around the way Platform actually trades. The questionnaire takes in the whole guest night: consoles under pressure, service recovery, food and drink, atmosphere and music, local visibility, and whether the online picture matches reality. Visits land across peak trading, so the data reflects real conditions. When a score dips below threshold, The Hub triggers a follow-up automatically, giving the founders evidence they can act on, and defend.
-
Review Management
Halo AI writes the replies to 4 and 5-star reviews with comments, while templated responses cover the rest. Everything goes out inside opening hours on a six-hour delay, so guests get a considered, human-feeling reply. The team saves hours every week, and the 30-50 reviews flowing in stop being a workload and start being a commercial asset.
-
The Hub and Halo AI
Reporting is shaped around the founders' operating rhythm: a reconfigured dashboard, weekly review and period audit summaries, and a custom board report, all powering investor updates and weekly performance meetings. Halo AI sits alongside, surfacing named team member mentions from guest sentiment that feed straight into recognition and incentive conversations on the floor.
Outcomes
Three months in, the impact from results was already measurable.
-
Rating up from 4.4★ to 4.8★
Within three months of going live, Platform's average Google rating climbed to 4.8★, lifting brand reputation and discoverability just as the business was pushing for growth. That rating strength gave the founders the cover they needed to put through a February 2026 price rise without losing volume.
-
£349 in additional monthly sales
HGEM's Review Impact ROI Calculator measures the revenue impact of a stronger review profile. For Platform, the improved rating is driving an estimated £349 in additional monthly sales from guests choosing them over competitors. That's £4,192 a year in incremental revenue, directly attributable to the rating lift.
-
£4 up on spend per head
The founders set out to lift spend per head, and Q1 2026 data puts Platform at 97% of the way there. HGEM's programme plays a real part in that lift: data that backed the pricing decisions, audit detail that sharpens upselling on the floor, and feedback that keeps guests feeling the value.
-
60% uplift in review response rate
A structured workflow, AI and templated auto-responses lifted overall review response rates by 60% since launch.
-
~12 hours a month saved
At Platform's volume of 30-50 reviews a week, Halo AI and AI templated replies take roughly 12 hours a month out of the team's workload. That's close to 150 hours a year, or 18 working days the team get to spend on guests, trading and service rather than typing replies.
Confidence for the board, clarity on the floor
Nicolò and Tomaso now have the insight they need to prioritise the right investments, hold weekly performance meetings with hard data, and build the commercial case for the next stage of the business. Their GM stays supported, motivated, and in control of the day-to-day.
-
Nicolò & Tomaso Portunato | FoundersHGEM has been a valuable tool for our business. The onboarding process led by Maisie was smooth, quick, and supported by excellent communication throughout. As non-operational directors, we rely on HGEM to act as our 'eyes on site,' giving us clear visibility of day-to-day operations even when we're not present. This insight has been crucial in helping us prioritise and manage the business more effectively.