Trullo x GiftPro: great food and effortless gifting
The background
Trullo has been a fixture of Highbury & Islington since 2010, a neighbourhood Italian restaurant with a loyal following and a reputation built on warmth, quality, and the kind of hospitality that keeps people coming back. Nikki Williams has been Reception Manager for nine of those sixteen years, and Trullo’s relationship with Giftpro began the day she started and Nikki has never once looked elsewhere.
“Gifting is such a wonderful thing for people to be able to share. We’re in the business of facilitating people to have a good time and have an experience with each other. Eating out with friends or partners or parents is a gift, so to be able to efficiently and professionally offer vouchers with such a slick service really helps.”
Before Giftpro: A spreadsheet and a laptop mid-service
Before Giftpro, Trullo’s voucher system was a manual Excel spreadsheet, no unique codes, no automation, and no good way to handle redemptions quickly during a busy service.
“You had to pull out a laptop, find a person in a list, and it was a nightmare,” Nikki recalls. As the restaurant grew busier, the gap between what the spreadsheet could do and what the business needed became impossible to ignore.
The switch to Giftpro solved the immediate operational chaos, but it also did something more important. It gave Trullo a gifting experience that matched the restaurant’s own standards.
“It’s really professional, the way that it all looks.”
How Giftpro works for Trullo
On the floor, every day
Giftpro is saved on the iPads, meaning any member of staff can redeem a voucher instantly. Charity vouchers, which Trullo issues regularly, run through exactly the same flow and are processed seamlessly at the till.
Physical products without the back-of-house headache
Space at Trullo is limited, so Giftpro’s fulfilment warehouse handles stock directly. Cookbooks are ordered from Penguin with Giftpro’s warehouse set as the delivery address. Nikki gets a nudge when stock runs low, places a reorder, and nothing needs to pass through the restaurant. Physical and digital vouchers are both live, with Trullo’s branded olive oil and own-label wine in the pipeline as the next additions to the shop.
A personal touch with video messaging
When Giftpro introduced personalised video messages, Trullo switched it on immediately. “It adds the ability to include a personal touch, it’s such a nice way to do it, so as soon as that option came available we went for it.” For a neighbourhood restaurant where personal connection is everything, it’s a natural fit.
Smarter marketing conversations
Trullo’s newsletter, A Peek Behind the Curtain, is the restaurant’s main marketing channel, and Nikki is deliberate about keeping it from feeling too sales-heavy. But when Giftpro flagged end-of-term as a gifting opportunity, Trullo added a voucher mention for teacher gifts and it landed well. “It’s nice to be able to link things digitally.” It’s the kind of timely, relevant nudge that makes the Giftpro relationship feel like a genuine partnership rather than just a platform.
Customer service that actually picks up
When something needs fixing, it’s a one-minute phone call. “You speak to an actual person, they’re really easy to deal with and just do what you need.” For a small team running a busy restaurant, that reliability is everything.
The results
Nine years in, Nikki’s assessment is unambiguous.
“It’s just made it 10x easier to be able to offer this as a service. And from the customer side of things, having the ability to have a professional site where any enquiries come back to us, it reflects the right tone and has really worked perfectly for what we need.”
Vouchers bring in first-time guests who arrive on a recommendation, discover the restaurant, and become regulars. “What it means more for us is that it brings people to the restaurant on a good recommendation who might not have been there before, and they come because they have a voucher and then they might come again and again. I think it has an impact on growth when you’re able to gift experiences.”
And her advice to any restaurant owner weighing up the decision?
“Just leave it in their hands, they’re very capable. Why would you not?”
To find out more about Giftpro vouchers and how they could work for your business, speak to a member of our team today.
