Over 44k new guests in 2026.
Howies has run restaurants in Edinburgh since 1990. In 2026 it brought bookings, Square, guest Wi-Fi and reviews together on Stampede. Over the same months as last year, its new guests rose from 28k to over 44k, its Google rating from 4.49 to 4.65, and its email opt-in rate from 32% to 77%.
The short version
- Howies is an independent, family-run restaurant group in Edinburgh.
- Between January and early November 2026, Howies added over 44k new guests to its Stampede guest list, up from 28k over the same months of 2025.
- Of the guests Howies added in 2026, 77% opted in to email marketing, up from 32% over the same months of 2025.
- Howies received over 3,300 Google reviews in 2026, up from 2,277 over the same months of 2025, and its average Google rating rose from 4.49 to 4.65.
- Howies took over 21k online bookings through Stampede in 2026, handled over 1,700 group and event enquiries, and replied to guest messages in a median of under two hours.
- Howies was named Best for Scottish, Independent Business of the Year at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards 2026.
- Howies uses Stampede for bookings, deposits, group enquiries, guest Wi-Fi, reviews and reporting, with Square Point of Sale.
An Edinburgh family group since 1990.
Howies is an independent, family-run restaurant group in Edinburgh. Today there are two Howies restaurants, at Waterloo Place in a Georgian hall at the foot of Calton Hill, and on Victoria Street in the Old Town. Scotts Kitchen sits on the terrace directly above Howies Victoria, open from 9am for breakfast, brunch and drinks, and Events by Howies has run private dining and outside catering since 2022. Around 90% of the group’s suppliers are within 50 miles of its restaurants.
In September 2026, Howies was named Best for Scottish, Independent Business of the Year at the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards. Howies says the award recognises its Scottish sourcing, its supplier relationships, a clear strategy for growth and a strong understanding of its customers.
“At Howies, we’ve spent over 36 years building restaurants around good food, genuine hospitality and looking after our guests. As we’ve grown, one of our biggest priorities has been ensuring the technology behind our restaurants keeps pace with the business, without losing the personal approach that makes independent hospitality special.”
In 2026, Howies brought its bookings, deposits and group enquiries, its Square Point of Sale, its guest Wi-Fi and its reviews together on Stampede, so all of them now feed the same guest record.
“What initially attracted us was the opportunity to bring reservations, guest data, marketing and reputation management together, giving us a much clearer understanding of who our guests are, how often they visit and what encourages them to return.”
Over 44k new guests in 2026.
Every booking, guest Wi-Fi sign-in and Square Point of Sale order now lands on a guest profile in Stampede. Between January and early November 2026, that added over 44k new guests to Howies’ guest list, up from 28k over the same months of 2025.
More of them can be reached, too. Of the guests Howies added in 2026, 77% opted in to its email marketing, up from 32% over the same months of 2025.
The guest Wi-Fi is part of it. Guests signed in over 22k times across Howies Waterloo Place, Howies Victoria Street and Scotts Kitchen in 2026.
New guests added to Howies’ guest list in Stampede, from 1 January to 5 November, this year against last.
Stampede data.“We’re building a much stronger, data-led decision-making framework across the business, and Stampede has an important role to play in that. The ability to turn the wealth of guest information we collect into meaningful commercial insight is exactly where we want to go. Understanding guest behaviour, identifying opportunities and making more informed decisions has the potential to fundamentally change how we operate and grow the business.”
Want to know what numbers like these would look like for your restaurant?
Bookings, walk-ins and enquiries in one diary.
Over 21k of Howies’ bookings in 2026 were made online, through the Stampede booking page.
Group and event enquiries come into Stampede too. Over 1,700 arrived in 2026, for both restaurants, Scotts Kitchen and Events by Howies, each one logged against its venue and the guest who sent it. Guest messages run through the same inbox, and the team’s median reply time in 2026 is under two hours.
Walk-ins go on the same diary as reservations. They come in from Square Point of Sale, and over 36k were recorded in 2026, so the team at each venue sees every table of the day, booked or not.
Every Howies table in 2026, by how it arrived: walk-ins from Square Point of Sale, online bookings and bookings entered by staff.
Stampede data.Howies’ Square Point of Sale is connected as well. Since 18 May 2026, over 65k completed orders have come through from Square into Stampede.
“Every payment lands on the guest who made it now. Everything a guest does with us, online and in our venues, finally joins up in one view instead of being scattered across separate systems. That lets us look after our regulars properly and reach them with offers that actually fit how they eat and drink with us.”
Over 3,300 Google reviews, rated 4.65.
For a restaurant in central Edinburgh, Google Maps is where many guests decide where to eat. Search for dinner near the Royal Mile and Google shows a shortlist of places nearby, each with its star rating and latest reviews right under its name.
Google says how many reviews a business has is part of what decides its local ranking: “more reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking”. Replies matter too: “positive reviews and helpful replies can help your business stand out.”
Howies received over 3,300 Google reviews between January and early November 2026, up from 2,277 over the same months of 2025, and its average Google rating rose from 4.49 to 4.65. At Howies Waterloo Place, reviews nearly doubled, from 970 to over 1,800, at an average of 4.73.
Reviews for every venue come into Stampede in one place, each one tagged as positive, mixed or negative, and the team replies from there rather than logging in to each Google listing. It has replied to over 2,000 Google reviews so far this year, and a typical reply now goes out in about two days, down from over three in 2025.
Every figure from Howies’ own account.
Every figure on this page comes from Howies’ own Stampede account: bookings, walk-ins, enquiries, Wi-Fi, Square Point of Sale orders and reviews, reported side by side for each venue and compared with the same months of 2025.
“What has particularly impressed me is Stampede’s responsiveness to feedback and its genuinely operator-first approach to product development. There’s a direct feedback loop between the people running restaurants and the people building the technology. Suggestions are listened to, challenges are understood and there’s a real willingness to act on what operators need. That collaborative approach is excellent and makes the relationship feel like a partnership rather than simply working with another software provider.”
“Ultimately, technology should allow our teams to spend less time on administration and more time looking after guests, while giving management the insight to make better decisions. That’s what we’re working towards with Stampede.”
36 years in Edinburgh, and now bookings, Wi-Fi, reviews and Square all feed one guest record. Imagine what yours could do.