Munu is an all-in-one restaurant management platform built in the Nordics, and this summer we ran the point of sale at four Norwegian festivals in five weeks: Rodeo in Oslo, Havanna in Sandnes, Odden in Hamar and Stavernfestivalen in Stavern. A festival bar is a restaurant that exists for a weekend, serves at full capacity for a few hours of it, and then disappears. Nothing about that resembles a normal Tuesday.
Why a festival bar is the hardest place in hospitality to take a payment
Ask anyone who has worked one. The set ends, and a few thousand people decide at the same moment that they are thirsty. You are outdoors, on temporary power and whatever signal the field happens to have, with a team hired for the weekend and trained that morning. There is no second chance at the queue and nobody to call at 22:00 on a Saturday. Then the site comes down and every bar, stand and vendor has to be settled from numbers that were never in the same place.
What ran at Rodeo, Havanna, Odden and Stavernfestivalen this summer
We started at Rodeo in Torshovdalen in Oslo on 5 and 6 June, as the festival’s official POS provider, and it was a first edition: a country and bygderock festival dropped into a city park. Two weeks later we were in Sandnes for the first Havanna, on 19 and 20 June, sponsoring it and working the bars with our own crew. A week after that Munu GO ran the sales points at Odden on Domkirkeodden in Hamar, on 26 and 27 June, and from 2 to 4 July at Stavernfestivalen, which was marking its twenty-fifth year.
That spread is the point. Two of the four were opening editions with no previous year to copy, one was old enough to have proper routines, and Stavern ran three days where the others ran two. The sites had little in common beyond the hour when everyone wants a drink at once. Nobody publishes transaction figures from a festival weekend, so here is the honest version: the lines kept moving, and none of the four had a stop in sales.
How a bar in the middle of a field takes a card payment
The short answer is that it does not lean on the venue Wi-Fi. Munu GO runs wherever the operation does, connecting QR ordering, online channels and payments into one mobile system with no fixed setup. The handheld carries ordering, payment and syncing in one device, and now comes with 4G, which matters when your bar is a tent on grass far from the nearest router.
It is the same Munu POS that runs restaurants, hotels and arenas the rest of the year, in a form that fits in an apron pocket. Staff who know it from a dining room recognise it on a field.
Running the whole site from one screen
Central control is the part that changes how a weekend feels. Menus, prices and sales points are set up in one place and pushed to every device on site.
Planning next season
See how Munu handles POS for festivals, events and large-scale venues in the Nordics.
Book a demoFrequently asked questions about POS systems for festivals in Norway
What is the best POS system for festivals in Norway?
The deciding factors at a Norwegian festival are throughput in the peak hour, whether the sales points run on mobile data rather than venue Wi-Fi, and whether every bar and vendor reports into one place for settlement. Munu POS covers all three, runs on both fixed stations and 4G handhelds, and takes Vipps and card in the same system. It ran the bars at Rodeo in Oslo, Havanna in Sandnes, Odden in Hamar and Stavernfestivalen this summer, and runs DNB Arena in Stavanger year round.
Can a POS system work without Wi-Fi at an outdoor festival in Norway?
Yes, if the sales points run on mobile data instead of the venue network. Festival Wi-Fi is usually temporary and shared with production, so a POS that depends on it is a risk you carry all weekend. Munu GO runs mobile with no fixed setup, and the Munu handheld is available with 4G. Test the mobile coverage on the actual site before the weekend, because an empty field in April behaves differently with a full crowd standing on it.
Can you pay with Vipps at festivals in Norway?
At most Norwegian festivals yes, though it depends on the POS the organiser runs rather than on the festival itself. Vipps is widely used in Norway, and a bar that cannot take it sends people looking for a card they may not have brought. Munu POS supports Vipps alongside card and mobile pay in the same system. Swish is the equivalent at Swedish events.
How do festival organisers in Norway settle sales across multiple bars and food stands?
Sales report by department and by vendor, so each bar, food stand and external vendor settles from one source instead of a pile of separate tills. Munu Analytics carries that reporting and Munu Integrations connects it into accounting, with PowerOffice Go as the direct connection most Norwegian venues use. Vendors who bring their own tills stay outside that reporting, which is worth agreeing before the site plan is fixed rather than after.