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Inventory Management

Ryan McRorie
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January 22, 2013

Employee SchedulingInventory ManagementPOS Intelligence

Multi-Unit Franchise Operations made easier with Retail & Restaurant Management Software

January 22, 2013 | By |

Multi-unit franchising sure has a nice ring to it. Especially if you happen to be the franchise owner of 3-4 units. It’s a stunning visual.

You can drive around and see what you own. That could be why a lot of prospective franchise owners get quite energized when looking at opportunities. They picture a growing business, and with it, multiple locations.

According to an independent research firm, (FRANdata) 52% of all franchises are now multi-unit operations. The top 50 multi-unit franchisees increased the number of units they operated by 10% between 2005 and 2007. Fast food continues to be the most popular industry, claiming 35% of all multi-unit franchises, with the restaurant, beauty and baked categories each capturing 28% of all multi-unit operations.

Multi-unit business owners seem to be able to create some wealth, too. A 2007 research study by the Small Business Administration showed that multiple business owners still appeared to be the most prosperous small business group, with nearly three-fourths of them classified as high income and nearly one-half classified as high wealth. (But that did vary a lot during down times in our economy.) Here’s the SBA report.

That said, how do these multi-unit franchise owners tie it all together? The smart ones choose a retail & restaurant management solution like WhenToManage; a perfect example is Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

“During our most recent evaluation of in-store IT we recognized that, with the introduction of variations in the RMCF brand, a one size fits all POS solution was no longer an optimal solution for our organization,“ said Key Jobson, Chief Information Officer, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. “That’s when we took a step back and realized we no longer need to be restricted to a single POS solution and that vendor’s retail analysis and reporting tool set. After reviewing options in the marketplace, we selected WhenToManage for its ability to work with many certified POS systems, while meeting our consolidated data and analytical operations needs on a corporate and store-by-store basis.”

WhenToManage’s data collection and business intelligence tools will be used by the corporate marketing, finance and operations executives to monitor daily performance and strategic trends. It will also allow the management team to foster collaboration and the sharing of best practices among operators.

To learn more about WhenToManage retail and restaurant management solutions, contact Walker Thompson at wthompson@whentomanage.com or check out our Youtube page.

Ryan McRorie
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By

December 3, 2012

Employee SchedulingInventory ManagementPOS Intelligence

Restaurant Management Styles: Micro-Manager or Laissez Faire

December 3, 2012 | By |

Restaurant Management Styles: Laissez Faire or Micro-ManagerAs Jim Smoot, A New Restaurant Blog, so eloquently puts it in his article on management styles:

“Your management style can have a lot to do with your success in running a restaurant, or any other business. While people can debate all day long about which is the best management style to use in different situations, one thing people will agree on, if you get it right (or wrong) it can have a big affect on the success of your business.”

That said, I have a couple questions to ask you:

  1. Do you know what type of restaurant management style you have in place?
  2. Could a different management style make a difference on your bottom-line?

Most of our research suggests that independent restaurant operators take a Laissez Faire approach to operations, while corporate establishments are loaded with Micro-Managers that scour data to find new profit centers or reduce costs. Whether you are an independent or corporate restaurant operator, you should be micro-managing your operations. Why? Because it is profitable!

How do you make the jump from Laissez Faire to Micro-Manager? Easy, WhenToManage. Our restaurant management applications can instantly turn a Laissez Faire operation into a Micro-Managing machine by interpreting POS data…this 5-Point Plan provides some micro-management ideas that dovetail with our applications. If interested, give us a call to discuss (888) 316-8861 or email us at sales@whentomanage.com.

Ryan McRorie
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By

October 16, 2012

Employee SchedulingInventory ManagementRestaurant Management

Customer Spotlight: Zeppoz

October 16, 2012 | By |

This week we had the opportunity to sit down with a loyal customer of ours that uses a MICROS point-of-sales system; if you didn’t know already, we integrate with most popular POS systems on the market.

That said, Chris Nash of Zeppoz gave us about 15 minutes of his day to talk about how WhenToManage helps him manage his operations. We’ve enhanced our podcast with a slideshow, so you can watch along as we go through the conversation. Thank you Chris!

If you’re interested in joining one of our podcasts, please contact Walker at wthompson@whentomanage.com.

Ryan McRorie
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July 19, 2012

Employee SchedulingInventory ManagementPOS Intelligence

Restaurant Management Software: Benefits of a Back-Office Solution

July 19, 2012 | By |

Restaurant Management SoftwareCompetition in the foodservice industry is fierce; it affects us, as well as our customers. That is why we have teamed up with most major POS systems to provide a set of solutions in the form of restaurant software that can solve problems and provide greater return on operations for our customers.

If you are not familiar with this cost-cutting, performance-enhancing technology you are missing the boat!

We now have several hundred customers large and small (like Lonestar Steakhouse & Linksters) using cost-saving restaurant management software powered by WhenToManage; the following points illustrate why they are using it:

Labor Scheduling

  • Get a real picture of payroll expenses by location, job or job category
  • Gain fast access to all critical labor cost factors
  • Schedule staff to minimize costs and service customers to your business standards
  • Address overtime costs before they occur with an ‘approaching overtime’ report
  • Easy to use graphical schedule allows you to drag n drop for quick adjustments

Inventory Management

  • Get a real picture of COGS by location, menu item or day-part
  • Utilize a web-based FIFO inventory management system to track food costs
  • Reduce costs by identifying waste and theft
  • Control undetected food costs with recipe management
  • Watch as WhenToManage Inventory learns your usage trends and suggests ordering volumes based on historical data

POS Reporting

  • Utilize POS data to review the item sales to determine how the mix of sales will affect the overall theoretical cost
  • Track menu-item and store-level performance
  • Subscribe to critical reports and be prepared for meetings; share data with accountants by exporting to CSV, PDF or Excel
  • Set trigger values for alerts like Cash Over/Short, Discounts and Overtime Hours

It works very well for them and it can for you. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a demo, please feel free to contact Walker Thompson (wthompson@whentomanage.com).

Ryan McRorie
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November 17, 2011

Employee SchedulingInventory ManagementPOS Intelligence

Inadequate Recordkeeping & Costs Controls are Restaurant Mistakes to Avoid

November 17, 2011 | By |

Our good friend Jim Laube at RestaurantOwner.com shares some insightful thoughts on restaurant operations in his series of videos called, “10 Common Restaurant Start-up Mistakes & How to Avoid Them”.

We want to focus momentarily on his presentation as it relates to Inadequate Recordkeeping & Controls; specifically P&L statements and Prime Costs.  Jim starts out the presentation stating that a restaurant owners greatest control mechanism is its P&L statement, which is typically accessible once every 30-days.  Furthermore, he encourages restaurateurs to calculate their ‘Prime Cost’ weekly because it makes up the majority of costs involved in running a restaurant.

And that’s where we come in with our POS Intelligence, Inventory Management and Labor Scheduling applications – our solutions give you access to this information in real-time, so you can monitor/drive down ‘Prime Costs’ thereby increasing profits.

Watch this video and imagine gathering all this information with a few simple clicks…

If the most successful restaurants do this weekly, where could you be with this information daily or hourly?? We can show you!! Call us at 888.316.8861 or click the green support button on the left hand side of the page.