At OnlinePOS, we develop cloud-based checkout systems in close dialogue with the restaurant industry and therefore offer a system that focuses on meeting the needs of the industry. However, we find that the needs can be very different – even at restaurants that look the same on paper. But one of the places where the needs are largely the same is at chain companies.

The chain companies have two major common denominators; to optimize operations and minimize expenses. This seems natural, as there can be a lot of money to save – and earn – if, for example, administration time and wastage can be minimized or the general operation and workflow optimized. This of course also applies to other parts of the restaurant industry, but it is particularly evident here, as the effect of an optimization or minimization can be multiplied by the number of outlets.

We would like to assist our customers in solving various problems, and we therefore also focus on how we can help our chain restaurants to optimize operations across all their businesses for the benefit of both the top and bottom line and give them the overview, they need.

OnlinePOS HQ-function

We offer all customers – regardless of size and type – the opportunity to draw a sea of different reports from the associated Backoffice. With these reports, the customer has access to a solid, well-founded and data-driven decision-making basis for his business. Via Backoffice, the customer also has the opportunity to adjust e.g. menus, ingredient lists and prices.

Although this in itself creates great value for the majority of our customers, our chain restaurants face some challenges, as dealing with chains is somewhat more complex than with individual restaurants. We have therefore developed a solution that can be connected if the customer has several stores, which significantly reduces administration time and provides an even better decision-making basis for optimizing the entire company.

The HQ module offers the following:

Master setup

Here it is possible to make changes to, for example, the menu and price and roll it out to all stores at once, so that the change does not have to be made individually at all the stores. This is particularly useful if you are working with campaigns – such as the burger of the month or the beer of the month – which require fairly frequent replacement, or if seasonal or otherwise time-limited menus are being worked on. Here, the administration will be able to save a lot of time by only having to change the master account, which then automatically adds the changes to each restaurant.

Another major advantage of the master setup is that several different master accounts can be created. These accounts can be set up to include the businesses you want. It is particularly useful if you operate with geographical differences in, for example, assortment or prices. Here you can advantageously group the stores that have the same price and assortment under one master account, thereby separating the set-up from the remaining restaurants.

A complete and quick performance overview of the entire chain

As mentioned, we offer all customers access to the statistics module and associated reports, but chain restaurants face challenges here, as the statistics module only takes as its starting point the individual business to which the statistics module is connected. OnlinePOS’ HQ module therefore goes a step further and offers a performance overview of the chain as a whole. It gives a quick overview of the company’s overall performance, and administration time can therefore be saved by not having to manually go in and check each individual business to form an overview of the company’s overall performance. At the same time, it is still possible to pull all useful reports from the statistics module, but the HQ module makes it possible to pull them at the chain level.

Possibility of benchmarking

In addition to creating an overview at chain level, the HQ module has the option of creating a sharp overview of each individual business. This creates the opportunity to benchmark all the businesses and identify, for example, underperformance and general trends.

Here it is, among other things, possible to benchmark the total sales and sales per product or product group. If campaigns are run on specific products or product groups, data on the performance of the campaign can also be pulled. It is also possible to get a clear visual overview of when during the day the turnover is greatest – and least – via a heatmap. This is used in particular to assess the required staff capacity at the various times during the opening hours, and is therefore also useful for being able to move staff around between stores.

Want to hear more?

This was an overall review of some of the value that OnlinePOS’ HQ module creates for chain businesses, but the module also offers more optimization options. Here, for example, stock management between stores is highlighted so that an overview of the stock can be easily created and stock movements can be easily registered between them.

If you want to hear more about our HQ module and how it can help optimize your restaurant chain, don’t hesitate to contact us and have a chat.

Tel. 70702636 or at salg@onlinepos.dk