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Tech Trends
December 2005
The power to know is the first step in the power to
grow.
By David Windhausen, President and CIO, Trabon Solutions
LLC
I’ve always suspected that restaurateurs are driven to
the business by a combination of seemingly disparate disciplines –
manufacturing, social services, entertainment, art, culinary appetite,
science, finance, distribution, construction, and law.
It just makes sense. Successful food and beverage
entrepreneurs confront daily challenges that touch almost all of these
areas.
Juggling these challenges successfully to stay ahead of
the game is usually the difference between meteoric and mediocre
operations, and ultimately, profit and loss.
In working with our clients – small, large, independent
and chain, local, regional and national – we have found a common
“equalizer” in the power of custom, web-based software tools that help
make disparate business components work in operational harmony.
A “case” in point
A large, fine wine selection at one of the country’s
fastest growing, high-end steak houses definitely brings the target
customer in and drives very attractive, industry-envied check averages.
A core wine offering of this magnitude, while a valuable
“asset” and powerful promotional hook, presents a variety of challenges to
the group and its individual locations.
At least twice a year, the wine offerings must be
updated.
Problems with spelling (for menus), pricing
inconsistencies for POS identifiers and bin labeling errors create plenty
of opportunities for human mistakes and inventory discrepancies.
With more than twenty locations, the challenge of
developing a menu version for each location that meets local and state
liquor laws and includes regional preferences, is daunting, time consuming
and fraught with opportunities for error.
Communicating all of the changes, for each restaurant
location for menu print production, was always problematic in every way,
not to mention costly.
A simple solution with tasty results
A robust database, gathering and utilizing all the
information at hand (from a variety of data sources), was designed to give
authorized staff at each location a secure ordering and tracking system
for the wine menus. The database – web-based and accessible 24/7 –with
correct and uniform spelling of all wine offerings, eliminated proofing
and automatically assigned and updated bin numbers and associated
system-wide POS identifiers when changes were made. All changes by
location are transmitted electronically for printing and final delivery
back to the individual sites.
The operations group now reports a 50% reduction in time
spent on menu updates. Grammatical accuracy is assured along with
consistency of classification within each category and the appearance of
the listing.
The restaurant’s brand image is reinforced and everyone
authorized to use the system have real time reports for optimal management
efficiency.
The database also gives a complete wine listing
catalogued by restaurant location; a unique report for periodic corporate
review and analysis.
Technology to know, manage and grow
Most successful restaurateurs have the power to know the
critical things about their operations. Reaching higher levels in both
profitability and growth recognizes the power of technology to assist and
empower employees and better manage the entire supply chain.
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Bio:
 David
Windhausen is president and chief information officer of Trabon Solutions
LLC in Kansas City, Missouri. He leads an award-winning team of software
developers who have specialized in working with operators in the
restaurant industry to create custom, web-based software applications to
manage and streamline operational systems and procedures from menu, recipe
and supply chain management to gift card processing.
Industry-leading restaurant clients have been using
custom software applications from Trabon Solutions since 1994.
www.trabonsolutions.com 816 926 9800
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