What does it take to enhance service levels, grow market share and increase profitability in the South African fast food industry? How about improved production planning and reduced wastage, all while monitoring and managing shrinkage? With these ambitions in mind, Republiek Voedsel - the owner of 40 Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchises in the Gauteng and Free State Provinces - embarked on a project recently to upgrade its point-of-sale (POS) and financial back-office systems.
This ambition was fulfilled to a large extent by installing Micros POS terminals at each of the 40 stores. The hospitality management system encompasses the Eclipse Management System, which allows for the compilation of large quantities of information including the demographics of each customer, time of purchase, breakdown of products and payment type broken into 15-minute segments.
Furthermore, the system enables forecasting of inventory requirements in half-hourly increments, automated staffing levels and purchasing. This effectively ensures complete control in respect to day-to-day turnover, sales tools and optimisation of sales levels. While very useful in itself, the information generated by the Micros POS is generally meaningless at head office level, as it is confined to the store in question.
All this has changed at Republiek Voedsel, thanks to the subsequent implementation, by iLanga Systems / The Business Unusual Group (BUG), of SunSystems as the financial back-office solution with its analysis and reporting functionality. Now information is gathered from the in-store terminals in real-time. In doing so, SunSystems pulls data from the Micros back-office. The information is then fed to head office using SunSystems to consolidate and analyse the data - making it the first hospitality implementation of its kind in SA. Here continual crosschecks and constant updating facilitate better group management.
BUG Marketing Director Dion Retief takes up the story: "Republiek Voedsel required an in-depth analysis of each transaction down to the time segment in which the transaction took place so as to improve production planning, reduce wastage and to help monitor and manage shrinkage. The information gleaned in the process would also reveal important demographic and purchase patterns while supporting marketing campaigns and pricing policies."
The solution devised and implemented at Republiek Voedsel is proving powerful. Retief explains why: "We`ve used all the analysis application facilities that SunSystems offers to ensure continuous processing of the data. This structure allows management to work in a real-time accounting environment, which also serves as an invaluable source of information for planning and decision-making. What`s more, the system is highly flexible, which ensures that the application does not dictate the processes. Rather, the processes dictate the application."
Gideon Malan, Managing Director of Republiek Voedsel, confirms that the new system is already delivering results that more than justify the investment. "It is clear that, in the long-run, we will benefit financially from our investment in this new, fully integrated system.
"Not only has it given us a long-term recording and analysis tool, but it will also allow us to plan and manage the business more cost-effectively and more time-efficiently - which in turn translates into better customer service, growth in market share and increased profitability."
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The Business Unusual Group specialises in delivering software and services that provide powerful IT solutions for delivering business advantage. The group`s mission is to provide its clients with tools and solutions that will deliver critical, up-to-date business information that will drive their business`s strategic advantage. Decision-makers need access to up-to-the minute business information. BUG provides both software solutions and tools that will place that information in the hands of the decision-maker.
SunSystems
* SunSystems has over 10 years` experience in the hotel and hospitality market.
* SunSystems is the only financial solution that is seamlessly integrated to Micros Fidelio front office systems.
* The key benefit is the integrity of the system, with no overheads arising from re-keying and transferring of data.
* The SunSystems solution can either be sited within the property or at a central location, with information and financial business intelligence published across the Internet or an Intranet to all interested parties. This can be in the format and detail appropriate to the audience.
Micros Fidelio
* A leading supplier of hospitality solutions in SA.
* Provides enterprise applications for the hospitality industry worldwide.
* Over 120 000 Micros point-of-sale systems currently installed in table and quick service restaurants, hotels, casinos, leisure and entertainment operations in more than 130 countries.
* In SA, Micros has over 300 hotels and 1 500 restaurants supported 24 hours a day, seven hours a week from the head office in Sandton, Johannesburg.
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