Detailed Cross-Property Visibility Drives Growth for Restaurant Group

1/30/2014
Moana Restaurant Group (Moana) owns and operates a unique collection of inspired dining destinations in California, Hawaii, Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Washington and Oregon. With more than 900 employees, Moana’s 15 restaurants include Piatti Ristorante, Paragon Restaurant & Bar, El Dorado Kitchen, Plantation Gardens, Corner’s Tavern and Hacienda Cocina y Cantina.

The multi-location challenge
For Moana, collecting operational and financial information, on either single or multiple locations, required many hours of labor and manual effort. These reports, generated with Excel spreadsheets, often contained out-of-date information and were difficult for management to analyze and then make timely strategic business decisions.

In addition, different groups in the organization required different reports. Chefs wanted product mix reports to fine tune menus. In-house managers required labor information to create streamlined staffing schedules. Operations and Accounting sought reports to for sales comparisons and others to ensure comps and voids were in order.

Cross-property solution and overall insight
Moana management selected Ctuit RADAR for insight and control over their restaurant business across all locations. The web-based solution quickly compiles accurate financial and operational data that is critical for making decisions that increases sales and lowers costs. Now with Ctuit RADAR, different departments can analyze and generate standard and custom reports targeted for their functional areas. “Ctuit RADAR offers our departments accessibility and visibility into the detailed operations and financials of the organization,” Linda Salman, operations manager, notes.

Moana Restaurant Group immediately saw benefits due to the Ctuit systems offerings, including a centralized, up-to-date database containing information from Moana’s Aloha point of sale (POS) system. All locations have integrated Ctuit RADAR into their operations, enabling management to have visibility into labor, accounting, product mixes and more.

The solution’s reports have been invaluable to the management team at Moana. A customized POS report compares seven days over seven periods providing important trend information. The restaurant’s OPS statements give an at-a-glance detailed view of how the organization is performing, allowing management to determine if adjustments to inventory, promotions, and labor are needed.

RADAR also provides management with a better method to plan for purchases. By generating an item price report, managers can view the success of groups of items and different promotions, then purchase inventory accordingly. Before RADAR, Moana used physical red books to highlight what happened during a shift (i.e. employee tardiness, broken equipment). Using RADAR’s Online Manager’s Log (OML), tasks and events are well documented and easily accessed with a web browser. Managers can note detailed conversations with employees and print background information to discuss during meetings. Since everyone has access to the OML, staff are now held more accountable for accomplishing tasks assigned by the general manager.

On a daily basis, Moana pulls sales and labor information from RADAR. The solution helps management make decisions on how to stay in budget and determine allocation of the remaining funds. With RADAR, Moana managers can easily evaluate the comps at their location. A detailed comps report assists managers to pinpoint any issues and immediately address them with their team.

Salman concludes by stressing, “The information generated by RADAR is invaluable as the management team makes strategic decisions to drive business success.” 
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