HotBox Pizza Increased Sales, Speed of Service More than Six Percent with Its POS
HotBox Pizza announced that the company’s point of sale rollout with technology partner SpeedLine Solutions continued this week with the Indiana-based brand’s twentieth new store opening.
Standardizing the point of sale technology across the chain has resulted in multiple business benefits for HotBox.
“As an owner and franchisor I can go to any location and be part of the shift even though I may not routinely work in that store,” notes HotBox CEO Gabe Connell. “It makes it easier to jump in and help. The POS system takes that unfamiliarity out of it and makes it a more neutral playing field.”
With SpeedLine in the stores, Connell also reports increases of more than six percent in both sales and speed of service, and reductions in food and labor costs of close to five percent.
On the delivery side of the business, HotBox has employed the LiveMaps visual dispatch system from SpeedLine, using a digital map of deliveries to group nearby orders and expedite dispatch.
“What’s great about it is the driver can look at the dispatch map and think, ‘Oh, I know where that is,’ or they can click on the address and it will show the driver turn-by-turn direction on how to get there,” he said. “The driver can print that out at the receipt printer as well and take it along,” Connell said, “or get the directions on his smart phone.”
The chain has also integrated web and mobile ordering to the point of sale.
“With the stores that have had online ordering for more than a year, it has been increasing by anywhere from 2 to 5 percent a year,” Connell notes. “So if last year it was 19 percent of their business, this year it’s 22 to 24 percent of their business.”
“From an operational standpoint, it makes our life a lot easier because we are not taking someone off the make line to answer the phone and take the order,” Connell said. “Also, accuracy is a lot better. There is not the situation where someone says, ‘I’d like pepperoni on that,’ and the person taking the order hits the wrong button.”
Connell notes that the technology rollout in the brand offers potential to accelerate growth and profit.
“We probably use only 20 to 25 percent of what our POS system is capable of,” he says, commenting, "What we want to keep doing is figuring out how to be more efficient with how we operate our business.”
Standardizing the point of sale technology across the chain has resulted in multiple business benefits for HotBox.
“As an owner and franchisor I can go to any location and be part of the shift even though I may not routinely work in that store,” notes HotBox CEO Gabe Connell. “It makes it easier to jump in and help. The POS system takes that unfamiliarity out of it and makes it a more neutral playing field.”
With SpeedLine in the stores, Connell also reports increases of more than six percent in both sales and speed of service, and reductions in food and labor costs of close to five percent.
On the delivery side of the business, HotBox has employed the LiveMaps visual dispatch system from SpeedLine, using a digital map of deliveries to group nearby orders and expedite dispatch.
“What’s great about it is the driver can look at the dispatch map and think, ‘Oh, I know where that is,’ or they can click on the address and it will show the driver turn-by-turn direction on how to get there,” he said. “The driver can print that out at the receipt printer as well and take it along,” Connell said, “or get the directions on his smart phone.”
The chain has also integrated web and mobile ordering to the point of sale.
“With the stores that have had online ordering for more than a year, it has been increasing by anywhere from 2 to 5 percent a year,” Connell notes. “So if last year it was 19 percent of their business, this year it’s 22 to 24 percent of their business.”
“From an operational standpoint, it makes our life a lot easier because we are not taking someone off the make line to answer the phone and take the order,” Connell said. “Also, accuracy is a lot better. There is not the situation where someone says, ‘I’d like pepperoni on that,’ and the person taking the order hits the wrong button.”
Connell notes that the technology rollout in the brand offers potential to accelerate growth and profit.
“We probably use only 20 to 25 percent of what our POS system is capable of,” he says, commenting, "What we want to keep doing is figuring out how to be more efficient with how we operate our business.”