Islands Restaurant Saves Over 50 Percent with a Custom BI Solution
Islands Restaurant founder Tony DeGrazier opened the first Islands Restaurant location in 1982 when he stepped off the beach in Oahu in search of the perfect burger. Today, Islands still is true to Tony’s original experience and his original vision. Though their menu has grown to include salads, soups and soft tacos, they still adhere to the basic philosophy that fresh food, friendly service and a laid back atmosphere is the perfect end to a hard day of work or play. Now, Islands has 55 locations in California and a loyal following.
Seeking a unified reporting platform
Islands was using a custom built BI Solution that was extremely expensive to develop and costs continued to grow as changes were needed. Food costs were difficult to track and manage. As an expanding restaurant chain, Islands was looking for a Business Intelligence system that could handle several different POS systems and provide one unified reporting platform. To better manage their sales and labor, Islands began an extensive search to find the analytical reporting tool that would provide them with the insight and control into operations that was needed.
After reviewing several restaurant management software options, Islands chose Ctuit Software for its flexible solutions to their unique needs. Now, every department and employee who needs immediate access to Islands data uses Ctuit Software on a daily basis.
Increased visibility leads to savings and improves productivity
Ctuit Software’s RADAR has helped Islands control costs, provide better visibility and clarity into operations, and increased server productivity. The ability to assign dynamic dashboards specific to departments has been a great benefit. Each department has benefitted from viewing their department’s numbers on an ongoing basis. “The dashboard gives a great view of how business is going on a daily basis. We are able to analyze parts of our business that we had not in the past,” Trey Menz, Director of IT, Islands Restaurant says.
Ctuit’s Inventory module is a critical piece of Islands’ daily management. The Inventory Activity page has allowed Islands to effectively isolate losses (or poor inventories) down to the item level. This has proven extremely helpful for operators, so they can now focus their time on the root cause of the issue (i.e. theft, over portioning, etc.) and proactively make the appropriate changes. Islands does a daily inventory of high cost items and is able to identify any losses down to the ingredient every morning so they can follow-up with the staff immediately versus waiting for period end to see the trends.
Reducing labor while making operations more efficient
With the Ctuit implementation, Islands is now able to build and manage labor schedules, comparing the scheduled vs. actual labor. They also use the labor module to track tardy employees, early employees, overtime, and employees approaching overtime. Even the smallest variances in labor save Islands immeasurable dollars to the bottom line.
Prior to using Ctuit Software, Islands’ daily manager notes were under-utilized. The move to Ctuit’s Manager Log was quickly embraced and has proven to be a vastly improved replacement and a key component to their day-to-day operations. This change has had an exponentially positive impact on store communication, resulting in more efficient management.
Comparing promotions and specials among the servers gives Islands an accurate ROI on each server. The ability to track guest checks, tips, alcohol/beverage sales, and sales by server in an intuitive report gives them the tools they need to run a more streamlined operation. “For a reasonable amount of money, we have been able to customize the invaluable server productivity report even more for our operation,” states Trey Menz, IT Restaurant Systems Manager of Islands Restaurant. Menz continues, “We have realized over a 50% savings from Ctuit’s configurable and robust solution. Our annual fees are less than 50% of what we were paying with our previous provider.”
Seeking a unified reporting platform
Islands was using a custom built BI Solution that was extremely expensive to develop and costs continued to grow as changes were needed. Food costs were difficult to track and manage. As an expanding restaurant chain, Islands was looking for a Business Intelligence system that could handle several different POS systems and provide one unified reporting platform. To better manage their sales and labor, Islands began an extensive search to find the analytical reporting tool that would provide them with the insight and control into operations that was needed.
After reviewing several restaurant management software options, Islands chose Ctuit Software for its flexible solutions to their unique needs. Now, every department and employee who needs immediate access to Islands data uses Ctuit Software on a daily basis.
Increased visibility leads to savings and improves productivity
Ctuit Software’s RADAR has helped Islands control costs, provide better visibility and clarity into operations, and increased server productivity. The ability to assign dynamic dashboards specific to departments has been a great benefit. Each department has benefitted from viewing their department’s numbers on an ongoing basis. “The dashboard gives a great view of how business is going on a daily basis. We are able to analyze parts of our business that we had not in the past,” Trey Menz, Director of IT, Islands Restaurant says.
Ctuit’s Inventory module is a critical piece of Islands’ daily management. The Inventory Activity page has allowed Islands to effectively isolate losses (or poor inventories) down to the item level. This has proven extremely helpful for operators, so they can now focus their time on the root cause of the issue (i.e. theft, over portioning, etc.) and proactively make the appropriate changes. Islands does a daily inventory of high cost items and is able to identify any losses down to the ingredient every morning so they can follow-up with the staff immediately versus waiting for period end to see the trends.
Reducing labor while making operations more efficient
With the Ctuit implementation, Islands is now able to build and manage labor schedules, comparing the scheduled vs. actual labor. They also use the labor module to track tardy employees, early employees, overtime, and employees approaching overtime. Even the smallest variances in labor save Islands immeasurable dollars to the bottom line.
Prior to using Ctuit Software, Islands’ daily manager notes were under-utilized. The move to Ctuit’s Manager Log was quickly embraced and has proven to be a vastly improved replacement and a key component to their day-to-day operations. This change has had an exponentially positive impact on store communication, resulting in more efficient management.
Comparing promotions and specials among the servers gives Islands an accurate ROI on each server. The ability to track guest checks, tips, alcohol/beverage sales, and sales by server in an intuitive report gives them the tools they need to run a more streamlined operation. “For a reasonable amount of money, we have been able to customize the invaluable server productivity report even more for our operation,” states Trey Menz, IT Restaurant Systems Manager of Islands Restaurant. Menz continues, “We have realized over a 50% savings from Ctuit’s configurable and robust solution. Our annual fees are less than 50% of what we were paying with our previous provider.”