VAR's Kitchen Display Solution Leads To National Rollout

Tulsa, OK-based Camille's Sidewalk Café has been in the midst of unprecedented growth over recent years. Camille's Sidewalk Café started in 1996 as a 250-square-foot kiosk under an escalator at a mall. From those humble beginnings, founders David and Camille Rutkauskas have taken what was a place to get a cup of coffee and a sandwich and grown it into one of the hottest concepts in fast casual dining. "It was this tiny little space for operating a café," says Camille Rutkauskas, the restaurant's namesake, "but I think it made us focus on being efficient."

Camille's has grown beyond the confines of the kiosk layout to an in-store, counter-service design and now plans to have 90 stores open by the end of 2005, with an astonishing 700 stores in development. But the efficiency that the owners found to work at the mall kiosk is still the key ingredient to the success of the Camille's concept, and information technology plays a key role driving that efficiency.

Beginning in October 2004, most new Camille's stores started deploying a solution based on POSitouch software and Logic Controls kitchen video display hardware. "We realized that our stores needed to adopt technology to drive the efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profits that our franchise owners expect," says Tyson Phillips, director of compliance at Camille's Franchise Concepts. "By automating front counter operations with the POSitouch POS (point of sale) software and kitchen operations with the Logic Controls kitchen display solution [KDS], we help our franchise partners reach their goals." Camille's now has order-service time down to only 2 to 3 minutes, an accomplishment for a casual dining concept.

"Camille's views IT as a strategic asset," says Gavin McLeod of Custom Business Solutions, Inc., the POSitouch dealer who handles the installation and support of the systems. "It recognizes the importance of quick and accurate order taking and fulfillment, and the advanced POS software and kitchen video solutions are key enablers." Custom Business Solutions had originally deployed electronic cash registers in the first few stores. It then moved to the offering from POSitouch and Logic Controls. "Many of our customers really value the additional functionality found in the POSitouch/Logic Controls solution," Gavin states. "The Logic Controls KDS solution has more functionality, a smaller form factor, and uses standard cabling."

Camille's Sidewalk Café plans to open 75 stores in 2006, and most, if not all of them, will deploy the POSitouch/Logic Controls solution. "It's been a great solution that works well for our franchisees," says Phillips, "and we're looking forward to continuing to roll it out across the United States."