Internet Profits In Point Of Sale

The quick service market is about more than food. It's about information. For VARs, this means getting your quick service customers the information they need to run their businesses. Point of sale (POS) VAR BEC (Denver) specializes in helping restaurant owners get the information they need from their POS systems. BEC was known as Business Equipment Consultants when Business Solutions magazine first profiled the company in July, 1998. According to the company's VP and Director of Operations, Audrey Borski, the company now goes only by BEC. Founded in 1971, the company has 19 employees and reported gross revenue of $3.7 million in 1999.

When asked what has changed since the 1998 Business Solutions article, Borski sums it up in one word: Schlotzsky's. Yes, Borski refers to the chain of 700+ delis that prides itself on its odd moniker. While BEC has landed only a small portion of the chain – one franchisee – the potential for future sales throughout the chain is great.

Cold Call Leads To Sale
"The Schlotzsky's account started with a cold call," explains Steve Harris, BEC's national sales manager. "I was in Dallas for an Ibertech software convention. We were contacting local food operators in order to send them a special publication. I opened up the Yellow Pages and called a man named Gary Titterington. He was part of a Schlotzsky's committee that was searching for a new POS system. I ended up meeting with Titterington."

It turns out that Titterington's interest extended beyond food to marketing. "What he wanted most was information," explains Harris. "When lunchtime comes, smart operators concentrate on moving the lines. There is a small window of opportunity to ‘catch the money while it's falling' with as few mistakes as possible."

Harris learned from Titterington that remote access to information was important to Schlotzsky's corporate headquarters. "Central administration and maintenance of the unit-level POS system makes sense," adds Harris. "One person can broadcast changes to many locations at one time." The alternative is to change prices, for example, at each terminal in each deli. To close the deal and beat the competition, Harris proposed an experiment of sorts. "We put about $25,000 worth of hardware and software into Titterington's deli as a test," explains Harris. The installation took about five hours, with an additional four hours dedicated to staff training. BEC replaced Titterington's cash registers with Javelin's Wedge touch screen PCs and Ibertech's Aloha software. Other system components include Epson printers and QSR video equipment. The system also includes Ibertech's alohaenterprise.com solution and Telelink software, which extended Titterington's reach to the Internet.

Online Orders: From The Customer Directly To The Kitchen
With his previous POS system, Titterington's most productive lunchtime hour (11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.) meant sales of between $1,000 and $1,200. The new system included one dedicated terminal for phone orders. Since the system was installed last year, Titterington has seen his lunchtime sales top $1,500.

"There are two bottlenecks in point of sale that, when resolved, improve hourly sales," says Richard Adams, BEC's VP of sales and marketing. The first bottleneck is getting orders into the POS system. The second bottleneck is getting orders to the kitchen printer. Titterington's new system addresses both problems.

"The average phone order takes five minutes to process with one dedicated terminal," explains Adams. "The most orders you can take in one hour is 12. You can accept 100 online orders in that same hour."

Titterington is dedicated to driving his customers to his Web site using flyers, word of mouth, and possibly other forms of advertising. "Once users log on, they place their orders directly into the same POS system used in the store," says Adams. "These orders are placed in the same queue as in-store orders. Users can place an order at 9:45 a.m. and schedule it for an 11:45 a.m. pickup. The POS system places the order in the queue at the appropriate time."

Kitchen prep work makes a difference when it comes to accepting online orders, notes Adams. "The kitchen could get slammed, theoretically, with hundreds of online orders," says Adams. "Schlotzsky's prepares its breads ahead of time. Some have cheese, some don't. The breads can be prepared up to two hours ahead of time. Titterington wanted information from his POS system in 15-minute intervals to schedule prep time."

With the new system, Titterington can produce averages based on the previous days' sales and realtime sales. "For example, he can average sales data from the previous four Tuesdays to schedule employees for the upcoming Tuesday," notes Adams.

New System Tracks Coupons
The new POS system also tracks coupons. "Most cash register-based systems track only four to six types of coupons," according to Adams. "Titterington has as many as 15 different coupons out at one time, from newspapers and mailers." In addition to tracking coupon responses, Titterington wanted profiles of his customers and what they ordered.

With Titterington's new POS system, BEC has its foot in Schlotzsky's corporate door. "Not a bad place to be," says Adams. "We'll have the opportunity to showcase the system to other Schlotzsky's franchisees later this month at their annual show," he adds. Kinda makes you hungry, doesn't it?

Questions about this article? E-mail the author at LisaK@corrypub.com.