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Customer Spotlight: Yukon River Grill DUMAC Helps Yukon River Grill Move Up to Digital Dining Posted on September 12, 2000 Nicholas Vavalle liked the idea of having the pulse of his busy restaurant at his fingertips. When he learned the control would also improve service for his customers, make life easier for his workers, and speed up his job in the back office, his only question was how soon could he make it happen. Yukon River Grill began the move up to the next level of "smart" restaurants that day. Soon, Vavalle would have DUMAC Business Systems on site, and its Digital Dining System would be on-line. "Everything we do here is focused on the customer, and Digital Dining speeds the entire process," Vavalle says. Food orders get to and from the kitchen quicker and servers spend less time ordering and more time interacting with customers. It means better service, which translates into customer satisfaction - right down to fast, accurate checks so customers leave at their convenience." The system's popularity is directly linked to its operational simplicity, convenience, and accountability. Strategically located touchscreen monitors make ordering push-button easy, and on-screen prompts lead workers effortlessly through menu options. That provides a hidden value-added feature. The prompts speed the server back to the customer and improve employee harmony by eliminating scribbled checks that can fry a chef's patience. "Hassle-free orders are prepared fast and the food is on the table quicker," Vavalle says. "Human error is always possible, but the system gives me much tighter controls, " says Vavalle. This means that mistakes along the way are easily traceable. "Obviously, as a cash business having a system that quickly tracks any discrepancy favorably impacts my bottom line." Billing and stocking guesswork, resulting from verbal ordering ("two more Buds") while servers are on the fly, is a thing of the past. Labor saving "This system does so many things to help me improve profitability, and the touchscreen feature gets me to them quickly," Vavalle says. "Like the server out front ordering, I just hit an icon when reviewing restaurant operations in the back office, the screen gives me options and I push on." DUMAC's Gary Russell, vice president of operations, identi-fies four major areas in which the Digital Dining system helps restaurant owners and managers - point-of-sale, frequent dining and delivery records, inventory control and payroll management. "These four categories combine to deliver the easy, fast, and accurate controls that make a restaurant operate at peak efficiency," he says. Russell says there are more than 90 features that the system provides. Unique among them are options like immediate e-mail communication with servers when they log on or off shifts, instant reordering of individual items, ease of issuing separate bills for last-minute check splitting, and the ability to flag regular customers' birthdays and eating preferences. "While the system handles all the point-of-sale business simply, it can also provide a customer database that helps a restaurant owner make people feel special and keep coming back," Russell says. House accounts can automatically be hilighted and there is a built-in credit card check, with a swipe on the side of the terminal. The e-mail feature can signal the day's side work, and also allow the servers to leave messages for other workers, double-checking such things like shift switching or coverage. Inventory Control Inventory control fea-tures keep running-tabs on stock availability. The sys-tem automatically calcu-lates reordering amounts and can even prompt a manager to change deliv-ery days for certain sup-plies, to coincide better with usage. While these things are not revolutionary in the business, the ease in which a manager can obtain the information in minutes with simple touch controls makes it seem that way. It translates into fresher food for Vavalle's customers. "The system allows me to continually adjust food levels," he says. "What I sell on a certain day can be broken out and analyzed easily. Based on sales and usage, I can order inventory accu-rately which means freshness for the customer." Worker Motivation DUMAC programmers customized the Digital Dining sys-tem enabling Vavalle to issue accountability reports intended to motivate his workers. "The system allows me to review individual server performance easily. Records are broken down, for instance, to show strength and weakness in sales promoting of different items, whether it's appetizers or drinks," he says. Vavalle publishes weekly color-coded staff reports so workers can see where they stand. And, just how does that sit with the workers? Vavalle says reception has been fine particularly since the system clarifies or corrects any questions. "We look for people who accept responsibility, and these reports only mirror their performance," says Vavalle. What makes this even fairer is the speed that reports can be reviewed. "If one of my servers believes there is a mistake, I can immediately show them the accuracy of the report or identify a mistake and set the record straight," he says. Vavalle likes one feature in more than one way. "The system prompts a worker to the next subcategories, which is part of the built-in ease of the system," he says. It just as easily can prompt a customer. "We've printed in-house promotions on the bottom of checks instead of buying space in newspapers -special coupons, for instance, to encourage return visits," says Vavalle. "Check tag lines announcing our new catering busi-ness were particularly effective." Eliminating Surprises The surprise nightmare of separate checks at the end of the meal is also put to rest. "It's simple to make separate checks at the last minute with this system," says Vavalle, "without forc-ing a server to rewrite twelve checks or voiding out an entire bill. Just push the separate check option and then push another icon assigning the individual orders to each person and presto - individual checks automatically tallied, print-ed, and accounted for in the original transaction." Bottom-Line Impact "The system has absolutely paid for itself," says Vavalle. It began even before the system was up and running. "DUMAC people went out of their way explaining the system's features. They met with my staff and myself to research the Yukon River Grill's operation. They customized the system to meet our needs. Then, they actually supervised the installation of our four terminals to make it as convenient as possible," he says. Vavalle credits tighter controls on the cash end of the busi-ness to expanding his overall presence in his restaurant because of reduced administration time. "Administration does not consume the manager, so I can be in the dining room tak-ing care of the business with customers. After all, we are in the people business, foremost," he says. It also gives a manager more time to observe servers while they are interacting with customers. This system elevates all levels in the restaurant chain regardless of the job, Vavalle says. "It allows seasoned servers to spend more time with customers, which should raise their check average. "New employees will find the backroom process simpler to learn and this will ease their progress in front of the customer." What Would Vavalle Tell Another Restaurateur? "The system is simple enough for anyone to learn and com-plex enough to micromanage the smallest parts of the busi-ness," he says. "It gives the manager tighter controls resulting in better bottom-line performance. The system cuts waste and theft, speeds service, turns tables over, and almost eliminates the unlimited headaches in this business with just a touch of the screen. The endless features makes everyone's job less stressful." |
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