By: Linda Bowman-Powell , Franchise Operations Strategy Expert
In today’s franchise and quick service restaurant (QSR) market, both franchisors and franchisees require up-to-the-minute operational information to compare against business objectives.
With an endless number of reports (not to mention acronyms!) to choose from, I have decided to summarise 4 areas of operation you need to constantly assess: Read More
By: Mike Provost
“Give me a few minutes to dial in to their test environment…”
I caught myself typing this the other day, and it struck me as odd. I actually stopped to correct myself from using “dial in” and replaced it with “connect”.
Isn’t it odd how we still bat around the term “dial in”? I don’t think I’ve used a land-line phone modem to connect to anything since about 2000, and I haven’t used an actual rotary phone with a dial since maybe the early 1980’s. The term is pervasive and still widely accepted in modern technology as well. For example, most of the latest web/cloud-based online meeting software includes an area to specify a “dial in” conference line number. Read More
By: Boro Petrovic, Chief Technology Officer, CTO, MICROS Systems Inc.
This is the first edition of MICROS’ monthly “CTO Corner”. At the end of every month one of our 3 CTO’s will be giving you their insights into technology, the industry, and how it affects your business.
I took a flying lesson recently. Prior to the flight, my instructor introduced me to the plane. While I was marveling the twin engine flying machine, he was going through the detail check list. Holding a letter sized plastic sheet with text written in bold red font he checked tires, wings, poured a bit of gasoline from the tank into a glass and inspected it visually, and so on and so on. After a great flying experience, while driving home I thought about the three legged stool analogy in this case. First, the plane was in a perfect shape, second, the Instructor was well trained and the third the standard operating procedures (check list) were in place and followed. All the three legs were perfect.
Weekend is over and I am back in the office. This time, turbulence in the world of IT makes me think again about the three legged stool analogy for a stable, reliable IT system. The hardware, system software and applications make one leg; the skilled personnel that manage it make another leg and the third leg is operating procedures used by the personnel. Are all of the three legs always in place? Are all IT systems reliable and stable? Unfortunately they are not. Read More
By: Sue Savage, Restaurant Technical Strategy Expert
We have all heard the age old; “Eat your peas if you want to grow big and strong.”
Although not always pleasant, ensure your 4 P’s of technology projects are served up-front for a healthy project win!
Here is some easy to swallow, food for thought…
The Dynamics of Digital Menu BoardsFind out more about what MICROS can do for you! For more information contact us at info@micros.com Phone: 866.287.4736 (US and Canada)
By: Sue Savage, Technical Strategy Expert
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Compliance wave including its new regulations and ever present breaches can seem like a Tsunami for the average merchant. Thus, many venues leave PCI compliance in the ‘too hard basket’ because they don’t know how or where to get started, or what their obligations are. This generates unnecessary business risk.
It doesn’t have to be that way!
Instead of looking at PCI Compliance as an insurmountable challenge, see it as a value-add that can drive better customer service, and minimize business risk. This will put some momentum behind PCI Compliance efforts and produce positive results for your business. Read More
By: Peter Goodwin, Restaurant Operations Strategy Expert
How many times do we hear (or have uttered) these words; “well that was a bad service”? While we have all lived them, they’re not fun to be part of; for our customers or for our staff.
On reflection, it’s often simple to pinpoint where it all started to go pear shaped. And, most times you find that it was not just one thing, but rather a combination of mitigating events that built up and overwhelmed the service team. Whilst the supervisor was dealing with one these events, the watchful eye over service was removed and minor events that would normally be flagged before becoming a problem went unnoticed. Read More
By: Andrew Fyfe, Franchise Management Expert
Logically, one of the key factors for success in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) market is the ‘quick’ component. Yes, speed of service is essential when catering for your time poor customer.
The reason that Quick Service Restaurant dining is so often appealing is that you can be in and out in only a few minutes. So with this in mind, I am going to explore how to both speed up service and how to measure and manage speed of service. Read More
By: Peter Goodwin, Restaurant Operations Strategy Expert
I was going to follow my last post with a Kitchen Display vs. Printer debate. However, I have noticed some recent hot-topics within industry publications with common themes around staff costs, actions and control. This got me thinking about the number of restaurant owners who just don’t look at (or don’t know about) the depth of data and reports that their POS system has to help them understand and improve their business.
So this post will be dedicated to controlling costs associated with staffing and the Order Device debate will be saved for next week.
By: Robyn Adamson, Hotel Distribution Strategy Expert
I recently purchased a shiny new Ab Swing Pro, promising to change my body, and give me the abs of my dreams! Three months out from purchase and my abs are still not the stuff dreams are made of! One night I mentioned this to my husband and in a moment of brief wisdom he pointed out to me that perhaps the problem was not with my fabulous Ab Swing Pro but rather the fact that in the last three months I had only used the machine a handful of times.
Distribution Systems are similar to my Ab Swing Pro, they promise to connect your hotel to thousands of third party websites and GDS systems across the globe and sell your rooms to guests a million miles away with very little effort at all; Right? Wrong! Read More
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