Pennant Foods Corporation
Multi-State Franchisee Sees Immediate Return on Investment

Pennant Foods, Corp. has 90 stores located in Southern California and Knoxville, Tennessee. The company has been a long-term customer and continually benefits from using Syrus as their back office provider. From day one, Pennant Foods executive management was pleased with how smooth the implementation went given the wide geographic area in which they operate and their complex technological infrastructure. “I was impressed with how smoothly and quickly Syrus was able to integrate our 90-plus stores, even though we have various types of POS systems and different food purveyors,” said Pennant Foods President Mike Cardinal.

Pennant Foods senior management has driven hard to modify and improve business practices in order to take full advantage of their new reporting capabilities. “By getting reliable and accurate data every day, we are able to focus our entire team on using the information and tools to improve performance,” said Cardinal.

With increased competitive pressures and challenges in the Quick Service Restaurant industry, Pennant Foods evaluated Syrus primarily on its ability to improve the bottom line. “Syrus delivers savings that far exceed the price,” commented Cardinal. “Plus, the information shows us opportunities for further improvement in sales and costs, and the tools give us the ability to take advantage of those opportunities.”

Syrus President Jim Karam complimented the Pennant Foods Corp. management team for their part in the successful rollout. “Pennant Foods is a dynamic organization and clearly a leader in the restaurant industry,” Karam said. “Once their management team made the decision to implement Syrus company-wide, I was extremely impressed with how quickly and effectively their staff adapted to using the new system. This is a credit to the leadership of their organization and to the quality of people they attract and maintain.”

Akwen
Saving Big With Syrus, Ltd.

Bruce Obenour, owner of 22 Wendy’s franchises in the Akron, OH area, recalled the first point-of-sale reporting system he installed in his stores. “We pulled a lot of information, but we used very little of it,” he noted. The system required too much staff time and expertise, so they focused only on the basics.

As they grew, they needed an accurate and timely picture of their food and labor costs. They selected Syrus’ system because they found that managers quickly learned the system with minimal training and they liked that the system was originally built for Wendy’s stores, although the data reporting and back office company has since expanded operations to other chains.

“We’ve improved our food costs by 1.5 points,” he said. “And the Labor Scheduler has let us be more effective in managing labor throughout the week.” He estimates the Scheduler saves his managers five hours a week per store. The data they gather is accurate and easy to understand, and Syrus account reps make sure managers learn how to use it efficiently.

I’m better off by at least $300,000 per year and probably more, he said. That’s more than $13,000 per store. Plus, because his managers are able to understand restaurant operations more quickly, they can advance in their careers at an accelerated rate, Obenour noted.

The Starboard Group
Syrus signs 50-store Wendy’s franchise, finds
annual savings worth $400,000 in first three months

COLUMBUS, OH (Feb. 4, 2009) – The Starboard Group, a 50-store, three-state Wendy’s restaurant franchise operation headquartered in Philadelphia, uses tools provided by “business intelligence” company Syrus Restaurant Information Services to uncover savings that are expected to cut food costs by more than $400,000 annually.

The Starboard Group first signed up with Syrus in October 2008, said Don Hurrell, Vice President of Operations. “Using Syrus’ food management tools, we were able to reduce our food variance from 1.8 percent to 1.3 percent, which will translate to a savings of $400,000 per year,” he said. The franchise organization owns restaurants in West Palm Beach, FL, Richmond, VA, and Philadelphia, PA.

The tools also helped uncover theft that was occurring in one Florida restaurant, he added. After cleaning house, the store saw a 20 percent gain in sales.

The Starboard Group chose Syrus after a thorough examination of back-office and reporting systems Hurrell noted. “We thought Syrus had the most complete package,” he said. “Others require more man-hours from our staff and weren’t robust enough to meet our needs.”

“The scope of money being left on the table didn’t become clear until we had implemented Syrus,” said Dave Ransbury, Starboard’s Vice President of Operations in Florida. Ransbury explained that with Syrus’ back-office tools and reporting The Starboard Group reduced labor by dozens of hours per week per store and cut food variance by up to 3 percent of sales in some stores, saving thousands of dollars.

“We’ve seen this time and again,” said Jim Karam, President of Syrus. “When a new client uses our services, they quickly see exactly where the waste and theft are occurring and can find significant sales opportunities and savings immediately.”

Recent upgrades to the service include an enhanced Inventory Management tool, a Suggested Ordering module that integrates directly with the food distributor, and “Syrus Analytics” – a powerful and flexible reporting tool that complements the standard Syrus reporting system.

All Star Management
Mike Allegro, Wendy’s 2008 Founder’s Award Recipient, selects Syrus as back-office provider,
sees immediate 2% reduction in labor costs

COLUMBUS, OH (May, 2009) – All Star Management, a 12-store, Wendy’s restaurant franchise operation, located in Illinois, uses Syrus to improve the business through better management of their food and labor costs.

In just a few months, Owner Mike Allegro has seen a return on his investment with Syrus. “Using the Syrus system has paid off. Not only have we lowered food cost, but using Syrus’ Labor Scheduler, managers now have a precise scheduling system, and it is very user-friendly. We’ve reduced our overall labor by 2% since we began using Syrus’ labor system.”

All Star Management had a back-office system, but Mike became increasingly frustrated with inaccurate numbers and the need to spend time educating the company about his business. I needed a partner, not just a vendor, who could hit the ground running to help control my costs.” With Syrus’ long-term history with Wendy’s, he knew they understood his business. He also knew Syrus’ unique software service model would give him the accuracy and on-going service he needed. “I found that Syrus was the only solution that would go the extra mile to help me improve my business by including an Account Representative to work with my managers. “

From the start, Mike found Syrus’ tools were more sophisticated and accurate than its competitors. Syrus’ first task was to review the recipes and prices in the former back-office system. “Syrus found a lot of mistakes and straightened them out. Having accurate data is critical.”

With accurate data and reporting, Syrus got down to business to improve costs. Patrick Maks, Syrus Vice President of Business Development, led an effort of providing on-site training to show Mike how to use Syrus’ above-store reporting to identify store specific problems, then use detailed ingredient reports to dig deep into their food cost problems, which they were unable to do with their former provider. Mike’s belief is, “if you don’t know where to start looking to the find the problem, you’re never going to find it.”

All Star Management District Manager, Jacque Lindsay, has also seen dramatic results in her stores “My stores’ food costs are lower. Managers are more accountable and the ordering program has reduced the amount of inventory on shelves. My managers find that Syrus’ inventory, labor and ordering programs are very flexible and easy to use.”

As a District Manager, Jacque finds her time is more productive using information from Syrus. She tracks sales and negative transactions and uses consolidated reporting to compare the stores food cost, saving her time by going directly to the problem store. “After reviewing the information from my home or office, I can go into the store and quickly go online with the general manager to pull up a food cost report. It’s exciting that now my managers have already looked at the Syrus report and have answers ready for me. They’re learning and we’re working together. And, if we need help, I just call my Syrus Account Representative.”

Mike uses Syrus’ accurate above-store reporting to monitor his business. “Syrus calls my stores to troubleshoot and correct data, so I know my information is accurate when I log in each morning to see my daily sales report. It’s like having an extension of your company. Communication has improved with my employees. I can capture my numbers early in the morning and at least three times a week I’m sending out emails to my staff with questions on sales, voids, labor, and food. It’s all about the numbers.”

Mike also found value in Syrus’ Analytics feature, a program that customizes reports to his specific needs. “We needed someone to call on to create our own custom reports and the Syrus software was flexible enough to provide this service.” Mike frequently uses the Product on Hand report, which shows the amount of days the stores are carrying inventory, by ingredient. “My organization is awesome in using the resources. Syrus is very responsive to answer our questions or to design a custom report.”

Mike is glad he made the move to Syrus and recommends Syrus as a back-office provider. “The system has made my company better and my managers are more knowledgeable in controlling food and labor. I’ve seen the return on my investment and my people are happier. With the tools that Syrus gives my managers and District Managers to help them be successful, why wouldn’t they feel good about themselves?”