Taste Buds Raises the Bar for Restaurant-Acquisition Efficiency with Compeat
AUSTIN, Texas — Jan. 10, 2007 — There is restaurant-acquisition efficiency — and then there is Taste
Buds-style restaurant-acquisition
efficiency. In fact, it would be tough to find another full-service restaurant acquisition that was more streamlined and cost efficient than the
Louisiana-based Taste Bud's purchase of the five-restaurant Semolina concept in December 2006.
Taste Buds, which has managed six Zea
restaurants since 1997, not only absorbed the five new
restaurants without adding additional administrative costs, but
also eliminated a six-figure accounting firm used by Semolina.
What's more, Taste Buds rapidly deployed the restaurant's back
office management and accounting software system in the new restaurants,
and trained the new managers to use the application's functionality
in record time.
A large share of the credit for its efficient acquisition of five restaurants goes to its software application — Compeat Back Office Software —
according to the management team, including VP of Operations Paul Hutson, who has over 20 years of restaurant industry experience.
"The software's power and efficiency has allowed us to double our locations without adding a single person to our administrative team,"
notes Hutson. "That's a remarkable feat in this industry."
The top three efficiencies gained from Compeat, according to the Taste Buds team, are its full-service functionality, its fast and flexible
reporting, and its food cost management tools.
Full-Service Functionality
Taste Buds has tapped into Compeat's wide range of accounting and back office software tools for many day-to-day operational tasks,
including managing food prep labor and inventory, perfecting recipe maintenance, and compiling profit and loss statements.
Fast and Flexible Reporting
Compeat is set up to automatically produce all of Taste Buds' many reports. "Compeat's reporting functionality is not just faster, but it's
also more accurate and flexible than other accounting processes," says Hutson. "For example, it used to take us two months to turn around a
complete profit and loss statement each quarter. Now we can create our P&Ls in three days."
Taste Buds has also tapped into Compeat's wide range of eXcellent reporting tools. "It's easy to pull the data I need, export it into
spreadsheets, and analyze it any way I want, for example, by total cost or a percent of cost, by individual store or region, or by one menu or
one dish. No other software system I've used compares to Compeat's flexibility, speed, and power. It's phenomenal."
Food Cost Management Tools
In the first year after expanding its use of Compeat, Taste Buds' food costs were down by 5% for a total savings of $1 million in its five Zea
restaurants. "Compeat gets credit for half of that savings. It has impacted our cost savings in so many ways, including accuracy in product
receipt at the back door, reducing prep waste, and managing theoretical costs-to-sales.
"Prep-to-shelf life is one of our favorite Compeat tools. It is a revolutionary way to forecast prep in a full-service restaurant. It constantly
gives us accurate information so that our product mix is always up-to-date. As a result, we've reduced our food rotation problems, eliminated
food waste, and lowered our labor costs.
"Also, Compeat's theoretical cost forecasting and analysis tools give us an almost real-time picture of what our theoretical costs could be,"
notes Hutson. "So, we can examine any area, from a single dish, to a restaurant, to a region. Compared to software systems I've used in the
past, I would not want to run a restaurant today without Compeat. The value you receive for the investment is hard to beat. In fact, because of
Compeat's power and extensive capabilities, we could acquire even more restaurants and still not expand our accounting staff."
About Compeat Restaurant Management Systems
Compeat Restaurant Management Systems is the leading provider of restaurant back office and accounting software. Its flagship product,
Compeat Back Office Software, is the first fully integrated inventory and back office accounting system created specifically for the
foodservice and hospitality industry. Today over 200 customers use Compeat in over 1,000 restaurants, with annual sales ranging from $1
million to $400 million.
