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Diverse, adventurous, socially-conscious, fun -- Kerbey Lane Cafe embodies what's best about Austin Texas. They opened the first store in a small house on Kerbey Lane in 1980 when they sensed a market for affordable food cooked with fresh, locally grown ingredients. Still today, they pride themselves on their seasonal menus, with many ingredients purchased from local farms and vendors always ensuring freshness and a unique Austin taste.

Challenge

Prior to Compeat, Kerbey Lane's operational and financial information was dispersed across several different systems. Point of Sale information was in one place, inventory and food cost in another, and financial information in still another. At the end of the day or period, their data never seemed to balance and they spent too much time reconciling.

Inventory and ordering was also a headache for Kerbey Lane. Without any type of purchase order system in place, their ordering was inefficient. They would manually figure out quantities to order, call each food supplier and order over the phone and receive deliveries without a way to validate them to the original order. Invoices would come into the restaurants, be sent to accounts payable and a check would be written for each store. The process was tedious and prone to errors.

Solution

Kerbey Lane realized they needed one fully integrated system that could meet all of their operational and financial requirements. They decided to replace their Aloha Inventory and MAS90 accounting system with Compeat. They went live with Compeat software in all five of their locations, plus their commissary, in June 2012.

Kerbey Lane immediately benefited from having all of their POS information polled into one system for Daily Sales Reporting and integration to accounting. "With Compeat, we save a huge amount of time by not having to do so many checks and balances. Compeat gives us confidence that our numbers are always correct," says Michael Jackson, Director of Restaurant Logistics for Kerbey Lane.

Compeat's electronic ordering greatly expedited Kerbey Lane's ordering process. Now they simply enter new order quantities into their standing order. A purchase order automatically goes to the vendor, the restaurants validate the delivery to the original order, the vendor invoices automatically go to accounts payable, and accounts payable only needs to print one check per vendor. "Our food supplier was not previously compatible with Compeat's electronic ordering feature. I called Compeat and they developed the integration for us. Compeat's customer service is unbeatable," says Jackson.

Results

Kerbey Lane has always taken pride in keeping relatively low food costs, so they were pleasantly surprised to see that Compeat cut their costs by 1.5% of sales in the first 6 months of using the software! "This food cost savings is amazing considering we have only been using the software 6 months and still haven't used it to its full capacity. I can only imagine how much our costs will be cut going forward," says Jackson.

Going Forward

Kerbey Lane continues to expand and evolve, but no matter what else changes, the quality of their ingredients and passion for making fresh, delicious, affordable food for the Austin community remains constant. Compeat is Kerbey Lane Cafe's newest fresh ingredient and is now part of their recipe for success.

Passionate restaurateurs committed to delivering innovative food and exceptional dining experiences, Flagship Restaurant Group started up their operation in Omaha, Nebraska in 2002. Since then they have opened eight restaurants including four Blue Sushi Sake Grills, two Roja's Mexican Grills, as well as a Blatt Beer and Table and the swanky Red Lounge. Flagship utilizes Compeat Advantage to manage their inventory and coporate accounting as well as control food costs.

Challenge

Before implementing Compeat, Flagship was managing their inventory using spreadsheets. The process was tedious and the results were not timely. Their cost of goods would vary from period to period and they had no way to know if that was okay. Flagship realized that without a better system, their actual inventory cost and usage might not be accurate and they would not be able to compare theoretical inventory cost or usage to actual in order to isolate variances.

Flagship was using QuickBooks prior to Compeat to manage their accounting. They had no integration with their POS system and were therefore making manual entries. They also had no integration between restaurant invoices and accounts payable so they had to update both inventory and accounts payable separately.

Solution

Flagship purchased Compeat Advantage in the summer of 2011 and rolled out all eight locations. They benefited immediately from Point of Sale polling and Daily Sales Reporting. Managers also saved time due to the inventory ordering, receiving and counting functions. "Compeat allows us to order products from Sysco online and then the inventory cost changes are automatically updated in real time so managers can see the effects of price changes immediately," says Tony Gentile, Executive Chef for Flagship.

Flagship saved administrative hours by having an integrated inventory and accounting system—all operational and accounting information is in one common database. They have also converted their accounts payable into a paperless process by scanning invoices and checks at the restaurants. "Compeat has made our accounting department more efficient, allowed us more time for other projects, and provided us with much more information," raves Shannon Allen, Accounting Manager for Flagship.

Results

In just two years Flagship has seen phenomenal results. "Since implementing Compeat, we have seen an average of 4-5% reduction in cost of goods sold per store. We have saved nearly $600,000 because of Compeat!" raves Tony Gentile, Executive Chef for Flagship.

Going Forward

Flagship is growing rapidly and they are on track to add three stores per year for the next ten years. "Compeat gives us the power and the platform to be able to grow. The money we save with Compeat goes right into the opening of each new location," says Gentile.

ompeat Restaurant Management Systems is a leading provider of back office, workforce management, accounting and payroll systems for restaurants. Recently Compeat has seen a growing trend of South of the Border and Southwestern restaurants choosing Compeat to manage their restaurants. Some of these restaurants are: Trudy's, Urban Taco, Mi Casa, Torchy's Tacos, Macayo's, Ruby Tequila's Mexican Kitchen, Blue Mesa Grill, Casa Rio Mexican Foods, and Izzo's Illegal Burritos.

Trudy's has been dishing out delicious Tex-Mex favorites to the Austin community since 1977. Prior to Compeat, Trudy's used five different systems simultaneously for their restaurants. Now they use Compeat to manage their back office, accounting, payroll, and commissary for all five locations. "We have monthly meetings to investigate P&L statements and prior to Compeat it would take hours," says Paul Michie, Operations Manager for Trudy's. "Now we just drill down and instantly have the answers." Trudy's has also been able to consolidate daily tasks and decrease labor as a result of switching to Compeat.

Urban Taco is a local hit in the Dallas area with four restaurant locations. Their raved about menu is inspired by the Mexico City street food culture and the coastal cuisine flair of Acapulco. Urban Taco rapidly outgrew using spreadsheets, purchasing Compeat in 2010 to manage their restaurant back offices and streamline their accounting. They identify the key benefits of Compeat as consistency, efficiency, and simplicity. "Compeat makes it easy to set goals for lower food costs and track those goals in real time," states Markus Pineyro of Urban Taco.

Located in Breckenridge, Colorado, Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant has been a local favorite for Mexican food since 1981. In 2004, Cheryl Mattos of Mi Casa discovered Compeat at a tradeshow and remembers stating, "Compeat is as if someone was sitting on my shoulders for the past ten years watching all the unnecessary work I was doing and combined it into one easy, seamlessly integrated program just for me!" A Compeat feature Mattos likes in particular is the ability to compare vendor bids. "This ensures that we are getting the best product for the least amount of money," says Mattos.

Torchy's Tacos started as a food trailer in 2006 and has since expanded to thirteen Texas locations. Since their 2011 implementation of Compeat they have been extremely pleased with the results. "I don't know how we did it before Compeat," raves Rachael Williams, Director of Accounting for Torchy's. "We love that our POS information polls directly into Compeat, saving us time and improving efficiency. On the store level, our food cost is much more accurate and timely now that the invoices are linked to them," says Williams. Torchy's is set to open 6 more locations in 2013 and all will be using Compeat.

Macayo's Mexican Kitchen is a family owned Mexican food chain with 17 locations in Arizona and Nevada. In 2003, Macayo's implemented Compeat to manage their back office, accounting, and their commissary. "With Compeat our restaurant managers are far more aware of the actual costs of product and can see effects of price increases immediately. The managers watch their usage more closely and can verify if a food cost increase is due to a purchasing change, a kitchen issue, or perhaps over-ordering," says Kathy Biernot.

So why are Trudy's, Urban Taco, Mi Casa, Torchy's Tacos, Macayo's, Ruby Tequila's Mexican Kitchen, Blue Mesa Grill, Casa Rio Mexican Foods, and Izzo's Illegal Burritos and other South of the Border and Southwestern themed restaurants choosing Compeat to manage their restaurants? They all report that Compeat is muy bueno!

ompeat Restaurant Management Systems, provider of restaurant inventory, labor, accounting and payroll management systems, has a growing trend of pizzerias choosing Compeat software over other restaurant management systems. Some of these pizza restaurants include: Georgio's Chicago Pizzeria, Blue Moon Pizza, Spot Pizza Grill, Rock Wood Fired Pizza, Connie's Pizza, Grotto Pizza, and DeAngelo's Pizzeria Company.

Georgio's Chicago Pizzeria and Pub, known for their tasty Chicago style deep dish pizza, is ranked one of the Top 100 Independent Pizzerias in the Nation. Georgio's uses Compeat to poll their Daily Sales Report, track pricing, and to identify exactly where inventory variances are occurring. By using Compeat's invoice scanning feature, they have also been able to cut back on their labor costs and increase efficiencies. "By increasing our labor efficiencies with Compeat, I can keep out of the office and instead be on the restaurant floor with my employees and customers," says James Coli, General Manager for Georgio's. "We have better insight into our daily operations", adds Coli.

Blue Moon Pizza thrives on their philosophy to "Give people an everyday place that still feels special." Blue Moon selected Compeat to streamline their operations so they're able to dedicate more time to making their guests feel just that still special. Blue Moon uses Compeat Advantage to control inventory, build recipes, and cost out their menu items. "Compeat gives us everything we need out of a back office software and more!" says Kelvin Slater, Founder of Blue Moon Pizza.

Spot Pizza Grill offers traditional American pub food with a modern-day twist. Ron Mueller, Director of Operations for Spot, could not be more pleased with his Compeat Advantage software "As a restaurant operator for the past 30 years, Compeat's software is by far the best I have ever used," exclaims Mueller. "The ease of inventory building and tracking combined with multiple restaurant capabilities has simplified the task of controlling costs and evaluating menu pricing" says Mueller. "Compeat's reporting tools are a particular asset when evaluating purchasing practices and patterns, as well as when making deals with vendors," added Mueller.

Wedge Corporation operates seven Rock Wood Fired Pizza Restaurants. Not only do they see great benefits from Advantage cost control and accounting, but they have also found their Advantage Payroll software to be extremely advantageous. Wedge has seen an improvement in efficiency from being able to track, audit, and process payroll all within one system. Their payroll costs are lower due to the savings created by processing payroll in-house versus utilizing a payroll service. "We really enjoy the integration and the real time reports that both Compeat Advantage and Payroll provides," states Karen Turner, Accounting and Payroll Manager for Wedge.

Why have Georgio's Chicago Pizzeria, Blue Moon Pizza, Spot Pizza Grill, Rock Wood Fired Pizza, Connie's Pizza, Grotto Pizza, and DeAngelo's Pizzeria Company all selected Compeat Advantage? Because Compeat makes controlling and accounting for pizza restaurants as easy as a dough toss! Two words sum up the relationship between Compeat and these popular pizzerias: "That's Amore"

Compeat is growing rapidly. Revenue has increased by more than 30% at Compeat in the last two years. Compeat software has been installed in more than 700 new restaurants in the last two years alone. Why are so many restaurant operators choosing Compeat over other restaurant management systems?

Compeat Advantage handles both back office and accounting in one seamlessly integrated solution. All operational and financial information is stored in one common database and is therefore always up-to-date and always in balance. Our customers can drill down from a line item in their Profit & Loss Statement all the way to the transactional detail at the restaurant. Audits are fast and easy and information does not have to be imported from one system to another.

Compeat is the only back office restaurant provider with solutions for:

1. Inventory Control
2. Food Cost Analysis
3. Workforce Management
4. Commissary
5. Accounting, and
6. Payroll

Our competitors only have pieces and parts of this comprehensive offering, which results in restaurant personnel having to learn to use multiple systems. Purchasing systems from multiple vendors almost always results in higher costs. In addition, system integration is compromised by using multiple systems which results in redundant data entry or less comprehensive reporting.

Compeat is unique in our industry because we allow our customers to own their software license. There are two paths to ownership:

Unlike our competitors, Compeat does not require you to pay into perpetuity for our software. Compeat licensing is therefore less expensive and the longer Compeat software is used, the more money is saved.

Most back office software providers require a long term contract (typically three years) that prohibits cancellation or includes stiff cancellation penalties. Compeat, however, allows our customers to cancel their contract at any time with just 30 days advanced notice. The reason we do this is simply because we consistently satisfy our customers.

Compeat customers consistently rave about our products and services. As a result, we have been able to amass a great number of customer testimonials, case studies, and white papers that detail our customer success stories in their own words.

Compeat Restaurant Management Systems—a leading provider of restaurant management and accounting software—surveys their entire customer base on a regular basis to discover where they have benefited as a result of implementing Compeat. Customers are asked to rate their experience in nine key areas of possible benefit. Over 93% of the respondents have reported significant benefits in multiple areas related to reduction in food and beverage costs, reduction in labor requirements, and gains in operating efficiency.

Reducing Food & Beverage Costs

The majority—almost 55%—of Compeat's customers reported reduced food and beverage costs. The average combined food and beverage cost-savings is 5.16% (food = 2.69% and beverage = 2.47%.) For a restaurant averaging $1 million per year in revenue, this equates to $50,000 annually. "We expected to lower our food costs, but didn't know they would go so much lower, or how quickly that would occur. Compeat is the tool that made it possible," said Jeremy DeBlieux, Director of New Business Operations for Acme Oyster House in New Orleans.

Kona Grill implemented Compeat in their nineteen stores in 2008 and has seen a remarkable improvement in their bottom line. They recognize an average 1.5% reduction in cost of goods sold per store, resulting in an overall gain in profits of $15,833 per store, and over $300,000 annually for the chain! Other customers who have greatly reduced their costs are: Crabby Bill's Seafood - 6% in food costs and 2% in beverage costs; Ivar's Seafood - 5% in food costs; New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company - 3% reduction in food and beverage costs; and Turner Food and Spirits - 2% in food costs and 3% in beverage costs. Kaizen Management LLC also reports an 8% reduction in food costs and 7% reduction in beverage costs after implementing Compeat in Blue Shore Grill.

Increased Labor Efficiencies with Compeat

Labor reductions are not always recognizable with a system like Compeat. This is because the added level of control made possible by Compeat can result in added work if these control processes were not previously in place. However, over 48% of the respondents report improved labor efficiencies from Compeat. Over 72% of the respondents see a decrease in the requirement for spreadsheets, 48% see a reduction in company office administration needs, and over 44% report a reduction in time requirements for their store managers.

Morton's Restaurant Group, Inc. streamlined their inventory management and accounting. Compeat software allowed Morton's to condense their seventy-six different inventories into one simplified master inventory. The result was labor efficiencies gained in both the restaurants and at the corporate office. "With Compeat, we have been able to achieve great advancements and efficiencies in our restaurant back office management. We could not be more pleased," said Ron DiNella, Senior Vice President and CFO of Morton's.

Taste Bud's Management, owner of ten Zea Restaurants and one Semolina Restaurant, reports significant labor savings. Chris Rodrigue, Taste Bud's CEO states, "We run profit after cost of sales and labor 4 to 5% better than Darden, Cheesecake, Brinker and PF Chang's primarily due to Compeat." According to Rodrigue, Compeat enabled Taste Buds to double in size and only increase their accounting department by one employee. They've also eliminated the Unit Controller position in all restaurants.

Increased Efficiency in Operations

One of the leading areas for positive response is increased efficiency as a result of implementing Compeat. More than 80% of respondents report better insight into their operations and over 81% report increased timeliness of information. In addition, more than 73% reported an increase in the availability of key information to all stakeholders and over 82% report better collection and unification of their Point of Sale, Back Office, and Accounting information.

The Wedge Corp, owner of seven Rock Wood Fired Pizza and Spirits, outlined one of their gains in efficiency. "Compeat's eXcellent Financial Functions are a big factor in getting information into our restaurant managers' hands in a way that allows timely and intelligent decision making," reported Eric Edenholm, outside Consulting CPA for The Wedge Corp.

Sunshine Restaurant Corp., operator of five Buffalo Wild Wings franchise locations, reported significant gains in efficiency. "We were able to gain control and improve efficiency in how we order, transfer, and track our products," says Andrew Gross, President and CEO. "Compeat has really helped us tighten our operations and prepare for growth."

Compilation of Compeat Benefits Survey Responses

Conclusion

Out of nine identified areas of benefit, Compeat customers report benefiting in 5.95 of these areas on average. The majority of these customers have also seen a reduction in their food and beverage costs, a decrease in labor requirements, and an increase in operational efficiency. It appears that most Compeat customers would agree with Tim McEnery, President and Owner of Cooper's Hawk Winery and Restaurant: "I have no doubt that the solution has paid for itself five times over."

ompeat Advantage is the system of choice amongst the nations top grossing restaurants. TAO, Smith & Wollensky, Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, The Manor, Spice Market, Bartolotta Restaurant Group, Galatoire's, NOBU, and Emeril's are all included in Restaurant and Institution's listing of the Top 100 Grossing Restaurant for 2010. Compeat Restaurant Management System's end-to-end back office and accounting system, Compeat Advantage, is the restaurant system of choice amongst all of these restaurants. They're all utilizing Compeat Advantage to reduce their costs, increase control, and improve efficiency.

TAO Restaurant and Nightclub, the number 1 Grossing Restaurant in 2010, relies on Compeat in all seven of their locations. "Compeat has become very important in our day-to-day operational tasks including: recipe maintenance, managing food preparation, and compiling profit and loss statements. I especially like how all information is 'real-time' and in one common database so managers are able to see and react to any issues immediately," says John Watson, Information Technology Director for TAO.

Smith & Wollensky is ranked as the number 2 Grossing Restaurant in 2010. They have been a user of Compeat Advantage and a satisfied customer for six years. Compeat's unique "Portioning" feature allows a restaurant like Smith and Wollensky to track inventory through the entire butchering process — from primal cut, through individual portions, and then on to sale.

Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, the number 10 Grossing Restaurant, has been a Compeat customer since 2007, and consistently reports savings in both food costs and labor. "Compeat has improved our efficiency in ordering, receiving, and tracking our inventory. The added insight and control Compeat provides has reduced our food and labor costs," says Jeff Harris, Controller of Gibson's Restaurant Group.

The Manor Restaurant first opened its doors in 1956 and is now ranked as the number 35 Grossing Restaurant. In 2004 they selected Compeat Advantage as their back office and accounting solution. Their large range of menu items and extensive wine list require a powerful tool to manage and track their inventory. Compeat is able to poll information directly from The Manor's POS system, allowing them to report on usage down to an ounce of wine. "With Compeat, we are able to easily and accurately track the life cycle of everything we purchase. This added control has been extremely beneficial in our daily operations," says Cathy Vastola, Controller for The Manor.

Jean-Georges Enterprises is one of Compeat's original customers. In 2004, the critically acclaimed French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten guided the development of Culinary Concepts, which includes the number 43 Grossing Restaurant: Spice Market. With labor being such a big part of their business expense, Spice Market counts on Compeat to help them reduce their labor costs by improving their efficiencies in the kitchen and accounting department.

Conclusion

TAO, Smith & Wollensky, Gibsons Bar &Steakhouse, The Manor, Spice Market, Bartolotta Restaurant Group, Galatoire's, NOBU, and Emeril's are some of the busiest restaurants in the nation. Every day they purchase inventory, prepare recipes, and serve hundreds or even thousands of customers — accounting for a very large number of transactions. Volume like this requires the support of a solid restaurant management and accounting system, and these top grossing restaurants rely on Compeat as their solution.

Matchbox LLC first opened the doors to their flagship Washington DC location—Matchbox Chinatown—in 2003. Since then they have grown to include three unique concepts that comprise 5 locations throughout the DC Metro Area. Matchbox, a vintage pizza bistro; Ted's Bulletin; a one stop for classic American fare and burgers; and DC-3, a regional hot dog joint, all provide a unique dining experience and exceptional service.

Challenge

Before implementing Compeat, Matchbox relied on Quickbooks to manage their accounting, and spreadsheets to manage all of their back office operations. Consequently they spent many hours every day entering data into spreadsheets at each restaurant with no easy way to centralize this information. Information from the spreadsheets had to also be reentered into Quickbooks. In summary, data entry was tedious, information was not timely, and the accuracy of the information was not controllable.

Solution

In 2007, a new General Manager who had prior experience with Compeat suggested they implement Compeat software to simplify the management of their growing concepts. Matchbox replaced Quickbooks and their spreadsheets with Compeat and have been reaping in the benefits ever since. Brian Anderson, Operating Systems Manager for Matchbox, could not be more pleased with their success. "Managing multiple entities (restaurants and companies) would be next to impossible without Compeat," states Anderson.

Labor Savings

Anderson is very impressed with the labor savings they have been able to achieve by handling their vendor invoices more efficiently with Compeat. Matchbox now automatically imports their invoices from multiple vendors. Sysco, one of their largest vendors who make at least 3 deliveries per week per store, generally has a 5-6 page invoice that each manager had to work through, usually taking at least an hour of their time per delivery. Now this process is automated.

Anderson also likes Compea's central office consolidation of his stores. This centralized processing combined with better invoice handling at his restaurants has saved them 8-10 hours of management labor per week, per store. "Along with the labor cost savings, managers have more time to spend in the front of the house supporting our staff and mingling with customers to ensure they're having a spectacular dining experience," states Anderson.

Reduction in Food Cost

Matchbox opened their first quick service concept, DC-3, in 2010. Although DC-3 had an extremely popular opening, they soon discovered that their costs were too high and that changes were needed to optimize their success. Anderson was assigned the task to correct the problem and turned to his Compeat system.

Anderson used Compeat to verify the accuracy of all of his prep and menu item recipes. He next compared theoretical and actual cost variances. Anderson then ran a menu engineering report that ranks each menu item based on its contribution to the bottom line. These steps enabled Anderson to isolate problems and make positive changes to increase DC-3's bottom line. "By reengineering our menu with Compeat we were able to reduce our food cost by 2%!" raves Anderson.

Going Forward

With three new locations opening in 2012, Matchbox LLC is on the road for considerable growth. Matchbox plans on opening each new location with Compeat. They also have exciting plans to redo their entire bar and liquor programming with the help of Micros and Compeat. "We now have a cleaner and tighter inventory and accounting system which creates more accurate budgets. We could not be more pleased with Compeat," states Anderson.

ompeat Advantage is a popular choice amongst award winning and well renowned Chefs such as Bobby Flay, Daniel Boulud, Dahlia Narvaez, Nobu Matsuhisa, Dan Kluger, Emeril Lagasse, Jose Andres, Tory McPhail, Mario Batali, Joseph Bastianich, Michel Richard, and David Bouley. All are leveraging Compeat Advantage's integrated back office and accounting solution in their high profile restaurants. Celebrity chef, restauranteur, and reality television persona, Bobby Flay, has been using Compeat Advantage software in several of his Bold Food restaurants for over 3 years. With Compeat Advantage, Bold Food is able to better control their daily kitchen operations, including: inventory ordering, receiving, usage, cost variances, theoretical costs, and prep management.

The Dinex Group operates some of the top restaurants in the United States, Canada, and China and has been a satisfied Compeat customer since 2006. Chef and Owner Daniel Boulud has achieved numerous culinary awards. "Our customized P&L is a very useful analytical tool for me. It provides information for current period, YTD, and comparisons to prior year and budget as well as variances percentages. This gives our management team meaningful information that they can take action on as needed," says Brian Carley, Dinex's Director of Accounting.

Recently Osteria Del Mondo was ranked one of the Best Hotel Restaurants in the nation, and renowned Chef Dahlia Narvaez was nominated for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. Bianchini, owner of the four unique restaurants including Osteria, has been a Compeat customer since 2005. "Since implementing Compeat we have been able to improve our control over our inventory and cost of goods sold. We have also been able to reduce our food costs," says Marta Bianchini, Owner of Bianchini.

Compeat Advantage has been the back office solution for ten NOBU restaurants since 2005. Renowned Executive Chef and Owner Nobu Matsuhisa has received numerous awards throughout his career including: America's 10 Best New Chefs by Food and Wine Magazine, induction into "Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America", and a nomination almost every year for "Outstanding Chef" by the James Beard Foundation. Compeat Advantage's unique Portioning Feature allows a restaurant that specializes in seafood like NOBU to accurately track their product through the entire process, from the catch all the way to sale.

Jean-Georges Enterprises, one of Compeat's original customers, opened their new farm-to-table concept in New York called ABC Kitchen in 2010. In just one year of operation they received the 2011 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant, and their Chef Dan Kluger took the award for "Chef of the Year" by Time Out New York. Compeat Advantage allows Jean-Georges to track the life cycle of everything purchased and produced in all of their restaurants, giving them full oversight and added control. Commander's Palace has received an impressive amount of awards over the years, including Zagat's "Most Popular Restaurant in New Orleans" 19 years running. They've also received numerous James Beard awards, including Chef Tory McPhail's 2011 nomination for "Best Chef South." Commander's has been a Compeat customer since 2003 and they utilize a complete suite of Compeat products for inventory, accounting, payroll, and mobile. Commander's uses Compeat Mobile to take wine counts on a hand-held device which then automatically updates their inventory status in Compeat Advantage.

Conclusion

There's a reason that Mesa Grill, The Dinex Group, Osteria Del Mondo, NOBU, Jean-Georges, Emeril's Homebase, Think Food Group, Commander's Palace, B&B Hospitality Group, and Bouley have all chosen Compeat: Compeat Advantage is their favorite ingredient for cooking up the best restaurant management system!

"Inventory is money sitting around in another form," says Rhonda Adams, author of the article from USA Today entitled "Entrepreneurs, Don't Let "stuff" Control your Business." This article examines the importance of supply chain management in small businesses. One of the most important aspects of managing your supply chain is lowering inventory levels to avoid essentially throwing unused "money" in the garbage.

Compeat Restaurant Management Systems provides Back Office and Accounting software solutions to the food service industry. In this industry "stuff" is the inventory (food and beverage) sold to your patrons and the "stuff 'that is not sold is wasted. In fact, food waste costs often contribute as much as 10% of total food costs! Compeat provides a unique feature in their Compeat Advantage software called Prep-to-Shelf Life to help lower this outrageous percentage. Compeat's Prep-to-Shelf Life feature keeps costs in check by adjusting daily prep quantities according to actual sales for each day of the week over time.

Learn more about Compeat's Prep-to-Shelf feature for Advantage and read the full article "Entrepreneurs, Don't Let 'Stuff' Control Your Business".

hen restaurant operators think about reducing costs and improving control, payroll is an area that is all too often overlooked. Most restaurant operators outsource their payroll processing without recognizing the efficiency they are sacrificing or higher costs they are incurring. Surprisingly, doing payroll in-house is far easier than most operators realize and an in-house payroll approach reduces costs and significantly increases efficiency.

What many restaurant operators don't realize is that by the time they have collected, prepared and reviewed information for a payroll service provider, they have essentially completed all the tasks required to process payroll in-house, aside from printing checks. Although in-house payroll does add tax filing and year-end reporting requirements, these processes have become quite easy due to the advent of payroll software partners who specialize in e-filing solutions.

Compeat Restaurant Management Systems is one of the few providers of a restaurant specific payroll system with features such as tip reporting, rate-to-minimum wage calculation, and employee receivables. To validate lower costs and improved efficiency with in-house payroll, Compeat interviewed their payroll software customers. While some Compeat customers did report an increase in their payroll administration hours, all reported a lower net cost when compared to an outside payroll service. In addition to cost savings, customers reported better payroll history visibility, increased control, and improved timeliness.

Storm Enterprises owns two restaurants in Breckenridge, Colorado, and decided to add Compeat Payroll to their Compeat Advantage software in 2005. Storm saw immediate benefits from the seamless integration of back office, accounting, and payroll. Time and attendance information from their Point-of-Sale system flowed directly into Compeat Payroll, and payroll related costs automatically updated their General Ledger. Storm went from working with several systems to utilizing one system and eliminated redundant data entries. All information resides in one common database and is always in balance.

"Compeat Payroll automatically polls hours directly from our POS system. With our previous outsourced third party payroll provider, I would have to go through and find out where the short falls came from and then manually make the updates. Now, with Compeat Payroll, it is all right there and very clear in our GL," states Cheryl Mattos, Bookkeeper for Storm. "Filing taxes is also easy since the forms are already created and ready to submit. With Greenshades, Compeat's e-filing partner, I get my W2's done in one-tenth the time!"

Wedge Corporation operates seven Rock Wood Fired Pizza Restaurants and their corporate office with Compeat Advantage and Payroll. Wedge has seen an improvement in efficiency from being able to track, audit, and process payroll all within one system. Wedge's payroll costs are now lower from the savings created by processing payroll in-house versus utilizing a payroll service.

"We really enjoy the integration and the real time reports that Compeat Payroll provides. Now, if there are any errors in a paycheck we can immediately take care of it with our employees," states Karen Turner, Accounting and Payroll Manager for Wedge. "With Compeat Payroll, we are saving significant dollars by avoiding the cost of a payroll service provider."

Charlotte Prime has been utilizing Compeat Payroll in their 3 Ruth Chris Steak House locations and their corporate office since 2006. "We continue to be highly satisfied with the entire suite of Compeat products including Back Office, Accounting, and Payroll," says Paul McGowan, Director of Operations for Charlotte Prime. Charlotte Prime uses Compeat Payroll integrated with their Advantage system (back office and accounting) as well as with their Point of Sale system. "We really enjoy the ease of importing clock punches from Micros and the tip compliance reports are extremely helpful in our daily operations," says McGowan.

Southernmost Restaurant Group owns five signature restaurants in the Key West Area. In 2008, Southernmost decided to stop outsourcing and brought their payroll in-house with Compeat Payroll. Southernmost directly lowered operation costs and found value in having full control of their payroll, especially during times of need.

"Before we transitioned to Compeat Payroll, our employees would often have a delay in getting paid during hurricanes because our third party payroll service would physically drive our checks down from Miami. Now if we know a big hurricane is coming we have the control to partially pay our employees through that day and take care of the rest after the storm passes," says Theresa Rothaus, Director of Operations for Southernmost. "We also like that if an employee is leaving the company, we are able to immediately print their last check."

Purple Cafe and Wine Bar began searching for an HR focused payroll system back in 2008 and found Compeat Payroll to be the perfect solution. Purple Cafe benefits from the comprehensive reporting and high-level of employee detail available in Compeat Payroll. By bringing their payroll in-house they have also reduced their costs by eliminating outsourcing fees.

"Compeat provides enhancements and upgrades all the time that include valuable human resource and payroll reports," claims Rachelle Rue, Accounting Manager for Purple Cafe. "One report we find very beneficial is the Tickler Report. This report shows us when an employee received their last raise and when they're up for their review. It is nice to be able to get this overview on a regular basis," states Rue.

Compeat Payroll enables restaurant operators to confidently handle the unique aspects of restaurant payroll such as tip reporting and I-9 compliance. Compeat Payroll also creates and tracks employee receivables (when net pay does not cover non-tax deductions), which is common in restaurants. When the inclusion of declared tips is not enough, determining the rate needed to reach minimum wage can be a significant challenge for restaurants that outsource their payroll. Compeat Payroll's automatic rate-to-minimum calculation completely eliminates this
challenge.

Conclusion

Although it is often overlooked, bringing payroll in-house will benefit many restaurant operators. In-house payroll is easier than most realize and eliminating multiple systems and redundant data entry will increase insight and control. Perhaps most importantly, bringing payroll in-house is usually less expensive than outsourcing. With the advent of electronic tax filing and year-end reporting partners like Greenshades, in-house payroll has never been easier, faster, or more reliable.

By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS / The Dallas Morning News

May 24, 2010 — The nation's restaurant industry – known for being "high touch and low tech" – must become more tech savvy or lose a future generation of technology-minded customers, industry experts said Sunday.

"We've been slow, really slow" to embrace technology, said Wally Doolin, former chief executive of both Dallas-based La Madeleine and Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, the parent of TGI Friday's. "Now we find ourselves in a situation where technology starts to make a whole lot of sense. In the 1970s and 1980s, with restaurant sales growing and labor plentiful, restaurants didn't need a lot of technology," Doolin told restaurateurs and technology vendors at the annual trade show of the National Restaurant Association. Restaurateurs were comfortable with a hands-on business model, and many were wary that too much technology would create distance between them and their customers. Today, the industry is overbuilt, and the number of young people eager to work in the industry is diminishing, according to statistics from the restaurant association. As customers, young people increasingly use technology for almost everything.

"The growth of the restaurant industry parallels that of grocery stores," said Doolin, who now heads Black Box Intelligence, a Dallas-based research company. "Years ago, grocers added technology to speed checkout, improve data collection, boost sales and improve razor thin margins," he said. "That's what we're going to have to do," Doolin said, pointing to the range of technology options from online ordering to kitchen display systems used by chains such as Chili's to track the progress of a food order. "All of us have to adjust to change in an incredibly fast way that your grandfathers never had to face."

Some restaurant operators said they've been cautious about adopting technology because of the bewildering array of choices and the speed at which new technology becomes obsolete. "I am not a Luddite," joked Jeff Sinelli, founder of the Dallas-based Which Wich? sandwich chain. He took some ribbing on a technology panel for his low-tech order entry system – a paper bag and a red Sharpie. Sinelli said he was evaluating a number of tech upgrades and noted that the 110-store chain has online ordering available at about a dozen stores. He wants to expand online ordering throughout the chain. "These are important decisions," Sinelli said. "You want to make the right one."

Jim Knight, senior director of training and development for Hard Rock International, says the year-old Hard Rock Cafe Dallas is one of only five in North America with high-tech interactive tables that use Microsoft technology and allow visitors to view up to 1,500 digital images of memorabilia, such as letters from Paul McCartney. Booths in the Victory Park outlet sport plasma screens that allow diners to vote on music video selections played. "We decided to go more forward thinking with that one," said the rocker-esque Knight, sporting spiked hair and a pierced ear. "We've reinvented ourselves. But Knight admitted that, from a return-on- investment standpoint, the Dallas restaurant has not delivered the sales burst the company had hoped for, largely because of slack traffic in Victory Park. "People have not rediscovered that area. Once we get the people in, the response is extremely favorable, especially among young people. Where we still have issues is getting the word out that this is what we've done," he said. "It's killing us that we've made that investment, and we're not able to do anything about that."

~ Dallas News

anaging a successful restaurant in the food-service industry requires a full-functioning Point of Sale, Back Office and Accounting solution. The sale of Back Office and Accounting software is usually lower margin and requires more complex installation and training, while Point of Sale solutions are typically higher margin and faster to install. Many POS Providers therefore prefer to stay focused on POS and find themselves challenged when their customer asks for back office and accounting. Compeat Restaurant Management Systems, a leading provider of back office and accounting software, saw the challenge for POS Providers to deliver a complete solution and introduced the Compeat Referral Partner Program as a way to help POS Dealers provide complete solutions for their customers. Since inception, the Compeat Referral Partner Program has seen phenomenal growth and has become a win-win-win for POS Providers, their customers, and Compeat.

Prior to partnering with Compeat, David Cooperman from TouchPOS was only able to provide his customers the current industry standards when they would ask him about an Accounting and Back Office solution to integrate with their PixelPoint POS. Now when a customer asks his advice he confidently refers Compeat. "We feel like we are not only giving our customers the best advice we can as their Point of Sale Provider, but we also know that we are recommending a rock solid product that has tremendous value."

The referral process begins with a POS Provider such as Cooperman referring a current or prospective customer to a Compeat sales representative. From there, Compeat coordinates with the Provider and their customer to present and deliver the best solution to fit everyone's needs. "Our Comp eat representative is very familiar with us and knows the service we provide so when we refer customers we are positive they will not only represent Compeat, but TouchPOS very well."

Dave Woetzel from CCR Data Systems has also been able to extend value to his customers through the Compeat Referral Partner Program. "Our customers that operate multiple properties often require high level accounting integration and multi-site analysis. Compeat's smooth integration with Aloha gives us a seamless solution," states Woetzel. With Compeat, Woetzel is also able to devote his resources to his primary business and let Compeat take care of his customers' accounting needs. "We are not accountants and do not wish to keep up with all of the latest regulations. However, a growing percentage of our customers request a hospitality-focused accounting solution. With Compeat, customers are satisfied and the relationship works well."

A few of Compeat's satisfied customers in Texas were referred to us by Allen Devino from POS Solutions, located in Austin, Texas. Ruby Tequila's and Monument Cafe both integrate their Aloha POS solution with Compeat Advantage to achieve a full functioning end-to-end POS, Back Office and Accounting solution. "I have worked with different back office providers over the years. None have been as easy as Compeat. They really understand the business and interfacing with Aloha," says Devino.

Conclusion

Compeat's Referral Partner Program is thriving. In 2010 alone, Compeat signed seventy-one new partners and received over one-hundred customer referrals from its registered partners. Due to years of working with numerous POS Partners, Compeat has developed interfaces to dozens of different POS systems and models. The Compeat Partner Program is clearly a win-win-win for Partners, their customers, and Compeat.

March 29, 2010 — Compeat Restaurant Management Systems provides Back Office and Accounting software solutions to the food service industry. While Compeat has installations with restaurant operators in virtually all segments of the food service industry, a surprisingly large number are with Steakhouse chains. When it comes to restaurant back office management systems, Compeat appears to be the place where steakhouses prefer to dine.

Steakhouse chains utilizing Compeat software include; Weber Grill, Morton's The Steakhouse, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, Black Angus Steakhouse, Dickie-Brennan's Steakhouse, Arigato Japanese Steakhouse, Ben Benson's Steakhouse, and Copeland's of New Orleans. Any steak aficionado should agree that these are some of the largest and very best Steakhouse brands in the nation.

In addition to increasing control, reducing costs, and improving efficiency, a key reason so many Steakhouses are using Compeat is for managing their butchering processes (cutting individual portions from larger cuts of meat or seafood). Compeat’s “Portioning” feature tracks inventory through the entire butchering process – from primal cut, through individual portions, and on to sale. Portioning efficiency (yields) can also be measured for different suppliers and for each butcher.

Chicago based Weber Grill has implemented Compeat in all of their locations. Weber butchers 90% of their plate steaks. Weber takes full advantage of the Compeat Portioning feature to better control their daily kitchen operations, to minimize inconsistencies, and to reduce product waste. “We find the portioning feature of Compeat advantageous because it gives us the most accurate and up-to date valuation of our most valuable inventory category,” says Brad Ritz, Corporate Purchasing Director for Weber Grill. “Compeat provides a significant value to a restaurant concept that has a strong steak-oriented focus and Compeat is vital toward positively impacting our bottom line.”

Morton's The Steakhouse, another Chicago based steakhouse chain, is about to open and install Compeat in their 78th store in Miami Beach, FL. Compeat software allowed Morton's to simplify their inventory (condense 77 different inventories into one), more effectively control costs, and gain labor efficiencies. “We selected Compeat over other software providers due to the very robust functionality and the added control provided by an integrated back office and accounting solution,” says Ron DiNella, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Morton’s.

Charlotte Prime (owner of 3 Ruth's Chris Steakhouses) has stated that they are using the Compeat Portioning feature to achieve one of the lowest meat cost percentages in the industry. “We are continually satisfied with the entire suite of Compeat products including Back Office, Accounting, and Payroll. We are especially impressed with how the Portioning feature allows us to convert catch-weight products into portions that can be easily and accurately tracked through sales and usage,” says Paul McGowan, General Manager for Charlotte Prime. Charlotte Prime's Executive Chef, Matthew Brennan, states, “Compeat Portioning is one of the most important features for a Chef in a busy steakhouse if the Chef wants to maintain an accurate inventory and good food costs.”

Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse is excited to be celebrating 20 years as one of Chicago's favorite steakhouses and dining spots. Gibsons utilizes Compeat in all 7 of their locations and will also install Compeat in their new location opening in June 2010. “Compeat has improved our efficiency in ordering, receiving, and tracking our inventory. The added insight and control Compeat provides has reduced our food and labor costs,” says Jeff Harris, Controller of Gibsons Restaurant Group.

So why have Weber Grill, Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Gibsons, and numerous other steakhouse chains all chosen to utilize Compeat? It may appear like they all talked to each other and made a collaborative decision, but the real answer is that Compeat simply has a great solution for the Steakhouse industry. When it comes to Compeat software, they will all say Compeat is “well done.”

September 17, 2009 — Morton’s Restaurant Group has won Hospitality Technology’s Breakthrough Award for “Excellence in Business Efficiency” for the work they have done with Compeat Restaurant Management Systems to streamline their accounting and inventory management. The announcement was made live on September 17th at the Restaurant Executive Summit in Orlando.

Compeat Advantage software allowed Morton’s to condense their 77 different inventories into one simplified and easily monitored master inventory and gave them the ability to manage their accounting more efficiently. This system has also allowed Morton’s to more effectively monitor and control food and beverage costs. Labor efficiencies were also gained in both the restaurant and at the corporate office through this more streamlined approach. Other significant cost savings were recognized in the area of record retention and the elimination of document shipping costs by utilizing Compeat’s document imaging capability. Documents are handled only once at the restaurant level and then electronically retained by the Compeat system.

“We are honored to receive this award of Excellence in Business Efficiency,” said Ron DiNella, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Morton’s. “With Compeat we have been able to achieve great advancements and efficiencies in our restaurant back office management and we could not be more pleased,” added DiNella.

“Morton’s represents an example of what our customers can accomplish with Compeat Restaurant Software,” said Harry Barkerding, CEO for Compeat. “Their commitment to implementing our software and using it effectively is extremely impressive,” added Barkerding.

July 1, 2009 — Compeat Restaurant Management Systems and FoodCalc have partnered to deliver a comprehensive back office management and nutritional analysis solution to restaurant operators. The combination of Compeat’s back office management software and FoodCalc’s nutrition analysis software provide restaurant operators with web based solutions that manage their entire inventory, recipes, and menu offerings.

“Our clients are facing a growing demand for nutritional analysis,” says Dave Douglas, Vice President of Business Development for Compeat. “Even though software providers like Compeat create recipe files for our customers for food costing analysis, proper nutritional analysis requires more expertise and more ingredient information than can typically be provided without creating a partnership like we have with FoodCalc. Our existing and future customers will not only get great inventory control and food cost analysis, but now they can also receive state of the art nutritional analysis from experts in this field.”

"It is common knowledge that today's restaurant diners are increasingly demanding nutritional information in order to make informed, wholesome choices," said Lucy Needham, President and CEO, FoodCalc. "And offering this data is one way for far-sighted restaurants to distinguish themselves from their competitors and build lasting customer loyalty. With MenuCalc, we've successfully eliminated the high costs and complexities traditionally associated with menu labeling to create a practical and efficient online solution. Many of Compeat’s restaurant operator customers are ideal candidates for FoodCalc."

About FoodCalc

San Francisco, CA-based FoodCalc® LLC, is the food industry’s gold standard for web-based nutrition analysis solutions. Since 2003, the company has pioneered the use of internet-savvy technology to deliver instant, affordable nutrition data. FoodCalc also owns LabelCalc®, which generates up-to-date FDA-compliant facts panels for food manufacturers. LabelCalc clients include award-winning specialty cheese manufacturer Sartori Foods, premium snack manufacturer Energy Club, soy yogurt producer Whole Soy & Co., certified organic products supplier Herb Trade, leading wholesale grocery distributor Unified Grocers and international airline caterer Gate Gourmet. Multi-unit restaurants that have signed up for MenuCalc’s nutrition analysis include Specialty's Café & Bakery; Granite City Food & Brewery; Chronic Tacos; Bakers Drive-Thru; Lee’s Sandwiches and national franchiser Food Systems Unlimited, which owns Asian Chao®, Maki of Japan® and Chao Cajun®. In addition, MenuCalc is utilized by culinary experts including youth food educator Chef-K; as well as top-tier food media such as Supermarket Guru® Phil Lempert and NBC’s The Today Show.

May 13, 2009 — Morton's The Steakhouse has selected Compeat Advantage software for utilization in all of their restaurant locations. Compeat Advantage will provide Morton's with an end to end restaurant back office and accounting solution. Morton's and Compeat have completed a very successful installation of the Compeat Advantage in several of their restaurants and Morton's is now ready to begin rolling out Compeat to the balance of Morton's restaurants.

By selecting Compeat Advantage, Morton's has gained significant new functionality and moved to a state of the art level of technology that utilizes a web-enabled platform. Compeat also developed a series of customized features and reports specifically for Morton's requirements.

“We selected Compeat due to the software's robust functionality and added control features it provides,” said Ron DiNella, Senior Vice President and CFO for Morton's. “We saw an immediate increase in efficiencies in the initial installation and are now ready to deploy Compeat to the rest of our restaurant locations,” added DiNella.

“I am delighted to have such a high quality company like Morton's as a customer and am very pleased by the successful results of our initial Morton's installation,” says Harry Barkerding, Founder and CEO of Compeat. “We are also pleased to see the success Morton's is having with the custom software features and reporting that Compeat has provided to them,” Barkerding added.

About Compeat Restaurant Management Systems

Compeat was founded in 2000 on the premise that restaurant management and accounting systems provide critically important evaluation and control solutions for restaurant operators. Today, Compeat is the only provider of a complete, end to end solution for all restaurant management, accounting, business intelligence, and payroll requirements. All Compeat solutions are web-enabled harnessing the power and flexibility of the Internet.

About Morton’s Steakhouse

Morton's Restaurant Group, Inc. is the world's largest operator of company-owned upscale steakhouses. Morton's steakhouses have remained true to its founders' original vision of combining generous portions of high quality food prepared to exacting standards with exceptional service in an enjoyable dining environment. As of May 13, 2009, the Company owned and operated 81 Morton's steakhouses located in 69 cities across 28 states, Puerto Rico and six international locations (Hong Kong, Macau, Mexico City, Singapore, Toronto and Vancouver) and three Italian restaurants.

August 20, 2008 — Dave Douglas has spent the last 25 years delivering technology solutions to the Restaurant and Hospitality industries. Mr. Douglas has launched several successful restaurant technology companies and has delivered a variety of different technologies to all types and sizes of restaurants, restaurant chains, and other hospitality providers.

Mr. Douglas founded ReMACS, one of the first and most successful restaurant back office solution companies. In 1997, Mr. Douglas sold ReMACS to Radiant Systems and became Radiant’s first President for their new hospitality division. In 2000, Mr. Douglas was recruited by the founders of priceline.com to launch/run a new suggestive selling restaurant technology business called RetailDNA. Mr. Douglas now serves on multiple restaurant technology company boards and typically plays an active role in helping define and implement the business development strategy.

"We are extremely excited to have Dave working with our company," says Compeat founder and CEO, Harry G. Barkerding. "Dave spent 15 years establishing ReMACS as the number one provider of restaurant back office solutions and we are confident he can help us expedite our efforts to do the same with Compeat."

Of the new strategic alliance Mr. Douglas states, "Compeat is delivering the most comprehensive set of back office solutions in the industry today and the company is very well positioned to achieve excellent growth. Compeat is already starting to dominate the full service chain restaurant sector and we are working on strategies to enable Compeat to do the same in the quick service sector."

October 1, 2007 — Experience and educated guesses drive a lot of the daily decisions in a restaurant: what quantities to prepare; how many workers to assign; what to order; how the special will sell; and how it will impact regular menu items. Operators know some are off target on any given day, but as long as overall sales and margin goals are hit, that's a grey area many can live with. But that may be changing as restaurateurs find there is real money to be saved using the menu analysis and forecast-driven production systems incorporated into back-end restaurant management systems.

New Orleans-based Taste Buds Management, for example, drove down food costs from 31 percent to 27.5 percent and labor costs from 12.5 percent to about 11 percent using software from Compeat. That's in line with the typical four-to seven-point reductions restaurant operators enjoy when deploying solutions that allow them to see, control and scrutinize their costs, vendors say.

In addition to reduced inventory and labor costs, these solutions can mean reduced waste, fresher food, tighter delivery cycles, more effective menu changes and promotions, as well as enhanced manager accountability and therefore improved performance—for the operators willing to do the work to truly integrate them into their operations.

Forecast-Driven Production

For Chris Rodrigue, CEO of Taste Buds, which operates three concepts including Zea Rotisserie & Grill, Semolina, and Semolina Bistro Italia, running a restaurant without an advanced food prep tool is not an option. "We use a prep mentality—prep to shelf life," says Rodrigue. "We want to prep once for the usable life of the product."

Taste Buds uses time and motion studies to determine the processes involved in preparing its dishes, then uses forecasts to dictate what's made, and when. "In two organizations I've been in, we've been able to reduce labor by more than 33 percent in the prep room simply by forecasting properly, based on product mix, and using the shelf life of the product to tell what to prep," Rodrigue says. Items with a three-day shelf life, for example, are made three days a week, reducing food costs by eliminating waste.

"Another Secret: Calculating a daily par level (the most of an item that will ever be consumed, plus one) rather than averaging across days. "That decreases the product prep, decreases the time to manage the product, decreases waste and impacts labor," says Rodrigue.

Managing Menu Analysis

Beyond making prep more efficient, these tools also make ordering more accurate by recommending orders based on forecasts, not just previous orders. Operations can incorporate variables such as upcoming promotions, area events, seasonal trends and gut instinct into forecasts so they are coming as close as possible to the ideal inventory.

That comes in particularly handy when new items are added to the mix. Crystal Bridge Inc. operates nine Arby's franchises in Broward County, Fla. In addition to using Restaurant Technology Inc. www.internetrti.com)to guide ordering and food prep, the franchisee enters recipes into RTI's menu analysis tools to see their impact on food costs, paper costs, revenues and gross profit.

The company looks at daily sales and product mix pre- and post-intro to measure the results of sales and marketing and the item's impact on other menu items, says Mike Welch, president. "We can know the cost of the item and use the tool to see what we believe sales will be and how the sales mix will change. What will happen if we promote the item?" The tool also enables Crystal Bridge to decide when to participate in optional brand promotions.

Operational Insight

Especially powerful is the real-time visibility the tools provide, a particular advantage for restaurants whose senior management is remote, such as chains and franchise systems.

"The beauty of the whole system is, you're not waiting until the end of the week to solve a problem," says Crystal Bridge's Welch. "You're solving problems daily."

The secret to making the most of backend solutions, users say, is to employ them in the environments where they can do the most good, and then commit to doing the work to make them effective.

Arby's corporate employs RTI for overall business analysis, while franchisees such as Crystal Bridge use it in their own headquarters and within each unit. At the franchisee management level, for example, Crystal Bridge looks to the system to continually tweak its operation. For example, "If a restaurant is running .5 better than ideal food costs, you can decrease the waste amount in the recipe so it causes the variance to go to .25," says Welch. "We want to run as close to ideal as possible." Individual units tap the tool to drive tactical daily tasks in addition to monitoring key metrics.

To gain the most benefit, however, users must be prepared to work.

"I've seen too many restaurateurs think they can buy a piece of software and plug and play," says Taste Buds' Rodrigue. "You have to plan how to use the tool before you set it up. People don't commit the time and resources. They're not willing to make the financial investment to get the most out of it." Securing the technical expertise to translate recipes into something that works operationally in the software can also be a challenge, he says.

Next, train managers and franchisees to use it. "Get operators involved in using the system not just from a report standpoint, but understanding how it's produced," says Crystal Bridge's Welch. "That's the only way they can start helping more." Remote access to data means management can call a store and start right in on solving problems, not just get updates on daily results. Then, best practices at leading stores can be shared with under-performers.

"It's a must-have," says Welch. "When you weigh the costs versus the benefits, you can't afford not to have it."

~ Lisa Terry, Contributing Editor, Hospitality Technology

January 11, 2007 — American Restaurant Group has zeroed in on Compeat Restaurant Management & Accounting Systems, the provider of restaurant information technology, to provide back office software for 85 locations of Black Angus Steakhouse. "Compeat offers the best features for our concept", says Joe Trietsch, director of information technology for Black Angus Steakhouse."It already has the features that other back office software companies only promise to deliver."

The first Black Angus Steakhouse opened in April 1964 by Stuart Anderson, a prominent rancher and Washington State native, in the remodeled dining room of the Caledonia, a Seattle hotel. The original concept for the Steakhouse was to provide patrons with a top quality, complete steak dinner at an affordable price, served in a warm, comfortable atmosphere with friendly service. Each of the locations has approximately 75 employees and serves an average of 3,000 customers per week.

From the beginning, Black Angus Steakhouse has built its reputation on providing a great steakhouse experience. Their Chefs take pride in serving Black Angus steaks that are carefully aged and grilled to order over an open flame. At Black Angus Steakhouse, superior quality and friendly service is more than a tradition, it's their passion every day.

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 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.

"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."

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."

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November 6, 2006 — Compeat Restaurant Management Systems, the leading provider of restaurant back office and accounting software, announced that Compeat Back Office 5 will be available to existing customers by year-end and to new customers in the first quarter of 2007.

Compeat Back Office 5 (Compeat Advantage) is a Smart Client application written entirely in Microsoft.NET and represents a fresh new face on an already popular product. It has been re-engineered from the ground up for greatly enhanced scalability and performance. By using Smart Client technology, Compeat Back Office combines the best features of both web applications and Windows applications. It allows for remote access and high scalability, while at the same time giving the user a rich and responsive interface. Additionally, the need for certain client access licenses from Microsoft will no longer be needed, thus reducing cost of ownership and increasing ROI.

“Compeat Back Office will streamline their current business processes, and – because of the built-in processes within the software – restaurateurs will have the ability to grow their business without drastically increasing administrative costs. This latest release allows users to have continuous access to their business information, enabling them to make the right decisions at the right time and in the right place.”

-- Harry G. Barkerding, Founder and CEO of Compeat Restaurant Management Systems.

Compeat Back Office 5 includes many new features, including improved searching and enhanced browsing and filtering. In addition, all reports have been completely redesigned using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services. Key reports can now be scheduled and pushed to designated staff members on a daily basis.

Integrated document imaging has also been added to Compeat Back Office, which allows a scanned image of an invoice to be attached to the receiving detail, allowing it to be viewed or printed as needed. Updates to Compeat Back Office are accomplished through the use of smart client technology. Updates are applied to the server in the Home Office, which will then automatically update all client versions.

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November 3, 2006 — You wouldn't know it's been a difficult year at Compeat Restaurant Management Systems by the numbers. The company that develops software to handle the back-office operations of restaurants — from New York's acclaimed French bistro Jean-Georges to the entertainment powerhouse chain Dave & Busters — is on track to break $2 million in sales in 2006, nearly double last year's revenue. At the same time, Compeat has added three staff members for a total of 13 employees, and is looking for more. But the company founded in New Orleans in 2000 was uprooted by Hurricane Katrina, which left some employees with nothing. Compeat spent months in temporary offices in Dallas before finding a new permanent home in Austin in February. Harry Barkerding, CEO of the software firm, says if he had returned Compeat to New Orleans, he's convinced the company would not have survived.

Growing pains

Typically, restaurants have purchased inventory management software along with separate accounting programs to handle both sides of the business. The problem: One software system couldn't communicate with the other. Enter Compeat. Barkerding is quick to note that Compeat's isn't the only software that allows various management systems to communicate. But he says, unlike the competitors, his is the only system that brings each transaction all the way through to the company's general ledger in a seamless fashion. On Nov. 6, Compeat will unveil a redeveloped version of its product line that is truly Web-enabled, allowing the company to better serve its larger customers.

“We think we're going to be able to lighten some of the burden through this new platform,” Barkerding says. Karen Ferreira, chief financial officer of Truluck's, says her company used to outsource accounting for its six restaurants (currently 10) before discovering Compeat. Now, everything from inventory to accounting is done on one system. “We think it's more efficient and easier to use,” she says. “Plus, I can access the information on my laptop from anywhere.”

Barkerding has been developing restaurant-specific software since 1988, when he created an accounting system for Copeland's of New Orleans. Later in 2000, he left the corporate offices of Ruth's Chris Steak House Inc. to form his own software development firm dubbed Compeat. The company had a lot of initial growing pains. With no track record, Compeat found it difficult to get restaurants to even listen to a sales pitch. By 2002, Compeat's initial funding began to dry up. Eventually, new investors came to Compeat's rescue with a cash infusion that carried the firm through the rocky period.

“We have not had a financial crisis since that time,” Barkerding says. “We operated within our means. There were things we wanted to do but couldn't afford, so we didn't do them.” Today, Compeat has 225 customers ranging from $1 million to $500 million in annual sales. Truluck's, Dave & Busters and Waterloo Ice House are among the restaurants with local operations that use Compeat systems. With many clients operating multiple locations, the company’s products are in more than 1,200 individual restaurants.

A New Home Base

Just before Hurricane Katrina struck, Compeat's staff went into action, executing a previously designed plan for relocating the company's operations to Dallas. Just days later, the company was fully operational in Big D. But after the hurricane passed, “it was obvious we weren't going back to New Orleans anytime soon,” Barkerding says. While it was universally agreed Dallas wouldn't be Compeat's permanent home, the company considered a number of cities in the central part of the country, such as Nashville. But when Barkerding decided to scout out Austin on a short trip, he returned with a decision his employees embraced. “To us, Austin just seemed like a slam dunk,” he says.

This article is reprinted from the Austin Business Journal, Volume 26, Number 32, November 3-9, 2006, page A8.

~ A.J. Mistretta
amistretta@bizjournals.com

November 1, 2006 — Centralizing applications had a profound effect for the 23 U.S.-based stores of Le Pain Quotidien, a bakery-café concept headquartered in Brussels.

Prior to implementing its enterprise management solution, the restaurant used Peachtree accounting and specialty production inventory software for an overall solution that was "in the stone age," according to Michael Castagnetti, Le Pain Quotidien's director of IT. "We would fax daily orders to the production center, all based on our gut feeling," he recalls. Processes included double or triple manual data entry into separate programs. Annual price adjustments on 30 to 40 items took a week to implement.

Le Pain Quotidien implemented Compeat and a Micros enterprise management system. Remote sites access the applications via a VPN. Though Le Pain Quotidien implemented over the course of two years, the company saw quick benefits: data entered in one place is automatically reconciled elsewhere. The company now saves a week closing the books and sales are reported daily or sometimes hourly versus once a week. Le Pain Quotidien also measures table turns -- something the chain wants to extend, contrary to typical restaurant practices, due to its relaxed atmosphere and communal tables.

"It's helped with management decisions," apprises Castagnetti, such as scheduling staff by day-part according to each location's traffic, and providing regional managers with insight into operations issues. "We would not be where we are today without this as a tool," he notes. Le Pain Quotidien also uses the infrastructure to remotely support POS systems, dropping service contracts.

"The biggest impact is, it's allowed us to grow in a much more structured and faster way," says Castagnetti, since there is little technology to install locally. "It allows us to make decisions faster and more accurately," he adds.

~ Lisa Terry, Contributing Editor

September 1, 2005 — Managing the wide-range of relationships, suppliers and food-cost variables has always been one part science, two-parts art for hospitality operators. While a loft, ambition, bringing logic and efficiency to the — chain has proven difficult. After a brief flirtation with the fantastical promises of a few dot-com companies, hotel and restaurant companies are finally giving renewed attention to supply-chain. Using supplier-relationship management and materials-management tools, as well as a more sophisticated approach to procurement and managing the supply-chain, making the supply-chain work.

With four locations around Chicago, Weber Grill Restaurant added the Compeat Restaurant Accounting System in 2003 after its previous software product focused only on the inventory side. Compeat's system seamlessly merges accounting and inventory needs for the hospitality industry. It also includes purchasing/receiving, menu item sales, theoretical versus actual analysis, and prep portioning. Weber Nation's Bradley Ritz, corporate purchasing manager at LSG Food Services, says as a growing company Weber Grill Restaurant needs systems that allow the business to do a number of jobs of the business at the same time. Restaurants often create a high-volume, high-stress environment where managers are required to juggle 15 to 20 balls at any one time. Ritz says anything his restaurants can do to obtain efficiency and consistency makes managers' jobs easier with less chance for error.

At Weber Grill, Ritz's job is streamlining the supply-chain so people touching the food and serving drinks can focus on their jobs rather than putting fires out all day, which can become a costly exercise. "With an efficient supply-chain, managers can focus ultimately on what they were hired to do: provide customers with an extremely good experience," Ritz says.

The biggest advantage to Weber Grill's supply-chain/materials management solution, according to Ritz, is it allows him to extract historical buying data and then use that data to negotiate the best possible contracts and deals with vendors. Ritz can pull data over a period of time (such as how many pounds of beef were purchased or the dollar amount spent on ribs) and use that information to forecast buying habits going forward.

"One thing that opens eyes is to sit with a vendor and tell him we spent thousands of dollars to the penny on a specific product and what we'll be buying in the future," Ritz says.

The software also enables Ritz to compare food costs from one restaurant to another and achieve a greater degree of consistency and continuity in terms of food and beverage for the guest. A slightly different price in butter can cause a fairly significant difference in what a plate costs from one restaurant to another.

"Without a centralized system in place, it would be impossible to get that type of control," Ritz says.

Managing Materials

Three years ago Pechanga Resort & Casino opened in Southern California with its materials management system from Agilysys already in place. This huge property, boasting 522 resort-style rooms, a casino, health club, spa, theater and convention facility, insisted on having a complete inventory and procurement system to manage its entire online procurement process ready at start-up.

"The beauty of the system is it's all-encompassing with inventory, retail, barcoding, accounts payable, purchasing and recipe analysis," states Jim Guenthner, Pechanga's purchasing manager. "A large property that buys the volume we buy and has to manage goods once they hit the dock—whether it's sheets, towels, toilet paper or vehicles—benefits from this system that has the best encompassing technology to wrap it up all together."

Guenthner says the materials management system (MMS) helps Pechanga ensure the best possible bid price. The MMS system also offers real-time inventory control and captures the procurement history for each item, which plays a big factor at budgeting time when employees need to know how much they spent. A database of vendor history ensures the resort/casino gets the price actually quoted. If a product is one penny more than quoted, the system blocks the invoice and it must route for approval.

To get the best possible vendor bids, a number of companies offer bids, then the system generates a bid list that ties into its ordering system. When it's time to place orders in produce, for example, the system selects according to price, which ensures that Pechanga gets the best price available for the right product.

"There are numerous benefits of running a large property with a multi-million inventory and knowing everything coming and going is accounted for," Guenthner says. "That's ultimately the goal."

Guenthner says the materials management system saves a tremendous amount of labor as most buyers do the majority of work on a computer rather than making phone calls. It also creates a paperless office, which provides a big savings to the company.

Gaining Insight

A merger in 2001 created a need to rethink purchasing when Nathan's Famous purchased Miami Subs and acquired its purchasing organization. Nancy Murphy, vice president of purchasing, says it became important to consolidate data so the organization could use the information to know where in the country it needed different products and how many products it needed to bid more effectively.

"We build our brand and conduct our business all through the supply-chain," Murphy states. "That's what the restaurant runs on, especially with franchise organizations getting the proper product at the right price at the right time with the correct quality."

Nathan's added Instill's Purchasing Insight to gather accurate supply-chain purchasing data to find hidden cost savings in the supply-chain. The organization might use one brand of mayonnaise in New York, another in Florida, and another in Texas.

Murphy says it's important to have the technology to capture that information and get bids to take over the business in all distribution centers. The organization also uses a Contract Management system that matches contract prices with actual purchases. This provides a cost savings by ensuring distributors are charging the right price. Overall, Murphy says the system has saved the organization money and provided better information.

~ Vicki Powers, Contributing Editor, Hospitality Technology

July 1, 2005 — About two years ago, the eight-unit Culpepper's casual-dining chain sought to get a better handle on inventory, as described by company partner Chris Olson.

"We were managing on a location by location basis with tons of spreadsheets and Peachtree (accounting software)," Olson recalls. "But when we went from four stores to eight in a very short time, we knew we had outgrown those processes. Plus we wanted to automatically generate levels, but not by having our managers sitting in their offices five hours a day."

It was then Culpepper's turned to Compeat, which provided the chain with a client-server-based and centralized view of inventory and purchasing. "We now create electronic purchase orders that are converted to invoices right away and have significantly reduced errors and improved workflow. Plus, the detail is specific to restaurants and you can tailor inventories by fluid ounce, weight, count, and other metrics specific to our operations," Olson says. He even boasts that the inventory piece alone has reduced his clerical salary expenses by as much as $50,000 per year.

Culpepper's has since added Compeat's accounting, sales and product forecasting modules that according to Olson, provide an end-to-end solution that is connected to the chain's Micros 3700 point of sale. Olson also makes extensive use of Compeat's eXcellent™ Financial Functions, which link his spreadsheets to the Compeat GL to generate customized reports.

~ Ed Rubinstein, Contributing Editor, Hospitality Technology