Mirus Reporter

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
- Albert Einstein, Renowned Physicist

So Much Data to Manage
Restaurants generate a lot of information. Think about it. On a daily basis you’re collecting every item ordered on every guest check, every punch in/out of every employee, every receipt of materials, every entry in the log for deposits, etc. It’s a lot to process to gauge restaurant profitability!  So how do you manage all that information?  One way is to summarize the information across 5 restaurant reports: Daily Sales, Product Mix, Theoretical Food Cost, Labor Actual vs Schedule, Daily Cash.  But when you summarize data you run the risk of losing many specifics and the granularity of the data.

The Power of Information Leverage
In the restaurant business, we have tools for accelerating growth in Earnings Per Share (EPS). There are different kinds of leverage. Two of the most common being financial and operational.

At Mirus Restaurant Solutions, we work with many wonderful clients. At industry events or maybe during our annual user conference, we get to meet with some of them, face-to-face. It's always a good feeling to personally meet someone you have been working with over the phone or email.

In my last blog I explained the daily activities of an Above Store Reporting System, and the operational characteristics that define this style of restaurant performance management. In this entry, I will define an alternative approach to measuring the performance of your restaurants - Enterprise Data Warehousing (EDW).

Restaurant fraud is nothing new. The degree to which some employees will go to in order to steal is astonishing. Obviously, continuous fraud can severely impact restaurant profitability.

Why BOH and BI Solutions are NOT the Same
I've spoken to many restaurant executives about performance measurement and restaurant data analysis across their franchises. When we address the topic of restaurant BI, more often than not I hear them admit that they're simply sticking with their Back of House solution. This would work fine if BOH solutions were the same as BI solutions.

Impact of Negative Customer Reviews
If you're a restaurant owner, you know too well that bad customer reviews can have a negative ripple effect on your bottom line. From epic owner meltdowns to 50% decrease in restaurant profits, a negative review in this day and age is something that should be dealt with appropriately.

I've read several stories of restaurant owners who allow these bad reviews to overcome their civilized manners. From the owner who hunted a reviewer down to the owner who fires back online causing more damage to their reputation and business.

The Evolution of Restaurant Performance Management: A three part series detailing Above Store Reporting (ASR), Enterprise Data Warehousing (EDW), the differences between the two and the future of Restaurant Performance Management.

In the restaurant industry, measuring restaurant profit margin preceded computers, both inside the restaurant and up the chain of command. Forms and slips of paper were used to record important financial and operational data and were snail-mailed to headquarters before the days of fax and Internet. With computers, the paper forms were replaced with screens to capture the data, or it was taken directly from the Point of Sale (POS) or back of house (BOH) system and sent to headquarters.

To be successful and remain competitive in the ever evolving restaurant industry, restaurant businesses need to stay on top of revenue analysis, inventory control, tracking fraudulent activities, overtime and managing the bottom line. They must measure performance across all of their units as well as learn how they stand up to the competition. So how do they examine all of this information? They compile spreadsheets. Lots and lots of spreadsheets. At least they used to, some 15 or even 20 years ago....

Just about every restaurant enterprise has had to deal with at least a base level of loss. Whether through fraud or frequent overtime, it's inevitable in this industry. Call it the cost of doing business.

Front door and back door loss and abuse of discounts and coupons are a continuing concern for those in the restaurant industry. Needless to say, these losses directly impact the bottom line. Identifying the core problems, creating a proactive plan of action, and a speedy resolution is the only way to put you back on the road to success.