Mirus Reporter

Restaurants generate an extraordinary amount of data from a number of systems. While some data stays in the system it is produced in, other pieces of data are transformed and sent to various other systems. With the growing emphasis on data-driven decision-making, restaurant companies are seeking reliable solutions to consolidate and provide access to data so everyone is on the same page. This is where a robust System of Record (SoR) comes into play. Learn the advantages of using a Data Warehouse as a Restaurant System of Record. 

When a restaurant company originally adopts a restaurant analytics platform like Mirus, the decision usually hinges on one key issue within the company, whether that be:

• Consolidated reporting above store (Operations)
• General Ledger feed (Finance)
• Analysis of promotions or LTOs (Marketing)
• Payroll feed (HR)
• Visibility into franchise stores (C-Level)

Each of these key issues usually impacts a specific department, which can lead to the impression that the platform is only a _{FILL IN THE BLANK} tool; only a Finance tool if you are using it to export to your GL system, or only an Operations tool if you are using it for consolidated above store reporting. However, you are losing out on the inherent value and flexibility of your restaurant analytics platform if you’ve got it siloed away into one area of your company. 

Let’s review each of the key restaurant departments and see how a restaurant analytics platform can be tailored to meet each department's needs.

In the past year many restaurants have added new technologies to help with online ordering and delivery. Which means more systems and data to manage. Learn all about restaurant tech and data stacks and what the difference is between the two.

The restaurant business is complex, much more so than customers would typically believe. We have lived through an explosion of new software tools that help restaurant operators manage this complexity and in the process they have created a new dilemma; understanding it all.

Access to data intelligence is changing the way business is conducted; It especially can change and benefit the restaurant industry. Restaurant executives can make smarter choices with regard to the growth of their business, given more powerful tools.

The decision to find a solution that delivers greater access to your restaurant data was slowly evolving. So why did you make that decision? Chances are, you had a system in place where your POS and maybe back office systems were providing you with some basic reports. Your restaurant executives wanted to get answers to pertinent questions. Their process was to merge all of that information in excel. But what we know from that method is it’s extremely time-consuming and often erroneous, due to human error. So you've decided to partner with Mirus to provide your company with a data warehouse that allows you to combine all of your restaurant data in one place.

Treating Customers Right

Restaurant operators are great customers; however, there are some Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) vendors that are notorious for not treating them well. Change is accelerating in the restaurant business, as well as in the software solutions used by restaurants. Over the past decade, the way operators buy and access their software has changed.

Previously, a perpetual license model was used where the operator paid upfront for the software and had to keep it up and running themselves. Today, a subscription model is used where the software is hosted in the cloud and the operator pays one monthly fee for both the access to the software and the costs for keeping it running.

Overview

Before we jump into the characteristics of an Enterprise Data Warehouse (‘EDW’) it might help to define what an EDW consists of. An EDW is a centralized repository that integrates data from various transactional, legacy, or 3rd party systems and applications that are used to operate and manage your business. In contrast to these systems, the EDW is built for analysis and retrieval of data rather than the upkeep of individual transactional records.

Ralph Kimball, one of the original architects of data warehousing and someone whose teachings we adhere to, provided a more concise definition of a data warehouse: “A data warehouse is a copy of transaction data specifically structured for query and analysis.”.

The CTO Challenge: Labor

One of the many challenges of the restaurant CTO is to implement a reporting solution that can help lower labor costs and maximize profits. They’re tasked with integrating the latest technology, seeking the right platforms for their structure, drive success and create a competitive lead. The days of Excel spreadsheets are numbered. Ultimately, the CTO needs to find and recommend a platform that will aid restaurant executives in making the best decisions in operations and finance and developing strategies that provide a significant ROI. The CTO’s research and definitive recommendation of the suitable reporting tool is vital and can affect the productivity (or lack thereof) of all departments.

Data Integration

Data integration is best described as a process in which heterogeneous data (marketing, sales, operations, customer, mystery shop, cleanliness, finance, etc.) often referred to as information silos, is extracted, transformed and combined in a data warehouse where it's accessible through a presentation layer that allows it to be used together to form more meaningful and actionable reports.

Can We Talk

Restaurants today are about more than just food and hospitality. Technology has become a major factor, both customer facing and behind the scenes. Restaurant chains are being more efficiently run with the help of numerous systems from Point of Sale, Back of House, Labor Scheduling, Business Intelligence, Guest Loyalty and the list goes on. Each system holds valuable information that becomes exponentially more valuable when combined with other data. In order to take advantage of that value, restaurant IT executives are continuously faced with the challenge of making these restaurant systems talk to one another. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. Getting data out of some of these systems can be pretty challenging. However, the push is being made more and more for technology companies to "open up" access. Enter the API.