When Premier Restaurants, LLC put in a back office system to lower food cost in their 14 Arby’s restaurants, they didn’t know how timely that decision would be. But when the recession hit and sales dropped, the controls they’d put in place for food and labor with RTIconnect™ enabled them to weather first the recession, then soaring food prices and a tough sales environment.
“We put RTIconnect in and within the first year we saved a ton on food and labor—about 3 percent on food and 1 – 2 percent on labor,†said Shannon Gardner, regional supervisor for Premier Restaurants. Back then, she said, “we had the sales but didn’t have the controls we needed. With RTIconnect, we got control of food and labor, and we were so excited because we knew it was going to pay off. And it did. However, then the economy turned and sales crashed. Fortunately, we had the system in place so we were running our best food cost even while the economy was bad. Now we’re getting sales back, but food inventory prices are through the roof.†Read more.