Imagine you operated 17 franchises of one of the largest restaurant chains in North America and employ more than 1,200 people. It’s a tremendous workload and it’s crucial that the franchises share information seamlessly and efficiently. Unfortunately for Richard Enright, franchisee of 11 Manitoba Boston Pizza locations and six in southern Ontario, these two key factors were missing in his IT network.
“My franchise had an unreliable network and some of my locations suffered from freezes,” he says. “I’d heard positive things about Prophet Business Group from a friend, so I approached Randy and asked for his advice.” Randy visited Richard to assess his IT network and soon after called in Prophet’s network team to help with a solution. The team quickly determined the server’s hard drive was failing.
Prophet’s network team wasted no time installing two IBM servers. The action eliminated Richard’s network problems at Boston Pizza. “I was impressed by the quality and care in Prophet‘s workmanship,” Richard says. “I especially like Prophet’s willingness to support the products it sells.”
Richard opened his first Manitoba Boston Pizza franchise at 2517 Portage Avenue in 1997. Since then, his franchises are emblematic of a Canadian success story. In Canada, Boston Pizza has over 325 franchises from coast to coast and more than 50 franchises (named, Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza) in the United States. Boston Pizza is the most successful full-service restaurant franchise in Canada and its history dates back to 1964. Manitoba restaurant-goers and sports-enthusiasts alike have embraced Boston Pizza’s friendly atmosphere, professional service, and its appealing and diverse menu. But with exceptional success comes the added task of managing an enormous amount of numbers.
“The reporting side of our business was very cumbersome,” Richard explains. “With Simply Accounting, we had to go through a multitude of steps to update Excel sheets and we were never sure if they were correct. We needed a system that consolidated reports for separate companies.”
Richard looked at different solutions, but ultimately felt that Microsoft Dynamics GP had better support and growth opportunities. He also knew he could count on Prophet’s Dynamics GP professional implementation and expert consultants to provide first-rate customer support.
Prophet recommended two software products to enhance Dynamics GP for Richard’s Boston Pizza franchises: Infinia and Rockton. Taking advantage of Dynamics GP’s excellent third-party software compatibility, Infinia is an integration tool that drastically reduces manual journal entries for transaction and payroll information, and Rockton was added for its SmartFill abilities to quickly access vendor and general ledger information.
Doreen Hoffmann is the Controller for all of Richard’s 17 Boston Pizza franchises. Doreen plays an integral part in making Richard’s franchises hum along smoothly and she happily welcomes efficient accounting software to assist her role.
“The biggest factor in deciding to move Boston Pizza to Dynamics GP was the improved reporting ability,” says Doreen. “FRx is so much better on the reporting end than Simply Accounting. The inter-company features in Dynamics GP allow us to consolidate reports from our Manitoba and Ontario locations, and we can run very specific and detailed reports when needed.”
Other than good food, these enhancements increased a vital component for a restaurant’s success: efficiency. One feature in Dynamics GP impressed Richard the most.
“EFT for Payables is fantastic,” Richard says. “I used to issue a pile of cheques several inches thick, but now I only have about seven. Some of our suppliers were hesitant at being paid this way at first, but once they’re on it, they love it! There’s virtually no delay in financial transactions.”
Prophet’s software and hardware improvements complemented the success of Richard Enright’s Boston Pizza franchises. His franchises’ networks are far more efficient and the reporting between them is much more easily shared. Richard found the support he needed and he recalls being impressed by an instance where Prophet’s own efficiency and professionalism shined.
“I remember Prophet Business Group coming on-site for a support call on Boxing Day,” Richard says. “The holidays are one of our busiest times of the year and we got help in our time of need. I’d recommend Prophet to my best friend.”
Written by Administrator |
