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Overview:
As a family business, Collier Restaurant Group “CRG” is a local leader in restaurants in the Sevier County, TN, and Garden City, South Carolina area.
With over 18 restaurant locations, you will find one of their southern hospitality locations right around any corner during your vacation. Their restaurant portfolio includes three original breakfast concepts and six franchise restaurants.
Through three generations, CRG’s goal has been to provide every guest with the best food in the Smoky Mountains and to create memories for families.
The Opportunity:
Royce Pruitt, CFO, and Billy Williams, IT Manager, at CRG, were looking for a new inventory control, recipe management, and food cost analysis system. They had previously used Menu Link (NCR Back Office), so they knew exactly what they needed. They had recently tried a new inventory solution, but it didn’t meet their requirements.
Royce and Billy wanted a system that could be installed quickly and minimized the time and effort for managers to do data entry. Their solution needed to interface with Toast POS and their Sage accounting system. In addition to inventory control, they wanted to do food and beverage cost analysis and inventory usage variances.
“We knew that entering invoices required a lot of time and we wanted to save the managers as much time as possible. We also were hoping to avoid another lengthy installation and setup.” Billy Williams, IT Manager.
The Solution:
In December 2021, Royce and Billy decided to give COGS-Well a try. They had been told by Bill Lindsey, a COGS-Well partner, that their inventory database could be completed and ready for the managers to take inventory by the following Monday. They wanted to see this to believe it and they did.
“Monday rolled around, the COGS-Well setup was complete, and the manager was able to take their regular weekly inventory.” Billy Williams.
The restaurants use COGS-Well to take weekly counts on their full inventory. They utilize iPads to expedite the process. The restaurant managers scan their invoices and due to COGS-Well ’s invoice audit service, they do not do any manual data entry or inventory item maintenance. The managers also use COGS-Well to make transfer requests and fulfillments between locations.
“The COGS-Well system is very intuitive to use. It has all the features, reports, and integrations we require. It is a great product”. Royce Pruitt, Chief Financial Officer.
The Return on Investment:
Fast Installation: It took CRG about a year to install their first inventory control system and about 6 months to install their second one. Royce and Billy were amazed that their COGS-Well inventory database was installed in a few days and that COGS-Well support did all the work.
“We were amazed – The following Monday rolled around and the COGS-Well system was set up and ready for our manager to take an inventory count”. Billy Williams.
Improved Efficiencies: Most inventory systems require managers to manually enter invoices, including the received item detail. They also require the manager to add any new inventory items to the database and to update price and packaging changes. This work is time-consuming, tedious, and prone to error. With COGS-Well, however, the Managers simply scan invoices and COGS-Well does the rest.
“COGS-Well’s invoice scanning and audit service are saving each of our managers 1.5 to 2 hours per week. For 9 locations, it is saving me 3 to 4 hours per week”. Billy Williams.
Increased Control and Insight: CRG has created recipes for each of their brands so they know what each menu item costs to prepare. Sales are automatically imported from their Toast POS systems each day. They then report what the theoretical cost of sales and the inventory item usage should be.
CRG starts by looking at the Cost of Sales Variance report which compares the actual and theoretical cost of sales and shows any variances. Then they look at the Inventory Usage Variance to compare the quantity of each inventory item that should have been used to the quantity that was actually used. This helps them monitor possible theft, waste, or over-under portioning and tells them where to look.
“In today’s world, with ever-tightening margins, and inflation, you have to have added controls and insights like COGS-Well provides”. Royce Pruitt
Integration to Accounting: CRG exports invoices from COGS-Well to their Accounts Payable system to eliminate the need for manual entry. They also export ending inventory adjustments to their General Ledger.
Putting it all Together:
A strong and ongoing collaboration between CRG and COGS-Well is a key contributor to the partnership’s success. COGS-Well prides itself in providing top-level customer support and Royce and Billy pride themselves in getting the most out of their software solutions. CRG has provided great feedback to COGS-Well and COGS-Well has been very responsive to their support requirements and product enhancement input.
“COGS-Well has bent over backward to help us be successful with their product. They have been so very helpful and I can’t praise their support enough. COGS-Well support is the best I have encountered with any software and it is a huge selling point for their company”. Billy Williams.
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