Customer Success - Pier 22 and Grove

Overview:

PIER 22 and Grove Restaurants operate two large restaurant, catering, and event facilities in Bradenton, Florida.

PIER 22 Restaurant, Patio, and Catering is celebrated for creating an exceptional guest experience via magnificent waterfront views, charming ambiance, and scratch-cooked meals.

Grove Restaurant, Patio, and Ballroom specialize in a wide-ranging selection of house-made meals served in several distinct dining areas, giving guests a choice of cuisine and scene.

The Opportunity:

PIER 22 and Grove Restaurants brought on Cooper Thurber, formerly of Sysco, to be their Director of Purchasing. One of Cooper’s priorities was to select an inventory control and menu management system that would replace using spreadsheets.

Cooper required an inventory system that would interface tightly with their Plate IQ system. He wanted a system that could handle their large food, liquor, beer, and wine inventory of over 3,300 items. The system also needed to manage almost 4,000 food and beverage menu items.

“Plate IQ referred me to COGS-Well. Once I saw how tightly COGS-Well integrated with Plate IQ, I was sold. It was also reassuring to learn that the COGS-Well team had so much experience.” Cooper Thurber, Director of Purchasing, PIER 22 and Grove Restaurants.

The Solution:

At the end of September 2020, Cooper selected COGS-Well. COGS-Well interfaced to Plate IQ and collected six months of historical invoices to ensure that all items were captured. After the Plate IQ interface, all inventory items, inventory categories, vendors, and General Ledger Accounts were automatically created in COGS-Well.

COGS-Well also provided an interface for the restaurants to their Toast POS systems. All 3,900+ food and beverage menu items were automatically created in COGS-Well. COGS-Well completed the entire initial setup for the restaurants in about two weeks.

“I needed to review and fine-tune a few things when COGS-Well turned the system over to me, but I was amazed by how quickly it happened. We saved many hours by not having to do the initial system setup ourselves.” Cooper Thurber.

The Return on Investment:

Two immediate benefits for PIER 22 and Grove Restaurants were time savings and accuracy. Unlike spreadsheets, new inventory items are automatically added to COGS-Well. Unlike spreadsheets, the cost for each item is also automatically updated to COGS-Well. COGS-Well can also provide a more accurate weighted average cost for ending inventory.

“Our inventory spreadsheets were only updated periodically, and the process took a lot of time. Inventory counts used to take a full week every month. Now with COGS-Well, it is only a few hours per month.” Cooper Thurber.

PIER 22 and Grove also use COGS-Well for tracking transfers between the two restaurants. A Transfer Request is initiated by the manager looking for a product, and a transfer fulfillment is done by the manager fulfilling the transfer. Transfer adjustments are automatically created for accounting.

“COGS-Well automatically creates balanced accounting adjustments for counts and transfers and this is saving us a great deal of time. We used to have to calculate these manually.” Cooper Thurber.

PIER 22 and Grove Restaurants has set up over 500 recipes for their food and beverage menu items. They are using COGS-Well to monitor how changes in their ingredient cost impact the profitability of their menu items. They also use COGS-Well to help them decide how to price unique menu item offerings for occasions like events and holidays.

“We had to reduce our menu items due to COVID-19, and COGS-Well helped us decide how to do that. COGS-Well has also helped us decide what to charge for special events items on Easter or Mother’s Day.” Cooper Thurber.

Summary:

PIER 22 and Grove Restaurants offer multiple dining rooms, special events (as many as 150 per week), and catering. To support their operations, they require a system that can manage a large inventory and a broad menu offering. By implementing COGS-Well, PIER 22 Group has saved time, improved efficiency, increased accuracy, and gained new insight.