“The table locator system has dramatically improved our speed of service, reduced customer confusion and increased our sales.”`
Shakey’s Pizza Parlor is famous for their pizza, Mojo® potatoes, crispy chicken and their family-focused atmosphere. They started with a single location in 1954 in Sacramento, CA and they now have 55 locations in the US with plans to double in size over the next couple years.
Shakey’s had two issues they wanted to tackle. First, they were having difficulty establishing realistic service time goals. Second, they were wasting time trying to locate customers which was affecting food being served hot and fresh as well as their table turn rate.
The unique table locator system by LRS was chosen to help Shakey’s meet these two challenges. This system was designed to help fast-casual concepts to measure and increase speed of service while providing an unmatched level of service. Shakey’s has installed the system in 23 locations.
As a customer places a food order, the cashier gives the customer device and enters that number as the order number into the POS system. The customer decides where they will sit. The table location system then reads where the customer is sitting to help the food runner know where to deliver the order.
When the order is up, the food runner references a monitor to determine what table should receive that order and heads directly to that table. The food runner delivers the order and removes that order from the screen. The timer is stopped and the data stored for future reporting.
Timer thresholds are set in the system to indicate when an order is late. When an order reaches this threshold, a manager is paged. The orders are color-coded as white, yellow, orange and red on the Status Screen to indicate level of urgency.
Because the table locator system tracks the moment an order is entered to the moment it’s cleared from the system, Shakey’s was able to determine an accurate service-time benchmark. Guess work is eliminated and a true benchmark is obtained with no hassle.
Shakey’s knew they were wasting time using the old search for the plastic table number method. “Implementing the system has really enabled us to improve our speed of service all while ensuring orders are served hot and fresh.” says Rebecca Black, Vice President of Operations and Franchisee Support.
The system is available with a push-for-service feature that Shakey’s elected to implement. This enables guests to wirelessly page a manager or food runner for service by pressing a button on the Table Unit. “Initially we didn’t anticipate the increased revenue but once we saw the results, we embraced it and now call it the ‘Beer Button™.’ We really promote this service to our patrons,” remarks Black. Shakey’s has seen an increase not just in beer sales, but in overall reorders.
Shakey’s has also seen an increase of revenue due to the fact that they’re turning tables faster. Because the system improves speed of service, it helps reduce table turn time. More table turns means more customers are served which translates to more sales.
One of Shakey’s goals is to provide a great customer experience and the table locator system has helped them to strengthen their focus on this key area. Orders are delivered faster than ever possible in the past and with the push-for-service button, guests feel like the staff is there to personally serve them.
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