PizzaExpress

Knowing the company
Founded in 1965, PizzaExpress is one of the UK's best-loved restaurant brands, with 365 restaurants across the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands.

Its success is largely due to its passion for providing exceptional customer service: it only recruits "people people" for its front-of-house teams, works hard to give customers a warm welcome and attentive service, and actively encourages customer feedback.

However, by 2007 this service ethic was being undermined by PizzaExpress' aging Stock & Cash solution. Limited functionality forced both Head Office and front-of-house staff to spend excessive time on administration, reducing their time spent
with customers or on profitable business activities.

Defining the strategy
The company identified a need for a new Point of Service solution that would help it capture sales data accurately; improve stock, promotions and cashflow management; limit waste and automate manual tasks, in order to improve customer service, boost sales and cut operational costs.

The solution also needed to be flexible and scalable so that it could support PizzaExpress' future growth.

John Sullivan, IT Director, PizzaExpress, said, "Our chosen IT provider also needed to be an experienced strategic business partner, who would understand the demands on our business - now and into the future, and ensure a smooth rollout with minimum downtime."

Choosing the solution
After a thorough review, PizzaExpress selected Torex Hospitality POS.

A successful five month pilot involving six restaurants was followed by full rollout across all 1,100 tills, in just 12 weeks, with minimal disruption to the business.

Improved Efficiency
The impact on staff efficiency was immediately noticeable. Automated processes enabled back and front-of-house staff to work more effectively together. Simple and intuitive till screens reduced training time, and also improved the accuracy and speed of both orders and bills, which boosted customer satisfaction as well as turnover. Even when under pressure from a sales spike, personnel were easily able to maintain an exceptional level of service.

By cutting around 15 minutes from the cashup process, Torex also enables waiters to spend more time with customers - and helps them leave work earlier.

Reduced Costs
Automation has also cut operational costs. For example, by
processing invoices and discounts digitally, Torex Hospitality POS has reduced PizzaExpress' postage expenses.

Reduced Errors
The automation of tasks such as food ordering, and the digital processing of vouchers and discounts, has reduced the occurrence of costly mistakes that used to be caused by undecipherable handwriting.

Furthermore, because drinks are now processed via the till in real time, there is also less likelihood of forgotten charges, resulting in improved profits and more accurate end-of-week stock counts.

Improved Loyalty
The flexibility of Torex Hospitality POS enables PizzaExpress to run both national and local promotions and loyalty schemes, and to easily analyse their results.

Mr. Sullivan said, "The PizzaExpress Summer Passport Promotion would not have been possible under our old system's infrastructure. This scheme was hugely important to the business and resulted in a high increase in sales over the summer months."

Importantly, Head Office has access to in-depth statistics from these schemes which informs business decisions around future menu selection, layout and selling prices.

Achieving return on investment
As well as boosting sales, Torex Hospitality POS, combined with operational changes, has delivered PizzaExpress efficiency gains equating to some £1.2
million of savings.

Furthermore, by providing both local outlets and Head Office with detailed, real-time information in easily accessible reports, Torex has improved stock and menu management, and ordering precision, which has significantly reduced wastage.

Such visibility also enables more effective cashflow management and strategic planning which is crucial to the company's continued success.

Most importantly, Torex has freed up staff time, enabling PizzaExpress to commit fully to its philosophy of service excellence.

Mr. Sullivan concludes, "These results confirm we made the right decision in choosing Torex."