Background

Restaurant X is one of the world leaders in pizza delivery who operates over 8,600 franchised and company owned stores in over 55 markets across the globe. In 2007 they had global retail sales of approximately $5.4 Billion.

Opportunity/Challenge

Facility maintenance is often seen as a “necessary evil” in multi-location restaurant organizations. Large geographically dispersed locations and the significant number of vendors required to support restaurant operation creates a complex business problem. Traditionally, vendors tend to gain tremendous control both financially and operationally. Visibility into vendor activity at the transactional level is often lacking. This frequently results in poor fiscal management, lost opportunities to leverage size, and higher average invoice prices due to broker mark-ups on invoices. Minimal facility maintenance control is also facilitated by a lack of specific expertise at restaurant locations, contract issues and communication problems regarding approved vendors.

“We did not have a centralized approach to managing repair data and vendor approval levels. Stores had multiple phone numbers to deal with and we never knew if they were hiring friends or relatives. We also
did not have FacilitySource assisting us with the day to day management of our larger projects.”
– Director of Team Support, Restaurant X

Prior to FacilitySource, Restaurant X operated a decentralized approach to managing repairs, vendors, approval levels, and overall visibility of facility maintenance operations. Restaurant locations had several phone numbers to call when requesting repairs, which created confusion and inefficient processes. Restaurant X also lacked back up vendors that would have kept repair prices competitive. Moreover, parts pricing was unsystematic with large swings in ranges for the same part by region and by location. Restaurant X chose FacilitySource because of its comprehensive approach to facility maintenance management and process optimization.

Solutions

Restaurant X has been using FacilitySource’s full Facility Maintenance Optimization program including web-based work order management software, vendor management, fully-manned 24/7/365 call centers, comprehensive reporting, and paperless invoicing since July 2007.

Because repairing equipment that is covered under warranty drives up the cost of facility maintenance and can void the warranty, it is crucial to gain control over the process.

To further enhance control and cost reduction, FacilitySource and Restaurant X focused on warranty repairs. Restaurant X and FacilitySource created a program that sends work orders initially to the manufacturer in order to determine if the piece of equipment is under warranty. If warranty is verified, the manufacturer will dispatch their certified technician to repair the asset. The entire process is tracked in the asset-based fmPilot system facilitating drastically increased visibility of each piece of equipment and controlling the costs of assets under warranty.

Results

Some results that Restaurant X has obtained:

A 25% reduction in average invoice prices
Warranty repairs cost savings
Increased field level visibility of R&M process and spend
Paperless invoicing savings
Trends and common issues dealing with major equipment are easily spotted and resolved

“From a home office standpoint, we have much more insight and control in managing major building and equipment repairs then we have ever had before. We used to have frequent debates around the cost benefit of placing a Facilities Management Expert in each of our major markets, but have always fallen short of making the decision. Today, we no longer see the need to make that investment.”
– Director of Team Support, Restaurant X