Restaurant POS for multi-site businesses and IT staff

Dinerware supports open hardware and software platforms which puts decisions in your hands so you can use your own IT resources for deployment, modifications, support or maintenance

Superb ease of use

Reduce training time for staff and managers. The intuitive user interact maximizes productivity and reduces support costs.

Real time changes

Make POS system changes fast from any terminal or remotely. Spend more time with customers and less time with the software.

Lightweight workstation

Configuration is a breeze – set up local devices and your are done. Our stateless, anonymous design allows workstation hardware to be replaced easily. Localized hardware issues do not affect overall system integrity.

Native network

Dinerware operates on standard Windows platforms – no expensive proprietary server or thin-client operating systems. New workstations auto-configure and the system does not rely on Windows file or print sharing thanks to core TCP communications.

Enterprise ready

Choose enterprise reporting and data “push” solutions that fit your business. Dinerware offers consulting to help you select and customize appropriate technology.

Secure, standards-based data storage

Dinerware uses SQL Server to minimize the amount of data stored on workstations. Other POS systems store data on each workstation in case the primary database fails. This multiplies the overhead required to manage and secure data. SQL provides fast, reliable and secure data storage that can be managed by the IT team. The same SQL Server installation can provide data storage for multiple applications, including accounting software, office applications and even your website.

Open architecture for 3rd party developers

IT has full control of the Dinerware POS system. Integrate with other applications through:

- Open programming APIs

- Convenient access mechanisms like web services

- Transparent data models

Dinerware has the flexibility to fulfill enterprise-level technology requirements.

> Download the case study: Multi-site: Anthony’s Restaurants

Multi-Site Case Study: Anthony’s Home Port

Summary

Anthony’s Restaurants needed to replace point of sale systems at multiple sites. Dinerware was chosen specifically because of its stability, intuitive design and open architecture that allowed the IT staff to customize ad hoc.

Profile

Incorporated in 1972, Anthony’s Restaurants owns and operates a family of 23 waterfront restaurants in 18 locations throughout the Pacific Northwest. From “to go” eateries to casual and fine dining, Anthony’s core commitment to fresh Northwest seafood complemented by local produce and Northwest wines and microbrews is the foundation for each concept.

The first Anthony’s Home Port opened in 1975 in Kirkland, Washington. The success of this waterfront dinner house resulted in 11 additional Anthony’s Home Ports located in Des Moines, Edmonds, Everett, Bellingham, Bremerton, Gig Harbor, Richland, Seattle at Shilshole Bay, Spokane, Olympia and Bend, Oregon.

Situation Analysis

Anthony’s needed to replace their computerized point of sale system for the following reasons:

• System capabilities were outdated with no ability for further development.

• System was not user-friendly and training new wait staff on the system was costly.

• Frequent equipment breakdowns caused interruption to customer service, staff frustration and increased support expenses. Anthony’s Restaurants was not comfortable with the availability and speed of service from their local reseller.

• No link between the locations and headquarters. Critical business information was transmitted to and from each location manually on disks and delivered to the home office by hand.

• Anthony’s wanted the latest technology; they wanted a system that would serve as a flexible platform to build and grow their business well into the future. The IT staff specifically looked for the ability to
customize, integrate and create add-ons to meet their unique needs over time.

The Decision Process

The decision to replace the company’s point of sale system coincided with a major shift in how Anthony’s managed its information technology resources. Anthony’s had limited IT staff capabilities and responded to location-specific IT needs by calling the system reseller to meet all of their end user support needs.

Anthony’s has a small and focused IT team. The team had to increase their ability to communicate and transfer information accurately throughout the enterprise. They developed their own back of house enterprise system to centralize the approach and selected Microsoft® SQL Server as the company standard for database management. During the selection process, Anthony’s reviewed several top competitive solutions.

Each solution provided Anthony’s with the capability to achieve tighter integration across the enterprise. Dinerware’s competitors offered a comprehensive enterprise management system; the cost and complexity of those systems was prohibitive and difficult to customize to meet Anthony’s specific requirements. Dinerware’s approach was more flexible and open. By training the IT staff on the system database structure and using application programming interfaces (APIs) built into the product, and using standard Microsoft SQL Server enterprise data management features, Anthony’s could take ownership of their overall IT strategy and evolve it over time.

After careful consideration and input from headquarters, general managers, and members of the wait staff, the project team lead, Geri Sellers, backed by Ray Caldwell (CFO), and Budd Gould (owner), made the final decision to deploy Dinerware throughout all of Anthony’s restaurant locations.

Implementation

Anthony’s IT team and Dinerware worked to build a deployment plan tailored to Anthony’s unique needs. They clearly wanted high quality implementation but they also had a strong desire to identify areas where they could achieve significant cost savings by using their own resources to take on the bulk of the ongoing responsibilities for implementation, training and support.

The project scope was ambitious. The goal was to complete implementation of all locations within a ten month period, before late Fall holiday season. Anthony’s Seattle Bell Street location was the most complex with 3 different concepts at one location with 20 touch screen terminals throughout. The Bell Street hardware installation started at midnight on a Sunday and was successfully completed by the next morning in time to open for lunch on Monday.

Dinerware led the implementation at the three locations with assistance and shadowing by Anthony’s IT team. The fourth and subsequent locations were managed entirely by Anthony’s Restaurants without any direct support needed from Dinerware.

Each location could customize the system’s setup based on the General Manager’s requests. A base menu was established to shorten the time required to modify menu items and the IT team quickly mastered the process of staging and installing the Dinerware software with the touch screen hardware selected by Anthony’s to go into each location.

Results

The Anthony’s team was vocal about the project success. It was on time, on budget, and the deployment exceeded Anthony’s expectations. By going with Dinerware, Anthony’s reported an annual system support cost savings of $150,000 -$200,000 simply by reducing the amount of support required from their previous reseller.

With Dinerware, the General Managers at each location have control of their Dinerware system and can make their own menu changes, create new jobs and employees, access critical reports, and run their restaurant without the need for assistance from support staff.

Anthony’s continues to rely on Dinerware for its daily operations throughout multiple locations. Servers, management and IT staff all benefit from the ease of use, detailed reports and the ability customize Dinerware.