October 2002

Inventory Innovations - Restaurant group streamlines inventory and purchasing with enterprise software solution
By H. Rae Gibbons

Wolfgang Puck's celebrated fine dining restaurants fuse the art of food with the art of décor and service, to form an overall dynamic experience. Wolfgang Puck's signature dishes, combined with his wife Barbara Lazaroff's flair for design, create memorable dining experiences for their customers. The combination of delicious food and an illustrious atmosphere makes Wolfgang Puck's restaurants popular destination spots nationwide. Spago restaurant locations have opened in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas, Chicago, Palo Alto and Maui. The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group's other concepts include Trattoria del Lupo, Postrio, Granita, Brasserie Vert and Chinois.

The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group operates in several different sizes, ranging from larger volume venues such as Spago and Trattoria del Lupo to smaller concepts such as Granita and Chinois. Each restaurant prides itself on the quality of its cuisine, relying on fresh ingredients every day. In order to accommodate the different types and sizes of establishments, the restaurant group needed an inventory tracking system that would streamline its inventory and purchasing processes across the company, yet remain flexible enough to meet the specific needs of each restaurant. With restaurants spread out across the nation, including a restaurant in Maui, the restaurant group needed an enterprise solution capable of managing their entire operation with ease. After researching its options, Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group found its solution in Eatec Corporation's enterprise software system, EatecNetX.

Choosing wisely
Eight of Wolfgang Puck's fine dining restaurants are currently using EatecNetX, a Web-based solution with functionality that includes inventory management, purchasing, receiving, requisitions and transfers. EatecNetX was first implemented at Spago, Las Vegas, in August 2001. Total implementation time: one month. According to Brent Anderson, director of purchasing for the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, the smooth implementation was a result of prep work done on Wolfgang Puck's end, as well as Eatec's ability to transition the restaurants' data into the new system. "We had already compiled our inventory data using Microsoft Excel prior to deciding that EatecNetX was going to be our preferred solution. Eatec was able to import our Excel data directly into EatecNetX. It then took us about two days to enter all of our suppliers into the system. The rest of the implementation was mostly program set-up, including our chart of accounts, users and sites. Once Spago was up and running, we were able to roll the program out to the other restaurants over the next several months."

Previously, the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group used another back-office product that allowed them to process accounts payable but it did not have the capability to generate purchase orders (POs). According to Anderson, it is important to purchase using the buying power of all the restaurants. "We needed an application that would allow us to view reports that pull information from all of our restaurants, giving us the capability to negotiate contracts based on system-wide volume. This capability, along with the other features EatecNetX offers, has given us a level of control we could not have imagined."

Eight restaurants.One centralized database
A key factor in selecting EatecNetX was its enterprise structure. EatecNetX runs from a single, centralized database on a corporate server and users in any of the restaurants, from Maui to Las Vegas, can connect to EatecNetX via the Web. Data is available instantly to corporate personnel, allowing reporting by store, by region, or by concept, individually or consolidated. There is no need to install systems at each store, significantly reducing IT support requirements. In addition, an enterprise system completely eliminates the need to upload, download or synchronize data. Restaurants and users can be added to the system at any time, with no store level effort required.

Core features
EatecNetX enables users to customize the exact set of features needed to run their business. This was an important aspect of the system for the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group because of the variety of menus and the spectrum of restaurant sizes. Some of EatecNetX's core features include:

• Inventory management - Automatically records and tracks all inventory activity.
• Purchasing - Aids in supplier bids, determining what to buy, determining from whom to buy and allows for electronic purchasing.
• Receiving - Can verify vendor deliveries without double entry and allows for easy recording of miscellaneous charges, back order items, items that are received, but not invoiced and helps to control disbursements.
• Requisitions and transfers - Allows the creation of online requisitions.

Enhanced buying visibility
Each restaurant orders, purchases and receives its own inventory. They create POs in EatecNetX and distribute them to the appropriate suppliers. The Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group has a total of 673 different suppliers for their restaurants. They are currently in the process of segregating the EatecNetX supplier database so that the restaurants' purchasers in each city only see the suppliers that are specific to their location. Supplier bids are being implemented so that they can view various bid prices from different suppliers, even if they purchase the same items in different pack sizes. Suppliers send an updated list to the restaurant, which is then used to update the EatecNetX system.

Using EatecNetX allows Wolfgang Puck to improve tracking of all inventory activity relative to usage, which allows for more effective purchasing company-wide. In addition, EatecNetX ensures a more appropriate use of POs to verify quantities and pricing upon merchandise arrival. Anderson says, "Eatec provides us with the ability to look at purchasing at the unit level and at a central location. We can now view purchases from any number of directions, allowing us to more effectively manage our time as a corporate entity, which enables the individual units to operate more efficiently and profitably."

At the corporate level, the enhanced visibility that EatecNetX offers enabled Wolfgang Puck to begin negotiating better contract pricing, particularly for the more expensive inventory items. Since the implementation of EatecNetX, Anderson says they have already seen a reduction in food costs. "EatecNetX allows us to see where the bulk of money is going - right now it's being spent on protein. So, now we can take a closer look at our protein suppliers and set up contracts to get deals on volume purchases."

Wolfgang Puck has seen additional savings through labor management. "Using EatecNetX allows one person to do more, so we've been able to reduce personnel at the restaurant level. Also, chefs at each restaurant can now see where money is going on a daily basis without as much effort, which gives them and the general managers more control over their daily operations," explained Anderson.

Keeping an eye on the finer ingredients
The Wolfgang Puck fine dining restaurants have recently added an original line of wines to their menu, so each location carries an inventory of those, as well as many other varieties. Due to the high cost of each bottle as an individual menu item, it's important for all the restaurants to diligently track every one. EatecNetX helps them achieve item level tracking of wine effectively and has made it easier for them to take physical inventory. When the individual bottle is initially entered into the inventory database it is assigned a bin number: The sommelier has organized all of the wines by differentiating them with a bin number instead of their name to make it easier to track them. Wines in each area of storage that are a certain type are assigned to packages in EatecNetX. When an operator takes physical inventory, all they have to do is pull up one of the packages depending on what storage area they are taking a count for and all of the bin numbers for that package immediately populate the screen making the physical inventory process quick and easy.

Future possibilities
Anderson said that the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group is looking to expand its use of Eatec's solution with the use of Eatec's handheld interface, EatecPocket. He added that the goal is to eventually provide wireless ordering to the individual restaurants. EatecPocket is an optional wireless pocket PC accessory of EatecNetX that allows users to perform inventory transactions anywhere necessary. EatecPocket can be used to perform a variety of EatecNetX functions including recording physical inventory, recording spoilage and loss quantities, creating requisitions, entering transfer activity between outlets and posting production on finished good items.

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