October 2003

Back-office blend: The Cannery Casino Resorts harmonizes inventory and purchasing with EatecNetX
By H. Rae Gibbons

The Cannery Casino Resorts, a small innovative company based in Las Vegas, Nev., consists of two casinos and a hotel with two very different atmospheres: The new Cannery Casino & Hotel, which recalls a 1940's post-war cannery factory, is located in North Las Vegas; and the Rampart Resort Casino, an older property that was recently purchased by the Cannery Casino Resorts, is located minutes away from the Vegas strip, and evokes a luxurious Mediterranean style setting. Aside from their ownership, these two properties don't have a lot in common on the surface. But behind the scenes, they both share Eatec Corp.'s enterprise back-office system, EatecNetX, which provides a single system to control food costs, automate processes and maximize purchasing.

Altogether, these two properties contain seven food outlets, six kitchens, two receiving areas and two warehouses. The Cannery Casino Resorts needed a system that would efficiently manage the inventory and purchasing processes at both properties in order to replace the outdated system that was used at the Rampart and to implement in the new Cannery Casino & Hotel.

The company began its search in-house, and previewed a variety of systems before selecting EatecNetX. Guy Hillyer, principal for Cannery Casino Resorts, speaks to the company's decision. "Aside from the fact that Eatec has a very impressive list of clients, including a number of casinos as well as Universal Studios, EatecNetX is very user-friendly, and that was extremely important to us. We wanted something that we could train on and immediately begin using. Also, the system didn't require a huge hardware investment in order to begin using it."

Another important factor in the Cannery Casino Resorts' decision to select Eatec was that EatecNetX runs on Microsoft SQL Server, which the company's administrative team was well versed on. Wayne Burke, director of IT for Cannery Casino Resorts, says, "Running this on Microsoft SQL Server saved our company time and money on training. It was the perfect fit from a hardware perspective." In addition to being a Microsoft Certified Partner, Eatec was named a winner of a 2003 Microsoft Retail Application Developer (R.A.D.) Award in the "Hospitality Back-Office" category for EatecNetX.

Hillyer adds, "We knew from our conversations with Eatec that we would be getting superior support from them once it was up and running." Eatec has not disappointed. "We have a large number of software applications used throughout our departments, and each receives a level of support from its respective vendor, ranging from exceptional to poor. The support we've had from Eatec since day one has been nothing short of exceptional," notes Hillyer.

EatecNetX is currently being used to manage both properties' entire foodservice operation with features that include purchasing and receiving, requisitions and transfers, inventory management and production management. In the Cannery Casino & Hotel, EatecNetX is also used to manage all retail outlets.

The rollout, which began in January 2003, was challenging for the company from an IT and operations perspective because it occurred during the opening of the new Cannery Casino & Hotel. But when it was completed in March, the company immediately began to reap the rewards of its efforts. According to Ryan Toland, director, special projects for Cannery Casino Resorts, "We immediately saw a return on our investment. EatecNetX maximized our purchasing power and allowed us to track inventory on a real-time basis from the moment it hits the receiving dock, until the time it's served in the restaurant."

In addition, Hillyer says that the company is running more efficiently because EatecNetX automates many of the company's manual processes, and it takes less time to do the work. "For a small company, we've seen some real benefits."

The company's employees outside the IT department weren't initially as comfortable with the idea of the new system, but soon realized the benefits to their day-to-day job functions. Toland says, "The training and reliable customer service the employees received from Eatec has really paid off. There has been a total shift of attitude from skepticism about the need for a change to understanding that this system is an asset and will save time and money in the food and beverage department."

The Cannery Casino Resorts plans to increase the role of EatecNetX in its operation by adding modules on a regular basis. Initially, the company began using the basic modules in order to ensure that its financial statements would be complete. In the future, the company will utilize the system for sales forecasting and recipe and menu analysis. In addition, EatecNetX will interface with the company's point-of-sale and financial systems.

Aside from controlling costs and inventory, Hillyer concludes that EatecNetX provides the Cannery Casino Resorts with a sense of security. "This system has given us a high level of comfort regarding the financial decisions we make to run the company from the food and beverage side. Now we know that the internal management reports and financial reports are reliable and complete. That is very meaningful to a company of our size."

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