June 2004

Biltmore Estate improves reporting capabilities, reduces labor costs at food and beverage outlets with EatecNetX
By H. Rae Gibbons

Biltmore Estate, located in the mountains of Western North Carolina, welcomes visitors with history, grandeur, and plenty of activities. Guests can take in the awe-inspiring sight of the 250-room Biltmore House, which stretches across four of the estate’s acres and contains 33 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces, an indoor pool and a bowling alley. In addition to manicured gardens and managed forests, the destination includes seven food outlets, a four-star inn, award-winning winery, outdoor activities including biking, hiking, horseback riding and rafting, as well as a variety of shopping opportunities. Envisioned by George Vanderbilt more than a century ago as a working estate that would support itself and benefit the community, Biltmore Estate continues to thrive through the efforts of his descendants and others dedicated to preserving his vision.

Managing the seven food and beverage outlets has proved a daunting task, and one for which the estate enlisted Eatec Corp., provider of enterprise back office solutions and services to the hospitality and foodservice industries, to supply its EatecNetX solution. From its upscale concepts, The Dining Room and the Bistro, which serve beef and lamb that are raised on the estate’s premises, to the Stable Café, a casual restaurant housed in a renovated stable, to Deerpark Restaurant, with its sumptuous buffet and Sunday brunch, to quick-serve outlets including the Ice Cream Parlor, the Bake Shop, and Outside Carts, the estate and inn offer a variety of restaurants with very different atmospheres, each with a menu to match. With such a wide scale of food choices, tracking ingredients and managing rates can be a costly matter if not handled properly. That’s where EatecNetX comes in.

Previously, Biltmore had been tracking ingredient costs the old fashioned way — by manually entering everything with pen and paper and keying it into an Excel spreadsheet. In 2001, Jane Dillard, director of food and beverage purchasing for Biltmore Estate, began a search for an automated solution by scouring the Web, inquiring of the local market and attending the International Foodservice Technology Exposition, FS/TEC. She was eventually able to narrow her options down to four potential vendors, and selected Eatec because “it was the application best suited to our varied operations. We needed one system to manage all seven concepts, and EatecNetX was the solution that we believed could achieve that,” said Dillard.

The fact that EatecNetX’s functionality was the best fit for Biltmore’s operations wasn’t the only reason it selected Eatec — the technology company’s commitment to outstanding service was a major contributing factor. “One of the reasons we chose Eatec was the upfront discussions we had with them about service and support; and we have been extremely satisfied with the level of technical support we’ve had. Availability is excellent. If I call and my support person isn’t immediately available, I’ve always had someone else able to help me,” Dillard attests.

Some of the features of EatecNetX that the Biltmore uses include:

• Purchasing – Used to automatically store supplier bids and help determine what and when to buy, maintaining optimal stock levels at the lowest possible cost.
• Inventory – Used to track items and automatically record all inventory activity with respect to purchases and inter-location transfers; inter-site transfers; and physical inventory variance.
• Recipes – Used to set product standards, control food quality, guard profitability margins and manage multi-site locations.

Biltmore’s food and beverage operations began training on EatecNetX in October 2003, and according to Dillard, “We were using portions of it within two weeks. We’re implementing the system by phasing in portions as we go.” Biltmore has also imported its revenue from the point-of-sale system in order to take further advantage of Eatec’s reporting capabilities. Dillard says, “Importing revenue from the point-of-sale system into EatecNetX will eventually lead to using EatecNetX for theoretical food costs. We are also running all of our controllable expenses, except labor, through EatecNetX which will allow us to have all of our daily operating financials in one report.”

The interface is completely automated. Upon the posting of sales in EatecNetX, inventory is depleted and general ledger account codes are automatically updated.

Dillard is impressed with the information EatecNetX affords Biltmore Estate. “It gives us valuable insight into our current inventory pricing and the velocity of our purchases without having to manually update it. Additionally, the recipe module offers visibility into what our margins will be throughout the recipe building process, eliminating the need to input it manually.”

EatecNetX has also reduced the estate’s labor costs, according to Dillard. And furthermore, “It has enabled the food and beverage purchasing staff to spend their time looking at prices and products instead of just figuring out who to buy from,” notes Dillard.

The system has simplified daily operations and the food and beverage staff at Biltmore has responded by supporting the system with enthusiasm. Dillard said, “I was absolutely amazed at how positive and excited everyone was about it. It’s so easy to use, which definitely helped with the acceptance factor. One of our IT people designed a program to import bids from our two major vendors, so all we have to do now is push buttons and our bids are updated any day of the week.”

Dillard says the estate has discussed the possibility of increasing its use of EatecNetX’s additional modules and accessories including EatecPocket, a handheld system for tracking inventory. But regardless of the extent Biltmore Estate takes advantage of Eatec’s offerings in the future, EatecNetX has already helped to ease Dillard’s mind regarding the inventory and recipe management at Biltmore’s seven food and beverage outlets. She says, “It’s been my dream to use a system like this.”

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