Restaurant Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Point Of Sale (POS) system transformations often stall due to unclear goals, weak governance, undercooked process design, vendor mismatch, poor change management, messy data, and skipping phased delivery and value tracking. Over the past quarter, GBQ’s business technology solutions consulting team has heard similar stories across restaurant brands; single and multi-unit operators wrestling with aging systems, fragmented tech stacks, bolt-on third-party apps, and mission-critical spreadsheets that live outside the platform of record. This article breaks down three real-world challenges restaurants are facing and goes on to offer solutions. Keep reading to learn more.
Three Real-World Restaurant Tech Challenges
Case 1: Customizing The Existing System Or Implementing A New System
A holding company focused on growing through franchising also runs six legacy company stores and a company manufacturing facility that serves as a commissary to both the growing list of franchisees and the company stores. For example, they may operate on a legacy MS Dynamics GP platform, with franchisee financial reporting being derived from MS Excel calculations using GFS invoices and payroll. They want a system that will provide a platform for growth. The answer might be to move to the cloud with a restaurant-specific platform like Restaurant 365, which will require retraining long-term company finance and accounting employees, or they could extend MS Dynamics GP with custom development.
Case 2: Instilling Process Discipline To Leverage Existing System
A family-owned operator with eight locations believes their accounting system is outdated because financial close takes three weeks. They budgeted for a new ERP, but a consultant review as part of the selection process revealed the existing platform is sufficient. The root cause is an inconsistent chart of accounts, incomplete vendor categorization, and weak invoice approval workflows. Instead of implementing a new system, the company adopts standardized accounting processes, automates invoice matching within the current tool, and reduces the month-end close to five days. The system wasn’t broken. Rather, they needed to take a look at their processes.
Case 3: Understand What You Are Buying
A franchisor chooses a platform because implementation services are bundled. They then learn that the rollout is ticket-driven and tech-centric, which misses core accounting controls, franchise reporting, and royalty/marketing fund nuances critical to success.
Regardless of whether the objective is selecting a new platform, maturing what exists, or rescuing a struggling rollout, the same fundamentals apply.
Combat Restaurant ERP Selection Challenges With Seven Keys To Success
1. Start With Clear Objectives
Define measurable outcomes the platform must enable, such as: faster period close, lower COGS variance, reduced promo leakage, tighter cash control, improved DSO on catering AR, or real-time prime cost visibility by unit and daypart.
2. Deploy Executive Governance
Appoint an executive sponsor, a steering committee spanning ops, finance, marketing, IT, and franchise leadership, and a project manager with decision rights. Use cadence reviews and escalation paths to keep scope, resourcing, and adoption on track.
3. Outline Requirements & Process Design
Document current/future-state processes for inventory, recipes, menu engineering, labor scheduling, delivery integrations, cash management, and franchise reporting. Prioritize must-haves and rationalize customizations based on value, fixing broken processes before configuring software.
4. Be Deliberate In The Vendor & Partner Selection Process
Operators have two options in selecting a new ERP platform:
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- Option one is to review platform brands, like Restaurant365, MS Dynamics, Sage Intacct, Acumatica, etc., and “buy the brand” based on best fit. It is best to do that with a shortlist of required functionality. Detailed functionality needs to be developed before implementation. This is a good choice to keep selection costs down. It does raise the risk of implementation risks if key functionality was missed in the selection process or is not available as understood in the selected platform. We recommend reducing that risk by developing a functional specification prior to implementation and holding the platform and implementation team to that specification.
- Option two is to engage in a selection process where detailed requirements across all areas of the business are documented before platforms are reviewed. Likely, vendor candidates who appear based on functionality to be a good fit are then asked to propose against those requirements. Requirements are used to develop a scoring matrix. This allows the restaurant to evaluate and choose the best fit. This is a good option to reduce the risk of a platform mismatch or missed requirements, but it is more costly at the beginning of the project.
5. Be Mindful Of Change Management & Training
Plan role-based training for all involved employees, accountants, and franchisees. Build a super-user network. Define adoption metrics to prevent shadow spreadsheets from reappearing after go-live or after a recovery sprint.
6. Focus On Data Quality & Efficient Migration
Cleanse item masters, recipes, vendor catalogs, price lists, unit hierarchies, and historical sales; define ownership and standards; and rehearse mock loads and reconcile. This ensures reporting and royalties are accurate on day one.
7. Choose A Phased Delivery & Value Tracking Approach
Roll out in waves. For example, deploy foundational financials, then inventory and recipes. Then focus on labor optimization and advanced analytics, using scenario-based testing that mirrors real store operations. Next, track benefits against KPIs and adjust backlog accordingly.
Restaurant-Specific Nuances
When selecting solutions and partners, regardless of whether you choose to “buy the brand” without a formal selection or you choose to engage in an independent selection, ensure all potential stakeholders have a voice specific to your restaurant’s operations so that you consider all potential modules or third-party integrations before implementation work begins. These operational details drive real-world fit and adoption and determine whether the platform becomes a growth catalyst or another system operators work around.
ERP and other technology platforms fuel smarter finance and operations. GBQ’s Business Technology Solutions team helps organizations choose the right platforms. With their help, you can ensure seamless implementations, align integrations, and continually optimize performance to drive scalable growth. Reach out to your GBQ advisor to schedule a discovery conversation. Our team can help you align your roadmap to unit-level performance and brand priorities.
By Doug Davidson, CISA, Director, Business Technology Solutions
Ready for more technology-related insights? Check out these resources:
Hidden AI Gems: Boosting Restaurant Operations With Existing Software
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