Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue III, 2013 | Page 60

P O S 2.0 +
“It’s all going to get
integrated. Look at
Amazon—they know
what you buy.
If franchising can
emulate that…”
—Sheryl Kimes
“The POS is the central nervous system
of the restaurant, their lifeblood,” says Lisa
Falzone, CEO of Revel Systems, an iPad
POS supplier (see previous page).
“All transactions flow through your
POS but they start at numerous places,
customer touchpoints,” says Mike Snow,
senior director of product management at
Micros. “The POS is important, but equally
or more important is the outflow to loyalty,
CRM, and marketing,” he says.
Tom Regev, vice president of operations at Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt, says he
tends to agree with that viewpoint, adding that the POS is not only at the center
of the interaction with the guest, it’s also
becoming an invaluable tool in the dayto-day management of operations. “From
a KPI standpoint, it can provide immediate high-level reporting you can get now,
versus a monthly P&L. The POS today is
becoming a tool that is central.”
Since its beginnings in 2007, Menchie’s
has used the Micros e7 POS system, along
with the Micros RES 3700 for its international locations. Regev says the company is
looking to expand its ability to track operations at its more than 300 locations, as well
as to add new capabilities, most notably its
mySmileage loyalty program, CRM, and
social media.
Menchie’s, like many other brands, is
in search of the “holy grail” of one-to-one
marketing that is efficient, affordable, and
effective. Says Regev, “We have a pool of
people and can analyze their consumer behavior—and the dollars we’re investing from
a marketing standpoint—and attract them
to specific events, a time of day, or a day of
the week, building a relationship between
us and our guests.”

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Multi-Unit Franchisee Is s ue III, 2013

To succeed at data mining and leveraging
the data, the new platforms must speak to
each other. “That’s one of the most attractive
things in looking into the new solutions,”
he says. “At the end of the day, you’re investing in the loyalty program to have the
database to speak to your loyal customers,
your guests, and reward them for being part
of this group. Today, with the e7 we can’t
do that,” he says.
“In 2007, cloud and other solutions were
not available,” he says. “When we engaged
with Micros, RES was the new thing; now
Simphony is the new thing. We’re looking
at multiple solut [ۜ