The restaurant chain led by Čili in Latvia has so far used a different business and restaurant management system than in Lithuania. The use of two different systems to manage a company’s operations has caused inconvenience and led to increased operating costs and a process that no longer meets the needs of today’s business management process. To simplify the entire business process and its management, Latvia applied a solution that has already been tried and successfully functioning in Lithuania.
In addition to franchising, Čili Holdings, which manages the largest restaurant chain in the Baltics, owns 56 restaurants in Lithuania and Latvia.
The challenge
Each part of the company’s activities was managed by a different program. Restaurants did not have a central management solution and data exchange was insufficient. In 2007, after the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Hospitality systems in Lithuania, the Čili restaurant chain in Latvia continued to use a different management system than in Lithuania. The use of two different systems for the management of the company’s activities caused inconveniences, as it was not possible to quickly obtain the real-time data The management of inventory was also done differently in Lithuania compared to Latvia. Different data consolidation has led to complicated data analytics. Accordingly, maintaining two different systems was costly. These reasons have led to increased operating costs and the fact that the business management process has ceased to meet today’s efficiency needs.
“We expanded fast. When we started operations in 1997, we were satisfied with the system we had, but with more than 20 restaurants and expanding internationally, the system has completely different requirements. ”
Vaidas Strolė, Director General of Čili
The solution
To simplify the entire business process and its management and to correct the shortcomings of the previous system, Čili applied in Latvia a solution that had already been tested and was successfully operating in Lithuania, which includes the business management system Microsoft Dynamics NAV and the restaurant and home delivery management program LS Nav Hospitality operating on the same platform. Čili has been considering the implementation of the system in Latvia for some time, the final decision was determined by the trust in the solution implementer StrongPoint, conditioned by long-term cooperation, and the fact that it receives not only a complete, operational and proven solution that operates in Lithuania but also a complex solution consisting of software, hardware and its maintenance.
With the help of MS Dynamics NAV, all financial accounting, inventory and raw material management and write-off, central office operations, home delivery module and department management are performed. LS Nav Hospitality includes restaurant POS and back-office functions – allows you to manage menus, reservations, assortment and pricing, service areas, tables, promotions, discounts and loyalty functions, kitchen orders. In total, LS Nav Hospitality is installed in 56 restaurants with nearly 160 PartnerTech SP-600 POS systems.
The result
The unified Microsoft Dynamics NAV system not only simplified Čili business process and management but will also save both time and financial costs – from now on, only one universal enterprise management system is supported. In addition to speeding up operations, the whole process has become more transparent and the control mechanism of restaurants has been strengthened – a unified system provides unified data on goods, sales and allows joint write-off of raw materials. The company’s accounting in both Lithuania and Latvia is performed according to the same accounting module.
The new system allows for centralized management of Čili restaurants, with detailed and real-time performance data. The company can respond promptly to current business changes in the market, analyse the trends of its products and customers, and make the right decisions based on quickly available and accurate and complete information.
New modern equipment installed together with the management system has accelerated customer service in restaurants. The loyalty program offered to customers, managed through Microsoft Dynamics NAV, is also unified and operates according to the principles of operation in Lithuania. Čili’s loyalty program “Draugai” was implemented using the LS Hospitality loyalty module integrated with MS Dynamics NAV. StrongPoint integrated the system with the website. Every Čili’s customer can buy a discount card at any restaurant and register it online and order food.
Another aspect that will help not only to save but also to simplify process management is that the maintenance and servicing of the system and equipment are concentrated in the hands of StrongPoint – therefore, it will no longer be necessary to coordinate the elimination of problems encountered by Čili with different service companies in Lithuania and Latvia, thus saving significant time resources.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV and LS Hospitality were chosen for the following main reasons:
- Central management and control capabilities in restaurants.
- Extensive network of partners in different countries and worldwide recognition of the solution.
- The flexibility of the system and the ability to adapt to different types of restaurants.
- Functionality of the delivery module integrated into the system.
