Fast Tech: Time is Money

In the fast casual restaurant business time, is money, and no one knows that better than McAlister's Deli. Headquartered in Ridgeland, Miss., the company has recently implemented the use of a new fast casual paging program from Long Range Systems. The system is designed to increase accuracy and speed of service be tracking customer orders. When guests place their orders, they are given an "order key" and a timer starts. Once guests have selected their seats, the insert their key into the Key Call unit at their table. This sends a signal to the monitor in the kitchen, showing where the guest is waiting. When the order is ready, a runner can quickly locate where to deliver the food. After the food has been served, the runner collects the key to stop the clock. This system not only eliminates confusion but also helps ensure that the food is delivered quickly, maintaining the food's proper temperature. Patrick Walls, the chief development officer at McAlister's Deli, has been with the company for nine years and is very excited about this new technology. After two years of discussing the testing of the fast-casual paging system, it was installed at their corporate store in mid-August. "It is working," Walls said when asked about the new system. "I like it because now we finally have a way to track ticket times." He also praised the system's flexibility. If an individual order exceeds a predetermined time limit, that order begins flashing on the monitor. Restaurants can customize the time at which it begins flashing. Aids to better serviceOne of the goals of McAlister's Deli is to serve orders within eight to 10 minutes of their being placed, so their system is set to flash yellow when an order has been waiting for six minutes and red at eight minutes. The system includes a pager that managers wear, and if an order begins flashing red, the system sends a page to managers, enabling them to respond to the situation immediately. Additionally, the system helps track operations through daily reports that break down the total of yellow and red flashes produced daily and during which day parts they took place. This empowers managers to staff the day accordingly. Thus far, no feedback has been collected from operations, but the speed of service seems to have increased. Only two concerns have arisen. First, when a group sits together yet orders separately it is difficult to track order locations and wait times because the Key Call unit only accepts one key. The second issue is that some guests wonder why they get a key as opposed to a table number. Walls said, "Some guests are resistant to change, and this is a problem that I do not think we would have if we were a new restaurant." The plan was to continue testing the system at the corporate location through September, and in early October take any concerns to Long Range Systems and make any necessary changes. "We like what we see so far," Walls said. If the system is successful, it will be tested in two or three franchise-operated locations. Then a cost/benefits analysis will be conducted, and the new system may launch at all McAlister's Deli locations.