Prior to using Ctuit, Patxi's (PAH-cheese), Chicago-style stuffed pizza chain, which opened in Palo Alto eight years ago and has since expanded to seven locations, with four more coming in the next year, struggled with understanding sales, labor, and food costs on a daily basis. Logging in to each Micros portal was not only timely and inefficient, but it ran the risk of accidentally shutting down the computer. Without being on site, the information flow to accounting was cumbersome and much of their software did not integrate, causing manual data entry and additional staff. Growing the concept and expanding required a seamless, immediate, and portable solution.
Patxi’s chose Ctuit as their cost-effective, web-based solution that they could access anywhere and any time. Managers, general managers, area directors, marketing, the controller, accounts payable, and the owner all use Ctuit on a regular basis. Ctuit RADAR provides Patxi’s better and more efficient communication with the managers in all seven locations.
Integrating with Micros was also a priority for Patxi's. “Ctuit’s selling point for me was their seamless integration with Micros,” states Rick Graves, director of operations.
Using Ctuit has enabled Patxi's to become more efficient by always knowing their P&L’s and where they stand within the company. By using Ctuit to manage and track sales, inventory, and labor, Patxi’s has realized a 15 percent increase in sales year-over-year. Patxi’s profitability to sales ratio is also up substantially due to increased average check sizes. In addition, the chain’s three (3) point decrease in food cost was met with Ctuit RADAR by working more efficiently with vendors and shedding items that were not cost effective. The trend report helps management determine which menus items need to be eliminated and make more timely, validated decisions.
Labor has been another area of significant savings. After deep analysis, Patxi’s revised their labor planning to allow for the right number of people to take care of their guests. Two FTE’s were needed to manage their old accounting software; however, with Ctuit, Patxi's is able to reduce headcount by not manually entering payroll.
“Ctuit is constantly improving the site, generating new reports, and new modules,” says Graves. He concludes, “Ctuit’s customer service and technology teams are so flexible and always willing to create custom reports if we need them. When we ask for things, they really do listen, act, and respond effectively.”
