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Carter Miller is a self-described finance guy, so when he talks about software for his restaurant company, he talks about the ease of achieving results. His back office software is RTIconnect [14].
Bentley-Miller Corp. operates 20 Arby’s restaurants in Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.
Before RTIconnect, the company used a system that was a bit labor-intensive, according to Miller. He appreciates the swift response time of the RTIconnect system, where changes are immediately evident.
“It’s a very easy system to use and to train people to use on an everyday basis,” Miller says.
RTIconnect updates the corporate view after every user change. Users can enter or change items such as inventory counts, time punches, or purchases, and then immediately see up-to-the minute numbers.
Store managers, he says, track about 20 inventory items every day and depend on RTIconnect’s Daily Food Variance [15], Daily Labor Variance, P&L, and Menu Analysis [16] to monitor operations.
“With increasing food cost, the ability to track where we stand every day is a key component,” Miller says. “RTIconnect helps us do that, to keep track daily of exactly where that efficiency is, or where the yields are, and what we have got to really work on.”
In addition to using the standard RTIconnect reports, Bentley-Miller also uses the Report Designer to create its own custom reports.
“I’ve found the reports very easy to create, and I’ve easily been able to get the data we want,” said Mr. Miller. “Running consolidated reports for all stores saves time—and I can run them any time I want. I could go run a report right now and see what our sales are thus far today. We could never do that before.”
With restaurants scattered across four states, the company’s three district managers and director of operations rely on RTIconnect’s web-based reporting for remote access to store information. Each morning they view performance results and debrief store managers while reviewing their store’s sales and labor.
“The fact that RTI is always updating features really makes it a nice system for us,” Miller says.
While usability makes RTIconnect useful, it’s the financial results that make it successful for his company. He says RTIconnect has helped control labor, ease administration, and bring his food costs more in line with the target number.
Headquartered in Scottsbluff, Neb., Bentley-Miller Corp. is owned by Miller and Rick Bentley. The company also uses RTI’s accounting software, enabling them to import store-level results directly into their accounting, payroll, and general ledger programs. RTIconnect also interfaces with the company’s Radiant [17] POS software for a complete end-to-end technology solution.
