Carlisle Corporation, a 96-store, four-state Wendy’s restaurant franchise operation headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, implemented back-office service and software provider Syrus Restaurant Information Services in order to make informed business decisions, reduce food and labor costs, and get faster access to their information.

“What used to take a week to produce a good product mix for our stores is available immediately with Syrus,” says Chance Carlisle, president and COO of Carlisle. “Now, I have a week to analyze the data. Take the new Spicy Nuggets. For all 96 stores we can spot menu mix trends to determine pricing strategies, evaluate the effectiveness of the product, and see where to spend our advertising dollars. We used to make decisions in a vacuum or on hunches. With Syrus’ information, we measure and either validate or debunk. For a company of our size to be able to do this analysis so quickly is tremendous.”

Carlisle has also seen significant food cost savings. Managers are using all of Syrus’ tools, such as daily targets and accurate prep and cook charts. Each manager uses Syrus differently to improve performance at his or her own store.

“With consolidated reporting, my district managers now have the ability to manage each store according to its situation and can quickly fine tune their management approach based on what each store needs,” Carlisle says. “Not all stores have food cost problems. They coach their worst offenders and then focus on other issues, like labor, at other locations. By pinpointing specific areas of improvement, managers operate more efficiently, and stores improve financially.”

Carlisle fully expects to use Syrus’ above-store reporting to make better decisions and to use the data in their top line business reviews. “We’ll no longer manage 96 stores as one store,” he says. “Now, we’ll have accurate information to see demographic trends and discover why some stores are doing well compared to others. We’ll be able to evaluate the effectiveness of new hires and of our training program. And, understand how menu pricing affects different locations. We’ll have a whole different set of benchmarks.”