Menu
“We use PAR’s Food Prep Sheets which really help our managers understand what is on hand and what needs to be prepped for the day. This has helped us reduce our food waste and ensure we have the perfect amount of stock at the ready for every order.”
Julie Piconke, Director of New Restaurant Openings at Farmer Boys
Previous Tech Challenges :
- Needed a back-office solution to automate processes
- Laborious and time-consuming pen-and-paper procedures
- Missing necessary insights to improve operations
PAR Solution:
- PAR Data Central®
- PAR Punchh®
Tech Results:
- Automated back-office processes to save time
- Improved labor scheduling and labor cost control
- Enhanced customer experience through improved reporting and forecasting
To Farmer Boys, a fast-casual restaurant brand with over 100 locations, it is all about going the extra mile for their guests. Since 1981, the brand has been committed to serving customers fresh, flavorful, and high-quality made-to-order food every time they visit. With over 40 years of experience, Farmer Boys has perfected their award-winning burgers, hearty cooked-to-order breakfasts, generous hand-chopped salads, and towering stacked sandwiches. Every ingredient – from their fries to orange juice, coffee to eggs – is sourced directly from local farmers. Their philosophy is simple: farm-fresh food is timeless and always in style.
Delivering on the commitment to providing guests with fresh, high-quality food and an excellent experience requires Farmer Boys to leverage the right technology. The brand has been leveraging PAR Technology’s best-in-class solutions to address its back-office challenges and to help improve customer acquisition and retention efforts.
Farmer Boys implemented PAR Punchh’s Loyalty solution in 2014 to increase customers’ return frequency and boost their average spend. According to Daisy Alvarez, Senior Director of Marketing at Farmer Boys, “Punchh has played a key role in our communication strategy and our value offering for our guests. It’s one of the channels we heavily use to promote our brand messaging and system-wide launches as well as target our guests and provide personalized experiences.”
In 2017, the brand implemented PAR Data Central, a maintenance-free back-office management solution. According to Julie Piconke, Director of New Restaurant Openings at Farmer Boys, before PAR Data Central, most of the brand’s back-office processes were done manually, which was an incredibly time-consuming, laborious, and human-error-prone task. They were also missing essential reports and forecasts highlighting crucial areas of operation, like labor and food.
By utilizing PAR Data Central, Farmer Boys is now enabled to manage inventory more efficiently, optimize labor costs and staffing, and gain better visibility into their operations.
Automated Back-Office Processes Help Save Time and Money
Back-office management has drastically improved since implementing PAR Data Central across all locations. Farmer Boys employees now use the PAR Data Central portal from their phones, tablets, or computers for taking inventory counts and cash balancing, tasks that were previously fulfilled via pen-and-paper. “We would print out long spreadsheets for manually taking inventory and cash balancing,” said Piconke. “Inventory counts would take us anywhere from 3 to 4 hours.”
By eliminating pen-and-paper procedures and completing these tasks via the portal, the brand has been able to save valuable time and costs and reduce human error. “It was phenomenal when we started managing the inventory on PAR Data Central,” said Piconke. “It has saved us so much time and we were able to see so many cost savings.”
Reducing Waste and Identifying Theft with Food Prep Sheets and Enterprise Reporting
With PAR Data Central, Farmer Boys has become a data-driven brand and leverages its digestible and actionable reports for crucial business decisions. The brand has been tapping into reports on their weekly variance to understand their shrinkage as well as product mix reports to track what menu items are in demand and which are not.
Farmer Boys also continuously looks at hourly sales, their weekly DSR, and POS audit reports to not only help with cost savings but also help detect theft. “These reports really tell a story,” explained Piconke. “We can tell if somebody consistently voids out orders or uses a lot of discounts.”
Additionally, the brand utilizes PAR Data Central’s Food Prep Sheets to have a comprehensive understanding of how much stock is required each day, ultimately helping them reduce waste and prevent over-prepping and over-portioning. “We use PAR’s Food Prep Sheets which really help our managers understand what is on hand and what needs to be prepped for the day. This has helped us reduce our food waste and ensure we have the perfect amount of stock at the ready for every order.”
“I cannot express how fabulous PAR Data Central’s support team has been since the first time we started using the solution. If we need anything, we can easily reach out to the support team, and they will help us immediately. I cannot think of a time when I have ever been left 24 hours without a response from their support team.”
Julie Piconke, Director of New Restaurant Openings at Farmer Boys
Improved Labor Scheduling for an Enhanced Customer Experience
PAR Data Central’s labor scheduling capabilities have been essential for Farmer Boys. With labor costs on top of restaurant operators’ minds following California’s recent $4 increase in minimum wages, Farmer Boys has been strategically leveraging this capability to streamline shift scheduling and gain better control over labor costs. “It is an excellent tool for managing schedules and our labor costs, especially in California where our biggest challenge right now is the new minimum wage.”
Moreover, the brand leverages PAR Data Central’s labor scheduling capability to predict high-volume hours of operations and ensure they always have the proper mix of staff for any given shift. “PAR Data Central’s labor scheduling tool shows us when we do not have proper coverage in the back and front of the house,” said Piconke. With improved labor scheduling capabilities, Farmer Boys can deliver a quick, consistent, and convenient experience for customers every time they visit.
Frictionless and Rapid Support
One of the key benefits Farmer Boys has experienced with PAR Data Central is its rapid and expert support team. “I cannot express how fabulous PAR Data Central’s support team has been since the first time we started using the solution. If we need anything, we can easily reach out to the support team, and they will help us immediately,” said Piconke. “I cannot think of a time when I have ever been left 24 hours without a response from their support team.” The PAR Data Central support team works alongside Farmer Boys and ensures a friction-free and rapid support experience. They handle tedious software admin tasks for Farmer Boys, allowing them to re-focus their time on providing an incredible customer experience.
PAR Data Central has proven to be the missing ingredient for Farmer Boys’ back-office operations. By automating manual processes and leveraging the back-office solutions insights, forecasts, and labor scheduling capabilities, the brand has been able to save valuable time and costs, reduce waste, and deliver an enhanced customer experience. With PAR Data Central, Farmer Boys is well-positioned for continued growth and success.
