Posted by Stacy Jackson
While reviewing the various tweets from the Tweeps we are following on Twitter (that's a tongue twister!), I saw a link to an interesting story about foodservice on Facebook. No - I'm not talking about online menus or even online ordering. I'm referring to the game called Restaurant City on Facebook.
According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, "Virtual cooking is a hit on Facebook," it sounds like foodservice has become an addictive new game. People can have all the fun of owning a restaurant without all the real-life work. One of the new features that users have on their Restaurant City wish list is the ability to franchise. That got me to thinking . . . how can we take the ValuTrak solution to multi-unit operators in Restaurant City???
OK - I know that we aren't going to sell the ValuTrak solution to "virtual" multi-unit operators on Facebook. I jest, I jest. But, maybe the game's creator and players could keep these thoughts in mind if they ever want to get really involved with the money side of things (even if it's just virtual money).
- Get contracts with the suppliers from whom you buy your food and supplies.
- Standardize all your rebate agreements and deviated pricing agreements in a single contract repository.
- Receive invoice-level distributor shipment data, then clean and map the data back to a standard SKU number since each food distributor probably has its own product ID for the same branded food item.
- Review all incoming data against your contracts, compile your rebate claims, and submit to suppliers for payment.
- Compare your "should buy" prices with actual distributor pricing and use comparison data to debit distributor for the difference.
- Analyze each of your locations' purchases to make sure they are buying the items specified on the contracts you have. If they are not in compliance, you lose out on rebates and special pricing - not to mention consistency in dining experience from store to store!
- Set up some sweet reports that will help you pinpoint purchasing trends to help you identify opportunities for better deals with your suppliers or new deals altogether.
Wow! Managing a restaurant chain is hard work - and the above points just cover one aspect of it. Maybe the Facebook restaurateurs aren't ready to manage unit compliance, rebates, deviated pricing variances. But, then again - maybe all that analysis and strategizing could be fun!
Hey - all the suppliers who sell to Restaurant City units are going to need a way to manage their contracts, too! Maybe we should be dreaming up a ContractPro solution for Facebook, too!
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