Loudons - A Brief History
Loudons are a chain of stylish cafe/restaurants operating in Edinburgh. Having started off with one unit in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh, Loudons have now grown to a Central Production Unit (CPU) and three units, including a recently opened cafe/restaurant in the New Waverley development. They have become a firm favorite and are well known for their amazing breakfast, lunch, and brunch, as well as selling an array of tasty baked goods and pastries.
Operating Without Technology
Before implementing Access Procure Wizard, Loudons relied heavily on manual processes and spreadsheets to do menu, labor, and production costing. For invoicing, they had to send paper invoices to their accountant and then manually update the accounts package, which was extremely laborious and admin-heavy.
Goals
- To find a system to streamline processes
- Gain more visibility over the supply chain
- Empower managers to be responsible for their own department via one system
- Have the capability to do menu costing based on live pricing
- Gain access to data for a clear picture of profitable/non-profitable dishes to be more responsive
- View spend available based on forecasted sales
- Control stock movement
Since using Access Procure Wizard
%
increased in GP
%
GP average across all Loudons units
%
one unit is performing at 88% GP
Key achievements using Procure Wizard
- Access Procure Wizard has given Loudons the platform to build a central production kitchen/unit (CPU) and open a new site.
- The CPU now has the technology to create all menus and dishes which are then transported to relevant sites.
- Tight workflow and control over stock and costs.
- Using wastage monitors to track waste on a daily basis and put a stop to problem areas.
- Better control over scheduling based on forecasted sales, ensuring the right amount of staff on shift.
- Streamlined the ordering process.
- Moved to a new head office as no longer needs to be there to authorize ordering—GMs have control of ordering. Approval limits are set and if they go over, an alert is sent.
We simply couldn’t have grown from one site to four without Access Procure Wizard. The technology they have given our business is the best on the market and when you use P2P, advanced stock, flash reporting, menus, dishes, and recipes, and allergen management in tandem, it really puts you in the best position to have a profitable business. We simply couldn’t control our costs without it!
Douglas Humphrey - Director, Loudons
What’s Next for Loudons?
As far as Access Procure Wizard is concerned, Loudons was an early adopter and are one of the best examples of how an operator gets maximum gains from all the system modules by utilizing it to its full potential. The next step is bringing on par management, which will enable Loudons to create specific par groups for stock based on forecasted sales per day. This means that the CPU can go into par groups where the sales forecast will be displayed, the manager at the CPU can simply hit the restock button, and it will show the exact amounts needed to order.
Taking Advantage of the Full Suite
In terms of technology, Loudons is planning to take full advantage of Access Hospitality’s offering. They have already been using Access EPoS till systems for several years, and the next stage is Access People, Access ProNett, and of course, for that new late-night offering, Access Collins, one of the leading reservation systems in the UK.
The team at Access Procure Wizard have been superb and we have had so much support from the onboarding team, to operations, to finance - I couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
Douglas Humphrey - Director at Loudons