Restaurant Increases Table Turns by 27%!

PROFILE

Ted’s Cafe Escondido is a 31 table, Mexican restaurant in Oklahoma City, OK. Ted’s has always been known for impeccable service and great food. People come for miles around to eat at Ted’s. His loyal customers were dining at Ted’s three times a week. The restaurant gained such popularity that his waiting lines became difficult to manage. Some customers dropped off to once a week visits, complaining they did not have time to wait for a table. That’s when Ted Curtis, owner, turned to ProHost table management and new POS system to win back loyal customers.

Before installing ProHost, Ted's Cafe claimed table turns of 9.5 times on Saturday, feeding 800 people. His operation was very successful, but, he knew that he could serve more people and increase his profit with the use of technology. The results were immediate and overwhelming. Since installing ProHost, his records have been broken again and again. The numbers that Ted's has generated speak for themselves. You will find attached copies of reports generated by the ProHost system Reports Module at Ted's.

ProHost was installed on Friday, July 20, 1995. In the ProHost report for Saturday, July 21, 1995, just 24 hours after the installation, Ted's set a new record. Notice that his table turns increased to 10.5, seating 913 people.

Ted's Cafe continues to break store records. The ProHost report for Saturday, April 13, 1996, indicates that the table turns are up to 12.1 turns, seating 1,126 people. An astonishing 27% increase. Ted Curtis gives the system rave reviews because his sales are up at least 10% consistently. He estimates his table turns were previously 55 minutes to 1 hour and have decreased to just 35 to 45 minutes!

An Interview With Jay Holland, General Manager, Ted’s Cafe Escondido

"The wait is definitely shorter now and we’re not losing patrons like we did before.", says Holland. The wait used to be 45 to 70 minutes. The wait is 25 - 30 % shorter due to the use of ProHost. "When people have to wait longer than 35-40 min., they walk out.", he said. ProHost has enabled them to keep the waits down to 35 min. or shorter. "We had a party of 35 come in Sat night at 8:00." "The system said we could seat them in just 30 minutes!" "The system was right." "We sat the party in just 28 minutes." "Had we not had ProHost, we probably would have quoted them a wait time of over an hour!"

"Now, the hostesses don’t have to stand around trying to make a decision about where to seat parties." "It’s all automatic." said Holland. Tables stood idle for 4-5 minutes. They’re now only open 120 seconds on average and sometimes as little as 28 seconds. ProHost helps them organize the seating and serving of customers and bussing of tables in an orderly and smooth fashion, reducing inefficient steps and allowing quicker table turns.

ProHost has made the process of seating large parties much easier. The hostess no longer has to run through the restaurant looking for multiple tables to seat a large party. She can make a more accurate decision based on the information the system provides. The system shows a timer for each party and how long each party has been seated. This helps the hostess know which areas several tables might be available for seating a large party and she can pre-assign the tables as needed. "This has helped tremendously" says Holland.

An Interview With Ted Curtis, Owner, Ted's Cafe Escondido

"This restaurant is serving as a prototype model for many Cafe Escondido's on the drawing board." Plans to build more restaurants are in the works. They have slated the second store opening for Jan, 1996 and another store opening late 1996. The two new locations will be in Oklahoma City and Edmond, OK. Ted has already made the decision to install ProHost Table Management Systems in all his new stores.

Ted cautions against "cattle herding" which is when the customer perceives he is being rushed to dine. He instructs his waiters never to pre-bus a table or drop a check before the customer takes his last bite. The portion of the dining experience that he has been able to quicken is the seating of patrons, taking of the food orders and getting the food to the table quickly." "These areas are never perceived as rushing the customer", he says. "Have you ever had a complaint from a customer that he was seated too quickly?, or that his food was delivered too quickly?" "No!", he exclaims.

According to Ted, the customers are fascinated by the new seating system. They like being able to page their waiter. The manager says that all the customers now know how important service is at Ted’s. There’s no question that the utmost service is provided. Management places a comment card on each table for the patron to fill out. The patrons respond by filling them out in record numbers. The comment cards used to say that the wait was too long and that their wait time was misquoted. Ted’s was losing an estimated 150 - 200 patrons per day due to patrons becoming impatient and leaving before dining. Not any more. The comment cards are still flooding in at a neck breaking pace and the patrons are giving ProHost two thumbs up.

Ted says, "ProHost is much more than a table management system...It is a restaurant management system. ProHost solved 90% of my restaurant operational problems...Everything from faster table turns to lowering stress levels and personality conflicts. ProHost is far more valuable than the price I paid for it. I will have completely paid for ProHost in less than 180 days just in increased profits."