bake - June 2012 - 10

management

High-Tech Solutions
Managing your inventory, production schedules and sales incentive strategies just got easier. A host of companies exhibiting at the National Restaurant Association Show in May showcased a wide array of new technology-based solutions for retail operators in the food business. Real-time incentives Imagine how you can improve efficiencies by delivering targeted promotions in real time to offer your customers special incentives that drive traffic to your bakery during off-peak time periods. Vibe (www.vibenow.com) is a cloud-based transaction platform that provides an interactive, open architecture, allowing foodservice companies to leverage legacy systems and prepare for future growth. The Vibe platform includes mobile payment and incentive technologies that integrate with live POS systems, a state-of-the-art gateway that transports detailed data, rigorous security tools and the ability to leverage the platform to improve sales, customer retention and incentive effectiveness. Production management With detailed transaction data, retailers can customize promotions by product, customer type, geography and time to encourage sales of high-margin items, at speciﬁc times, and increase proﬁts. For example, you can push incentives to your customers at off-peak periods or at speciﬁc times when business is slow. Retailers gain the ability to offer targeted incentives based on consumers’ purchasing history, location and timing that result in the highest return on investment. Since pushing promotions can be started and stopped within seconds, you can maximize your return by making real-time adjustments. The mobile payments feature allows customers to use their phones as a virtual wallet and pay for their purchases directly from their phone. Because Vibe’s payments engine integrates with most major POS systems, there is no need to invest in expensive systems to leverage any program. Mobile ordering ChowNow (www.chownow.com) is a software company that provides mobile, Facebook and Web solutions for online ordering in the foodservice industry. Through new technology, ChowNow The Alerts & Reminders Module allows the user to create their own schedule of alerts and reminders for tasks that need to be completed in ChefTec. The HACCP Information Module provides users with a comprehensive Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point information system for food handling. HACCP can be used to identify potential food safety hazards, so that key actions can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards. The system is used at all stages of food production. The Production Management Module allows you to continue ordering and to keep production schedules tight and precise. Users automatically create prep and production sheets based on menus, requisitions and sales data. Master Production Sheets can be split into multiple location production sheets for food preparation by area. Culinary Software Services (www.culinarysoftware.com) has retooled ChefTec TT to create a modular system for its suite of ChefTec products. The new modular system will allow for complete customization of foodservice software based on individual needs. Modules that may be added to different versions within the ChefTec range include production management, waste tracking, alerts and reminders and HACCP. One unique feature is the ability to add a Facebook application to your Facebook page. The application takes less than one minute to install. As soon as it is installed, your customers can click the “Order Now” button on your Facebook page and submit orders to you. When you subscribe to ChowNow, their developers will upload your current menu to this system within 24 hours. Within 48 hours, ChowNow will deliver to you a tablet device that will receive all orders from its system. You can also use this device to respond to the orders and tell your customers how long until their food is available for pickup or, in the case of delivery, how long until their orders will be delivered to their selected addresses. You can also opt to receive notiﬁcations by fax, email and proprietary Web software. is able to provide businesses with the ability to increase their traffic and revenue with inexpensive and easy-to-use tools.

10 < JUN 2012 | bakemag.com

http://www.vibenow.com http://www.culinarysoftware.com http://www.chownow.com http://www.bakemag.com

bake - June 2012

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