In the Beginning...

I absolutely love working with restaurant and retail SMBs, franchisors, and franchisees. There’s something special about helping them keep food on the table and a roof over the head of their employees and helping them grow to make it possible for more people. I’ve made millions for large corporations. It was a small drop in a very large bucket. When you cuts thousands and increase profits by tens of thousands for a mom & pop business, it has a much more dramatic effect.

When I started with the company, their point of sale (POS) was woefully outdated. The graphics were circa 1980 and the reports hit and miss. I carefully studied the competition and presented a new user interface and the development team went straight to work on updating the system while I did a deep dive into the reporting issues.

As the team nailed down all the outstanding issues, I went to work on pricing and packaging strategies, which included integrating with new hardware, credit card providers, terminals, and PCI audit products.

A very competitive and profitable package was finished and the marketing/sales process went into full swing. While in the field, we began to notice that we could make a greater impact with additional coaching and started consulting. I’d spend hours in the locations talking to staff, customers, and even rolling up my sleeves, getting behind the counter, and working side by side with them.

The Pizza Experiment & "Concierge" Magic

We had a core team of operations, technology, customer experience and marketing. This led to one of the most enjoyable solutions I’ve had the pleasure to conceive. Let me set the stage…

The client: a small pizza and pasta restaurant

The goal: increase profits and customer satisfaction by 10%

We went to work, spending the entire week in the restaurant at different parts of the day, speaking with customers and staff, watching interactions, and listening to conversations. I suggested a few modifications to their customer experience but held the trump card in my back pocket.

Here’s what I noticed: during lunch and dinner times, the orders took longer to get out the door. The restaurant had two different pepperoni pizzas, regular and deluxe. The deluxe had a much better customer satisfaction score. Additionally, they had fantastic chocolate chip cookies that were rarely ordered.

I spoke with the staff working on a weekday evening and asked them if they wanted to do a little experiment with me. We had all bonded during the time I was there and they were one of the best crews that I had observed. Luckily, they were more than willing to help, they were excited.

The night came and I spoke with them about my “concierge system.” Essentially, a manual way to test a theory without technology. I worked as the concierge (tech replacement) that night and the few glitches were quickly worked out.

The Tech Behind the Magic

We integrated three key components:

• The modernized POS system

• Digital signage

• Kitchen Display System (KDS)

This trio worked in harmony to automate our "fresh and ready" system, making it seamless for both staff and customers.

When pizza wait times started approaching 25 minutes, the POS would automatically send a Deluxe Pepperoni pizza order to the KDS telling the cook to prepare it. Once it was prepared and the cook put the pizza in the oven, he marked it off the KDS and we knew it would take 15 minutes to finish cooking. That’s when we’d notify the digital signage menu and POS that a fresh, hot Deluxe would be ready in 15.

The customers could see that a fresh pizza was available in 15 minutes or less, as well as the crew taking orders. When a customer ordered a regular pepperoni, the employee would let them know it’s taking about 30 minutes for the regular or they could get a fresh, hot Deluxe in 10 for only $3 more. It was a no-brainer. The customers upgraded their order when offered 92% of the time. Those that didn’t, it was a budget issue.

As for cookies, we did the same thing. Smells are critically important. Fresh bread baking in a sandwich place drives hunger/desire. By doing the same with the cookies, we more than 20x their cookie sales and soon the restaurant didn’t even need to “fake bake” the cookies as the demand grew rapidly.

The project increased their profits by 21+% and CSAT 28%.

The Results? Better Than Pizza for Breakfast

• Monthly revenue up 41% (yes, really!)

• Additional 17% revenue boost from third-party integrations

• Cost reduction of 25% across the board

• For our pizza client specifically: 21% profit increase and 28% higher customer satisfaction

The Secret Sauce

The biggest lesson? Sometimes the best solutions come from spending time in the trenches. By combining tech improvements with real-world operational insights, we didn't just build a better POS system - we helped small business owners keep their dreams alive.

And the best part? When you help a small business increase profits by tens of thousands, you're not just moving numbers around - you're helping real people keep food on their tables and roofs over their heads. That beats any corporate spreadsheet victory any day of the week.

P.S. People still tease me about how excited I get about cookie-baking strategies. But hey, if it works, it works!