QSR Automations, a hospitality industry leader in kitchen automation and guest management solutions, announced a partnership with Boston Pizza, Canada’s largest casual dining restaurant chain. Driven by the growing demand for technology that evolves with customer needs, Boston Pizza made the decision to upgrade back of house and front of house technology with the company’s robust and reliable ConnectSmart Kitchen (CSK) and DineTime platforms. The rollout aims to be in 300 locations across Canada by the end of 2018.
“For restaurants to adapt, understanding guest expectations is key. At Boston Pizza, we are always looking for new ways to bring technology to our guests without compromising our commitment to food quality and remarkable hospitality,” said Cavin Green, vice president of business technology of Boston Pizza. “With QSR Automations’ technology, we are able to modernize both how our guests are able to interact with the Boston Pizza brand, as well as better enabling how our operators interact with their guests.”
Utilizing DineTime’s guest management platform, Boston Pizza is able to accurately and efficiently seat guests, manage their tables, waitlists and reservations and store all guest information in a digital database. Diners are able to see wait times, get on the waitlist, or make a reservation. DineTime seamlessly integrates to back of house software, ConnectSmart Kitchen, giving Boston Pizza a well-connected foundation for their operations.
“We are able to focus on operational improvements with DineTime and ConnectSmart Kitchen. Rather than going with stand-alone systems, DineTime and CSK talk to each other, allowing us to take full advantage of the software broader suite of capabilities and features,” Green says. “As well, we’re excited for how these systems will potentially be able to interact with other key platforms such as e-commerce.”
ConnectSmart Kitchen helps Boston Pizza manage a kitchen that has a menu with over 100 items by directing the flow of the kitchen with advanced routing, timing on orders, and providing dashboard reporting. “CSK is the most capable technology to handle the sheer scale and complexity of our operations. We’re also beginning to explore and test new functionality to assist with forecasting,” continues Green. CSK offers critical production data in real-time and historical formats to help restaurants operate more efficiently and better serve guests.
Boston Pizza is deploying TeamAssist, a digital recipe viewer, to help drive staff knowledge and training while ensuring consistency and quality of their menu items. TeamAssist manages recipes and procedures in one central location. The online portal supports easy creation and maintenance of recipes across all sites so every unit is connected automatically, reducing the need for printed recipe cards and training documents.
With the initial rollout already in over 100 locations, Boston Pizza restaurants will continue to implement the new software systems in all corporate and franchise locations.
