Fast growing national burger restaurant chain, Tootsies, has retained Intelligent Business Systems (IBS) to install and upgrade its POS and enterprise management systems as part of an on—going expansion programme.
Tootsies, a 24-restaurant chain established in the early 1970s in Notting Hill Gate, West London, selected IBS to upgrade its POS and enterprise management systems after a competitive tender carried out by a new management team headed by Tim Woodcock, Finance Director, Urban Dining plc, owners of Tootsies.
Urban Dining plans to roll-out the grill-based family restaurants across the UK over the next five years. Contracts have already been exchanged on 5 sites that are planned to open in the next twelve months – Richmond Riverside, Oxford Castle, Norwich, Bury St Edmonds and Braehead – and the company is expected to exchange on a further 3 sites in the same period. IBS won the £200,000 contract as its recommendations best suited Tootsies' requirements as a fast-expanding restaurant enterprise. These included facilitating much faster communications and data transfer and the ability to expand and develop the system to accommodate future technology advances.
Each Tootsies restaurant has been fitted with extensive cabling for a broadband infrastructure based around the latest Uniwell touchscreen terminals, Version 5 of the StockLink Enterprise head office software and a complete back office system. Extra points and capacity have been planned into the installation for adding further terminals, voiceover and IP technology.
Tootsies, which caters for thousands of customers every week, has invested in the new POS system to give it greater immediate data management through either the internet push polling communications or browser-based options which the system provides.
“The more the business grows, the greater our need to maintain quick and easy access to every element of our operation. The new IBS solution gives us that knowledge with the end of day of journals automatically streamed across from each outlet with the option of real-time information,” said Tim Woodcock. Speed of installation and specialist knowledge of the hospitality industry were key factors influencing the decision, according to Tim Woodcock.
“Although IBS has worked with Tootsies since its inception, all of the companies bidding for the contract were given the same opportunity,” said Tim.
The Tootsies brand is a shining star in the family restaurants sector and its burgers, which are made from prime fresh beef, pork or lamb, are complemented by an extensive chargrill menu served in a comfortable, relaxing spacious environment.
“One of the key elements of the installation was to ensure it was all in place within a set time frame. This meant carrying out two installations per day, starting at 6am and finishing by 11am in order to minimise trade disruption to the business,” said IBS managing director, Gareth Powell.
“We have a remarkable retention rate amongst clients, although when we tendered for this business our track record with Tootsies counted for nothing. It was a new management team led by Tim and they were after the most cost effective system that met their specifications for their future anticipated growth,” commented Gareth.
Based in Brackley, Northants, Intelligent Business Systems operates exclusively in the hospitality, catering and leisure market, supplying POS management systems to multi-site enterprises and complex individual sites needing a high degree of management control. Its StockLink central management software has been installed in thousands of sites analysing billions of pounds, Euros and dollars of sales and stock data every year. As well as the UK and Europe, IBS recently introduced StockLink to the North American hospitality market, winning a 350-site account gain with health food chain, Smoothie King.
Tootsies is a group of full-service value-for-money restaurants based around quality burgers appealing to all age groups and particularly families. Tootsies currently operates 24 restaurants in high streets and retail centres. The first Tootsies site was opened in the early 1970's in Notting Hill Gate, West London. The business (by then comprising nine restaurants) was sold to Andrew Bonnell, with backing from Phoenix Equity Partners and Piper Trust Limited, in 1999 and was bought by Urban Dining plc in November 2004.
Urban Dining was founded by John Metcalf, Tim Woodcock and Glen Tomlinson in November 2003. Following an early stage fund raising, the company floated on AIM in May 2004 with the intention of acquiring 2/3 established restaurant brands with simple kitchen concepts. In November 2004, Urban Dining acquired Tootsies restaurants for £31.25m.
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