Introducing Pizza Hut Resturants
Pizza Hut Restaurants is one of the best-known pizza chains and restaurant franchise operations in the UK.
What started out as a single Hut in Islington, London in 1973 has grown to over 260 Restaurants and Delivery outlets up and down the country. Known for innovative products, Pizza Hut Restaurants use data to make sure they are meeting customer’s needs and serving them in the best possible way.
What was the challenge?
Like any organisation, the ability to understand data and use it to make important business decisions is critical for Pizza Hut Restaurants.
With disparate pieces of information from hundreds of restaurants pulled into its Data
Centre every 15 minutes of the day, the challenge has always been ensuring that there is one version of the truth across the organisation.
Although the Pizza Hut Restaurants’ team already used Cognos BI effectively, they needed support from a knowledgeable, reliable partner in order to improve the accuracy of their data and the capabilities of their reporting models.
“We wanted a supplier with the high-end knowledge that we didn’t have. We can handle all the basic support questions, so we needed someone who could take us that little bit further.”
How did Sempre become involved?
Having worked together at a previous company, Anne-Marie and her team knew Sempre had the experience, but they also had the responsive approach they were looking for;
“Sempre are always very quick to answer me. Even if they don’t know, they’ll often come back and explain that to me and follow up. They never let the ball drop.”
She adds;
“Just as importantly, they didn’t try and sell us things that aren’t in our business road map. We have a very good understanding of where we want to be in the next couple of years. Therefore, they never tried to sell us something that didn’t suit us, or that doesn’t fit within the road map of where we want to go.”
What happend?
Working closely with Pizza Hut Restaurants, Sempre introduced different Cognos BI reporting models into the business; improving reporting speed, integration and accuracy of the data.
These reporting models allow the company to stay on top of daily sales and staffing needs as well as understanding how each restaurant is growing.
The models also help the business to monitor the impact of introducing new products across the Huts; giving the company insight into how different menus impact sales, spend and return visits.
What was the outcome of the project?
The improved reporting and sharing of data within Cognos means that Pizza Hut Restaurants now has greater confidence in their information.
As Anne-Marie puts it:
“We’ve been striving for consistent data integrity over the last few years, and have managed to reach it in the last 6 months. We’ve been able to put the faith back into numbers and provide a new, stronger level of confidence in our data. Ultimately we want to continuously improve our guest experience and this level of insight helps us do that.”
It means that the business can assess the impact of different strategies, organisational
changes and new products quickly, enabling them to stay one step ahead of the game.
Anne-Marie adds;
“Without this, we wouldn’t be able to analyse data or make business decisions easily and quickly. The data structure just wouldn’t be there to run the business effectively. Although the project began as a redesign of our Cognos reporting models, it has evolved into a long-term, forward-looking initiative that is making a much bigger impact on the company as a whole. What we are starting to do now, is roll in dashboards and interactive reporting for end users which if successful, we can look at pushing out to restaurants. Thanks to Sempre I have a Cognos system that is worthy of the users analysing it, and a supplier that can support our BI road map for the next 5 years.”
What they said
“They’ve recently won our IT Supplier of the Year Award for outstanding contribution. We all feel comfortable going to them knowing that they will always go above and beyond anything we ask for. For example, we recently had to ask them to support our key team at weekends. I was delighted that they agreed and stepped up to challenge. Most business partners wouldn’t have done so. It’s this personal and professional approach to the work they do with us that makes them different. They’d be the first people I’d recommend in this space.”