Digital Surveillance: Watch and Learn
Lime Fresh Mexican Grill's digital video ystem helps the fast-casual restaurant chain address both operations and loss prevention.
By Maya Norris, Managing Editor -- Chain Leader, 11/1/2008
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| Each Lime Fresh has eight to 12 cameras strategically placed throughout the restaurant including the dining room and at the cash register. |
| MORE TECH 2.0 Social Networking Skills: Krystal turns to social-networking tools to get customers talking about its food. Digital Surveillance: Watch and Learn: Lime Fresh Mexican Grill's digital video system helps the fast-casual restaurant chain address both operations and loss prevention. How To Secure Your Quick-Service Restaurant: Security consultant Chris McGooey offers tips for putting together an effective security plan. Supply Chain Technology: Made to Order: Church's Chicken's restaurant-level ordering system saves time and money with automated invoice processing. Supply Chain Software Aids Quality and Safety: Subway's Independent Purchasing Cooperative uses its supply-chain technology to monitor food quality in real time. |
Lime Fresh has been using the system since it opened in 2003. It costs about $7,200 to outfit each store with the system. Each restaurant has eight to 12 cameras placed in areas such as prep tables, cash registers, dining room, beer and wine storage, back door, parking lot and patio. The motion-sensor cameras upload images to a digital video server housed on site at each restaurant. Each server holds 45 to 60 days of footage and is connected to Lime Fresh's Web server. Managers can dial into a password-protected Web site to watch the images in real time or review stored footage.
MultitaskingManagers and executives use it daily to ensure customer service, employee productivity, and that units are clean and properly staffed. Lime Fresh has seen labor go down 1 percent to 11 percent to 12 percent since it opened, which the company partially attributes to the system.
The surveillance system has also been effective in catching employee theft. For example, COO John Tims credits the system for reducing the number of no sales, voids and refunds, although he can't quantify. Because the POS system is integrated with the video surveillance system, Tims can review the transactions and corresponding footage to determine whether a void was legitimate.
In one instance, Tims was suspicious when an employee rang up 20 $2 coupons during her shift. When he reviewed the footage, Tims saw that she redeemed only five coupons and pocketed $2 from each remaining transaction.
But Lime Fresh says it has reaped the most benefit from the video system when an employee accused a manager of sexual harassment last year. She eventually dropped the suit when the video footage proved that her allegations were false.
Helping OthersBecause Lime Fresh has seen success with the surveillance system, it requires franchisees to use it, too. The company accesses the system to help franchisees improve their business.
For example, when Tims noticed that the ticket times at a franchised store in Pembroke Pines, Fla., was eight to 12 minutes at nonpeak hours, he accessed video from the store to determine why the ticket times were high. He saw that the kitchen was only staffed with one person instead of three. So the franchisee kept the two other cooks from the previous shift longer. As a result, ticket times went down to five minutes and sales increased 6 percent during that segment.
Lime Fresh expects the system to help future franchisees as it expands. Franchisees will open two stores this year and five next year in South Florida. Then the company expects to grow into the Southern states in 2010, opening at least 10 a year thereafter.
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