HyperActive Technologies : Boddie Noell

Hardee’s Largest Franchise Organization Sees Speed and Profit Improvements Across a 341-Store Chain.

In the QSR industry, profit stems from speed … and accuracy … and satisfied customers … and motivated crews. Improve them all, and profits follow.

It was this quest for improvement that brought Boddie-Noell, the largest Hardee’s franchisee in the U.S., to HyperActive Technologies. “We wanted to improve the speed and accuracy of our drive-thru business,” said Boddie-Noell’s Vice President of Operations, Terry Lewis. “We’d looked at a number of performance-enhancing software/hardware solutions designed specifically for the QSR industry, but the solutions we found at HyperActive were head and shoulders above the rest.”

Lewis explained that while many of the systems Boddie-Noell reviewed had some of the same capabilities as HyperActive Technologies, nobody put them together — especially the detailed reporting — as well, or as thoroughly, as HyperActive. Here’s how it all came together.

Helping to De-mystify Speed and Accuracy with QTimer^®.

Terry Lewis Under Lewis’ direction, Boddie-Noell used “mystery” shoppers to assess the speed and accuracy of Hardees’ drive-thru lines. “Mystery shoppers are the real deal because they give you an unbiased picture of what’s going on,” said Lewis. “Since nobody knows when or where they’re going to show up, nobody can juggle the numbers to prove a point or make things look better than they really are.”

And the mystery shopper numbers told the story. Before the introduction of HyperActive’s QTimer drive-thru measurement technology, the average wait per car was 4:24; after QTimer had been on the job for six months, the wait was reduced to 3:23, an improvement of more than 20 percent. Better still, overall order accuracy increased by six percent. “Because of the way QTimer is structured, and because of its instantaneous reporting capabilities,” Lewis continued, “I can look at the real-time performance of an individual store, or a group of stores — by daypart, by area, or by individual drive-thru — then help managers make immediate adjustments to improve performance. The net result was that QTimer not only increased speed and decreased wait times,
it reduced drive-offs. More customers mean more revenue, and more revenue means more profit.”

“In fact,” added Lewis, “QTimer was so effective, it actually allowed us to change the service standard for our entire group. I was able to reduce that standard (the time a car spent between entering the line and receiving the correct order) by 20% so that every store throughout the organization now has a better, achievable target for customer service.”

Order Confirmation Accuracy With HyperView^®

Lewis observed that speed and accuracy go hand-in-hand … that overall, neither helps without the other. And so to improve the picture even further, Boddie-Noell also installed HyperActive’s HyperView order confirmation system. HyperView’s order confirmation board uses a patented optical bonding that eliminates reflections and glare, and lets customers confirm their own orders. Said Lewis, “The system is virtually impervious to weather, and because the controller is inside the store, there’s no need for heaters or fans. Its life span is about ten years.”

“Our old order confirmation boards were hard to read and reprogram; changing the product and price information was really difficult. We like HyperView because it’s easy to operate and update, and saves us the time and trouble of asking customers to repeat their orders. Now we just ask, ‘Is your order correct?’ … and all they have to do is look at the board and say ‘Yes.’ It’s amazing how much time this saves.”

“But there’s more,” he adds. “With HyperView, it’s easier to cross-sell and up-sell because
of the system’s split-screen configurability. We can easily put special offers or other up-sell information on the board, and it stays there throughout the entire customer visit. Meanwhile, the bright, beautiful graphics help us make sales and increase the check average.”

“Couple this with speedier drive-thru lines, and it’s easy to see why performance and profits have improved dramatically.”

Unforeseen Benefits

It also turned out that installing the combination of QTimer and HyperView provided Boddie-Noell franchises with “bonus benefits”. According to Lewis, the system actually motivated employees. Why? Because with QTimer and HyperView’s unique reporting capabilities to help track traffic and employee performance, crews knew for the first time just how well or how poorly they were doing. “Now, everybody knows there’s a standard, everybody knows what it is, and crews are pumped to beat yesterday’s performance,” Lewis said.

And there are other benefits.

HyperView’s state-of-the-art, green technology has helped Boddie-Noell reduce its energy consumption, and that’s had
a positive effect on their P & L statements.
Thanks to the QTimer’s overall and real-time reporting capabilities, Lewis can make management decisions across the chain and implement them with a phone call. His travel time is reduced, and his productivity is increased.
Because each shift knows precisely what has happened in the previous shift, there’s a smoother transition at shift changes. This, in turn, keeps service flowing evenly, helping to build customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The system tells Lewis what’s happening at every store, and why it’s happening. Accordingly, management and crews that are doing well can be recognized and rewarded, and those having difficulties can get immediate help.

Lewis summed it up like this: “I didn’t think anything could help us increase our speed-of-service, but HyperActive made me a believer. I was never so happy to have been proven wrong.”