HyperActive Technologies : Popeyes Case Study

Faster drive-thru times, a significant improvement in employee motivation … and much more advanced reporting than the competition.

If you ask Keith Solomon, Popeyes’ franchise owner in Hamden, Connecticut, to identify the most important aspect of his drive-thru business, it comes down to one word: speed. And he should know, because he’s been a Popeyes’ franchisee for more than 30 years.

HyperView OCD “We need faster times consistently and fewer mistakes,” says Solomon. “If we can do that, we’re most certainly going to become more profitable.”

But how to meet these goals?

Solomon was in the process of upgrading his current drive-thru time tracking system with a newer model when his POS vendor told him, “You ought to get in touch with HyperActive Technologies and ask them about QTimer. It’s head and shoulders above the rest.”

And there lies a tale of exceeded expectations and greater profitability.

Faster is Better

Speed at drive-thru windows is such a significant priority that last December, Popeyes’ management announced a nationwide “Speed at the Drive Thru” contest throughout the chain. In this program, the fastest franchise would win a significant prize. The trick was that as a franchisee, you couldn’t claim to have fast drive-thru times, you had to prove it … and you had to prove it over four consecutive weeks.

Employees L-R Keith Solomon, Karen Robinson, John Wharton, Linda Wharton: The total management team that made Popeyes Drive-Thru in Hamden, CT more efficient in both speed and revenue thanks to QTimer. Additionally, QTimer keeps both management and crew motivated by providing up-to-the-minute information.

Keith Solomon’s Hamden, CT franchise won the nationwide contest, hands down. “And we won it,” said Solomon, “thanks to QTimer from HyperActive Technologies.” With QTimer’s detailed reporting system, Solomon was able to document average wait times accurately over a four-week period. “We wanted an average of no more than 180 seconds from the customer’s order to product delivery. If we can’t do that, I want to know ‘Why not?’ QTimer gives me the answers.”

Solomon explained further that with QTimer’s real-time POS integration, he could find out virtually everything significant about a given customer’s drive-thru experience. “With QTimer, I have the ability to drill down as far as I need to go to find out what’s going on,” said Solomon. “I can look at any specific week, then go to a daypart, then time of day, then to an individual order. I can see what the customer ordered and how long it took; in most cases, it’s under 180 seconds. But if I see that an order took more time, I can find out why. It’s okay to take a little longer if someone has put in a huge order. But if it took four-and-a-half minutes to deliver a typical two- or three-piece order and a drink, QTimer gives me the chance to isolate it and find out what happened … and then I can fix the problem before it recurs. And that’s something I could never do before.”

The Fringe Benefit:
Employee Motivation and Rewards

Popeye Restaurant Solomon also found that QTimer has become a significant motivational tool for shift managers and crews. “The information I get from QTimer lets me set up a healthy competition between different shifts and among different stores. So it turns out to be a significant motivational tool. And when crew performance is available to managers in real-time, we have the chance to reward high performance almost immediately … and to help out if we see a problem. People can see how well they’re doing compared with a standard, and how well they’re doing compared with one another. QTimer motivates the crew to perform and succeed, then give them a sense of satisfaction and pride when
they do.”

Of course, QTimer’s greatest benefit is its ability to help increase profitability. Says Solomon, “With QTimer, sales are up, the lines are shorter and we’re busier than ever. I suspect it’s because faster-moving lines mean shorter lines. People driving by could go anywhere, but when they see those shorter lines, they decide to come to Popeyes not just because our food is terrific, but because they know they won’t have to wait.”