Dickey's Barbecue Pit Incorporates "Hey Alexa" to Enable Key Business Functions

Dickey's Barbecue Pit said its locations will begin incorporating iOLAP's new Enterprise Voice Platform to carry out daily business functions in the store. Dickey's, a known technology pioneer in the restaurant industry, is adopting this new platform accelerating the development, deployment, operations and monitoring of Alexa Skills in the business environment.

"In working with iOLAP to customize this technology for our restaurants, we are giving each of our franchisees a way to carry out key business functions hands-free in their kitchens," says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "At Dickey's, we are constantly looking for new ways to better our business along with our slow-smoked barbecue. This new technology means our franchisees can retrieve key data without having to stop smoking ribs."

This new software gives Dickey's Owner/Operators the opportunity to have store information a voice-command away, and is the second phase of Dickey's big data initiative.

"Smokestack, our proprietary data platform makes data accessible and actionable in our restaurants," says Dickey. "By layering in this new enterprise voice platform, we hope to make data even more restaurant friendly. We've worked a lot with iOLAP to optimize Alexa for the kitchen from the data integration to the right placement in the back of house. We've also been thankful for franchisees that have opted in to further test the technology."

Dickey's Owner/Operators can ask Alexa for their daily sales metrics, KPI analytics or even when the brisket in their smoker should be finished smoking. That, coupled with the platform's ability to perform inventory analysis, food safety reminders and waste management controls will help Owner/Operators better manage their business.

"I have been with Dickey's for over 20 years, and I never would have thought we would be using an Alexa to carry out parts key of the business," says Owner/Operator Dale Smith. "I can continue to do what is important, which is smoking meats, while Alexa can easily give me the business metrics I need."