A Look at Long John Silver’s Network of the Future
QSR Long John Silver’s has partnered with Interface Security Systems, a managed service provider, to enhance network connectivity across 430 of its restaurants. To build this network of the future, Long John Silver’s implemented Interface’s fully managed, restaurant-in-a-box solution that includes prefabricated network equipment ready for SD-WAN expansion, wireless WAN backup and VoIP connectivity.
Must Have: Reliable, High-Speed Network
Networks & Connectivity: are the foundation of today’s hospitality. In order to continue offering consistent and satisfactory customer service, the IT team at Long John Silver’s needed a reliable, high-speed network for its restaurants. Accompanied by a robust backup network, the system supports additional services like guest Wi-Fi, mobile devices and tablets for their staff.
After a rigorous evaluation of managed services vendors, Long John Silver’s chose to partner with Interface.
“Interface’s solution stood out as the most innovative and cost-effective option on the market,” said Brad Gardone, vice president of information technology services at Long John Silver’s. “The company’s “restaurant-in-box” model came with preconfigured network cabinets and accessories outfitted specifically for Long John Silver’s, allowing for installation to occur with no disruption to restaurant operations. No other service provider offered us this model.”
The Solution
Interface helped Long John Silver’s completely replace the legacy switches and myriad connectivity solutions with a secure, scalable LAN and WAN with LTE failover, 24X7 remote monitoring, along with a business VoIP voice connectivity.
Long John Silver’s was able to go live across 430 restaurants in a matter of a few months. With the new solution in place, restaurant staff was able to focus solely on the customer experience, rather than dealing with connectivity issues or outages. Not to mention, revenue leakages due to offline credit card transactions came down drastically and operational reports are now generated in real-time, giving management better visibility on restaurant performance.
When the pandemic hit and Long John Silver’s customers shifted their preferences to online ordering, the revamped network and VoIP solution bundle allowed the seafood chain to pivot to an online-order-first model.
“During the pandemic, about 90 percent of the business shifted to online/drive-thru," says Gardone.
Long John Silver's news comes as drive-thru visits have increased 36% since the early days of the pandemic with 9 out of 10 visiting in May 2021, according to the State of What Feeds Us report. Drive-thrus, according to market research firm The NPD Group, are the key to the industry's future.
"While dine-ins will steadily make a comeback in the future, we are proud of what we accomplished with help from Interface,” he adds. “We now have a top-of-the-line network and voice solution that’s robust, scalable, secure and will become the foundation for everything we plan to build in the coming years.”
The partnership between Long John Silver’s and Interface is just picking up steam. In addition to offering an expanded voice communication system to support remote teams and work from home employees, Interface will continue to play a key role in Long John Silver’s mission to maintain top-tier security and drive growth.