SageNet Helps Pizza Ranch Cook Up Expanded Checkout Experiences
SageNet, a Tulsa-based managed network, cybersecurity and digital signage solutions provider, is equipping Pizza Ranch with guest Wi-Fi and additional checkout options in response to customers’ shifting ordering and dining preferences.
Founded in 1981, Pizza Ranch is a Midwestern fast casual restaurant chain with 215 locations in 14 states that offers pizza, chicken, a salad bar and a pizza and chicken buffet. It is the largest regional pizza franchise in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Known for its family-friendly atmosphere and its commitment to give every guest “a legendary experience,” Pizza Ranch locations feature indoor dining options and some locations also offer an arcade-style Funzone area. But when the COVID-19 pandemic limited indoor dining and required a shift to social distancing, the entire restaurant industry was forced to adapt to survive. And the pizza chain was no exception.
With the help of SageNet, the Pizza Ranch corporate IT team has been able to provide its franchise owners new options to make ordering even easier for customers and put the focus more on catering, pick-up and delivery services.
“The pandemic has forced every restaurant in the country to change its thinking about dining options and customer interactions,” said SageNet Founder and Chairman Daryl Woodard. “When you’re a larger company like Pizza Ranch and managing connectivity across multiple regions, the issues become even more complicated. They chose to go with an experienced managed services partner like SageNet that could help them quickly adapt to this unprecedented situation. Our job isn’t just to provide solutions for managing guest Wi-Fi, connected devices, PCI compliance and cybersecurity concerns at each of their locations – it’s to guide them on how to use those crucial network assets to actually grow their business in these unusual times.”
Because of their connections with industry technology leaders Cisco and Meraki, SageNet team leaders were able to custom develop a network design for Pizza Ranch at a competitive price that matched the company’s goal of creating a network that could meet its expansion plans.
Before joining forces with SageNet, Pizza Ranch had originally been providing all its franchisees a single solution for Managed firewall/Wi-Fi services. As the company continued to add locations, it became harder to ensure rapid installation and continued up-time for the growing number of sites.
Working with the company’s IT team, SageNet began implementing a new technology at numerous Pizza Ranch locations and now offers franchise owners a program with a wide variety of benefits, including:
- Increased network reliability
- Enhanced network availability with cellular back-up
- PCI compliance and increased cybersecurity
- State-of-the-art Meraki MX68 firewalls and Meraki Indoor/Outdoor Access Points
“We had to find a system that could provide increased efficiency and stability,” said a Pizza Ranch spokesman. “SageNet helped us create a new network infrastructure to accomplish that and designed a next-gen technology package to give our franchises exactly what they need to move forward. SageNet also will help us continue to look for new ways to keep our franchises on the cutting edge.
“As we reopen our in-house dining, our popular self-serve buffets and new contactless buffets, we now have an expanded capability to multiply the ways we can give every guest a legendary Pizza Ranch experience that’s as unique as they are.”
SageNet has more than 30 years of experience providing a broad range of managed network services to large enterprises, from primary and back-up connectivity, guest Wi-Fi, wireless solutions, digital signage, merchant connectivity and PCI compliance to customized networking technology solutions – all optimized to meet the needs of multi-site operations.