Is Your Data Hiding Something from You?

For many years, savvy operators have used technology to streamline the management of money, materials and people in their restaurants. 

However, when it comes to ensuring the veracity of the data behind these functions, restaurateurs traditionally trust in the accuracy of these systems without further investigation. As today’s retailing environment continues to evolve, the expectations from regulatory agencies, customers and employees to have more transparency into operations will continue to increase. Are you prepared to stand behind the accuracy of your data?

Money: Regulatory agencies will audit your books.  Increasingly complex national and state regulations, coupled with the emergent demand for off-premise ordering and payment, pose new challenges for operators to ensure compliance, especially for publically traded or franchised companies. Correct and transparent reporting is critical for companies required to maintain compliance with the rules set out in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Sales information must be guaranteed for accounting and taxation purposes. Failure to correctly report revenues due to malicious “sales zapping”, where transactions are fraudulently removed from databases, has resulted in hefty fines, litigation, and operational challenges for larger multi-unit operators.

The correctness of sales data can only be guaranteed using an immutable transaction log, yielded by the right technology. In this ideal environment, executives of multi-unit brands can ensure accurate information for the brand, investors, and regulatory agencies and more effectively collect royalties.

Material: Your customer will fact check your supply chain.  Driven by increasing consumer concern over ingredient origination, allergen content and general product quality, the “farm to table” movement is emerging as the first primary motivator for restaurants to adopt more sophisticated mechanisms to verify the accuracy of their supply chain. Food fraud, where ingredients sourced from a supplier are fraudulently mislabeled to increase profitability for the supplier, can pose an enormous health, financial, and reputational risk to unaware operators. A study performed by Michigan State University determined that Food Fraud could cost the industry as much as $40 billion per year.

A technology that certifies the accuracy of the supply chain solves this growing industry problem, enabling restaurants to deliver on their brand promise of consistently providing high-quality products to their customers.

People: Wage theft will be reported.  Many restaurant chains have made a significant investment in their management and employee training initiatives but have failed to safeguard the accurate reporting of employee hours and payment of employee wages. Underpaid wages, as well as failure to provide required rest breaks, can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in regulatory fines for operators who lack visibility into the exactness of their data.

Imagine the power of always have a permanent, unalterable record of all labor activity. From increased employee satisfaction to safety from wage-related litigation, technology-supported assurances provide restaurants with confidence in the compensation process.

How can I ensure the accuracy of my data? Traditional security mechanisms are not as effective as they once were; fraudulent activity and manipulation can occur at any point in the data life-cycle, complicating the process of securing the information. As a result, the entire life-cycle must be locked down. What is the best way to do that?

Blockchain.

When implemented, a private Blockchain for the enterprise provides companies with a permanent log of all activity that takes place in or around the restaurant. This technology works by requiring every event, around money, material and people, to be broadcasted and acknowledged by the entire organization as it occurs. After complete awareness and recognition across all functions of the operation, the event is then cemented as a “block” into an unalterable “chain” living at the heart of the company.

Bottom line:  Using Blockchain technology could be the factor that safeguards the continued success of your multi-unit brand.

Want to learn more? Join us at MURTEC 2018 taking place April 11-13 in Las Vegas, where we will be hosting a MURTALK covering “Beyond Bitcoin: Blockchain as a Future-Proof Tech Strategy”, introducing ways that you can get prepared to take advantage of this exciting new technology.

As the must-attend event to learn about the latest innovations and get up-to-speed on how to leverage new technologies, MURTEC is lauded as the "gold standard" for restaurant technology insight offering both compelling sessions and top-notch networking opportunities.

MURTEC brings together more than 600 industry executives responsible for restaurant technology, finance and operations along with solution providers for three days of networking opportunities that will enable you to connect with both your peers and solution providers.

To register, go to www.MURTEC.com or call the registration team directly at 973-607-1306.