Meet intense competition and customer-service challenges

Restaurants are constantly under pressure to meet their numbers and remain competitive. It's getting even more difficult during these times when consumers want the most for their dollar, and we can only expect this to continue.

How effectively you meet these challenges can determine whether or not your company succeeds. It's critical to focus on becoming as operationally and financially efficient as possible, maintain flexibility to respond to customer demands and market trends, and maximize ability to see information across all operations.

This requires finding ways to better optimize your existing resources. Data integration and labor efficiency are initiatives that enhance your ability to be flexible and agile in responding to today's economic challenges.

Together, InterDyn and Microsoft Dynamics help you drive efficiencies and reduce costs—allowing managers to focus on managing the restaurant instead of technology.

InterDyn - Remington Consulting professionals understand the unique needs of the restaurant industry, and offer leading technology solutions that address these needs. Our Microsoft Dynamics offerings enable you to meet and beat the challenges you face today...and tomorrow. Within the industry, InterDyn serves such companies as McCormick & Schmick's with integrated solutions that result in enhanced efficiencies, reduce costs by eliminating manual data-entry, and provide critical, decision-driving information when needed. By eliminating manual inefficiencies and better optimizing your available resources, our solution provides the following key business benefits:

• Supplies real-time sales, cash flow, and other financial information upon demand;
• Reduces fixed and variable costs through the elimination of manual data entry and operational inefficiencies;
• Provides critical, decision-driving information when needed, due to flexible enterprise reporting capabilities and multi-unit functionality;
• Automatically updates payroll and bank reconciliation information;
• Affords quick and effective communication with all units, via Intranet applications.

Case Study: McCormick & Schmick's

The Challenge & Solution:
"McCormick & Schmick's is a privately owned company which operates a variety of full service restaurants which feature fresh seafood. In 1995 our corporate office needed a more robust accounting system to manage the financial and accounting needs of 14 restaurants in 4 states. That's when we turned to Remington Consulting [InterDyn - Remington Consulting]and Microsoft Great Plains [Microsoft Dynamics GP]. They were able to guide us through the process of completely changing out our accounting and reporting systems in a timely and cost effective manner. For the first time, we were able to run consolidated financial statements and actual-to-budget comparisons at the push of a few buttons. They were also able to facilitate our transition with the right resources to easily modify standard reports into more meaningful custom reports. We have continued to use Remington Consulting and Microsoft Great Plains in our managed growth and now have 79 restaurants in 24 states, Washington D.C. and Vancouver B.C.. We look forward to ongoing and future relations with Remington Consulting and Microsoft Great Plains in the years to come."
-Thomas Yee, Manager of Information Technology at McCormick & Schmick Management Group

The Results:
In July 2003, Consumer Reports magazine listed McCormick & Schmick's as one of the best restaurant chains in the nation. The chain has continued to thrive post-9/11, when other restaurants have struggled. Among the areas addressed:

• Support for Growth Opportunities. The company now finds itself in a period of particularly rapid growth. "The opportunities are approaching us everyday-we have lots of growth potential," Yee says. To support that growth, in 2002, McCormick & Schmick's upgraded their Microsoft Business Solutions-Great Plains solution. "To upgrade to the next version was a big step in our efficiency so we could expand without making our internal centralized processing more cumbersome," Yee says.
   
• Managing Restaurant Construction. McCormick & Schmick's has found an additional use for its Microsoft Dynamics GP solution-one that helps them manage the construction growth they are experiencing. In the past, they had used Peachtree's ACCPAC to manage the construction accounting portion of their operations. As a single-user system, it was inadequate to support their growth at the rate of three to six restaurants per year. The decision was made to move their construction accounting to Microsoft Dynamics GP as well. They use a different database to keep the construction management part of the business separate. Now they can have one person cutting checks, another coding invoices, and another posting journal entries. "It has helped manage our growth," Yee says.
   
• Ease and Flexibility. McCormick & Schmick's likes the ease and flexibility of the Microsoft Dynamics GP solution. When new staff members are hired, existing staff are able to easily provide training. Because of the Modifier tool, customizations remain transparent to the staff.
   
• Cost Savings in Reporting. McCormick & Schmick's was ready to purchase 17 new file cabinets this year to house their posting reports. Considering the cost of the file cabinets, hanging folders, and three-hole punch paper, they estimated the potential cost for equipment and supplies at $15,000. When they began using Microsoft Business Solutions for Analytics-FRx®, they were able to modify forms using Report Writer, generate electronic documents as output using Acrobat Distiller, and e-mail the reports as attachments. With no need to produce and mail hard copy reports and store the printouts, both labor costs as well as equipment and supply costs have been avoided.
   
• Improved Decision Making. The power of Microsoft Business Solutions has saved time and labor costs for McCormick & Schmick's. And because reporting is now quicker, the company is better able to react to cost overruns and can be more proactive in their cost containment efforts.

Value of the partnership with InterDyn - Remington Consulting:
Notes Thomas Yee, "They are the lifeblood of our organization. I wouldn't be able to do the things I do if I didn't have a partner I could trust who knows my business like I know my business." He reports that InterDyn - Remington Consulting is always watching for opportunities that allow the company to manage its business better.