The Franchisor

Franchising Since:  2004
Multi-Unit Franchisees:  8
Total Franchise Units:  24 opened, 35 in development
Company Operating Units:  13
Total Unit Cost:  $1,300,000 – $1,800,000

Demographics

  • 40,000 minimum total population
  • 10,000 minimum daytime population
  • 25,000 per day minimum traffic count
  • Proximity to shopping malls, hotels, major highways and other major traffic generators

Accounting System

  • QuickBooks Online

POS System

  • Micros

The Franchisee

Challenges

  • We never know how much money we need to make.
  • QuickBooks entries are made by our bookkeeper, accountant and general manager, and some are more behind than others.
  • Prior to running payroll, we need to check our bank statement, our QuickBooks and our internal notes on food purchases.
  • Our bookkeeper is constantly behind and making incorrect entries because they are not understanding how to keep track of new discounts and promotions being offered at our restaurants.
  • Our reconciliation process is a nightmare.

Solution

  • Re-train the General Manager to keep the Accounts Payables up-to-date.
  • Re-train the bookkeeper to focus on cutting costs.
  • Re-train the operators to understand how to read and interpret their financial statements.

Results/Benefits

  • Automatic daily bank account reconciliation.
  • Numbers to backup our business decisions, and are available on a daily basis.
  • Saved $7,200 a year on bookkeeping fees.

greene_turtle_franchise

POS Link provides win-win for franchises.

Introduction 

In business since 1976, The Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille is a family friendly, casual dining restaurant and bar offering high quality American comfort food with a heavy emphasis on local, regional and national sports. Marketing support includes TV, radio, electronic, print, digital and social media. Highly experienced district managers provide support to every facet of a franchisee’s ongoing business unit.

Restaurant management vs financial management

As with all franchises, we always had a group of under-performing units. So we purchased restaurant management software that allows us to run detailed reports comparing sales and expenses down to the menu item for all of our locations. Today at corporate, we have a 150 page daily report that was designed to help us with restaurant management. We also use it to help us focus our training efforts. But, we never see the whole picture like our franchisees see. When approached, we usually find they need help with things that our reports do not highlight.

Our under-performing franchisees complained that they were not making enough money to cover rent or payroll. We were at a loss because we helped them pick their location and provided a site evaluation to ensure it was in line with our winning business model. We were surprised when our franchisees would point out expenses that we were not aware of, like patio furniture that needed to be replaced after a storm, and bar stools that needed to be reupholstered.

“While we were targeting sales, our franchisees were targeting profit.”

Relying on a our management reports for training made sense for our better performing units, but that was not the solution for our under-performing units. We trained our franchisees to make daily sales journal entries by copying information into QuickBooks found in their POS system reports. But, we found that our under-performing units had books that were 2-4 weeks behind.

POS Link, real-time accounting for franchises

We decided to try POS Link with a multi-unit franchisee to link their POS systems with their QuickBooks Online. Their daily sales transactions were captured by their Micros POS system and was imported into QuickBooks each morning without a single mouse click. With an adjusting journal entry for rent, they were given the ability to run their financial reports on a bi-weekly basis and use QuickBooks to determine their true cash balance, that is their cash balance after outstanding obligations.

“POS Link is an easy way to ensure that all of our franchisees have up-to-date books.”

Every morning the business owner woke, not just to a “POS snapshot”, but to a daily P&L containing the prior day’s sales as well as the expenses captured by the accounting system. And the data was imported on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays; the busier, more important days when the bookkeeper did not work. When online banking imports were added, the daily sales were matched to bank deposits providing confirmation of data accuracy.

Closing the communication loop

We discovered that we can continue to use our 150 page reports to determine which locations are under-performing. With POS Link, our franchisees have the information they need to understand their financial position and their problem areas. Today, we simply email under-performing locations to urge them to review their financial statements, and they let us know where they need help. Additionally, their up-to-date books gives them time to plan ahead for a loan when they start to see their true cash position approach $0. After all, banks and investors read quarterly financial statements, not our 150 page management reports.

“POS Link facilitates a deeper connection for everyone involved.”

POS Link makes our franchisee’s bookkeeping team stronger. Bookkeepers receive an email when corporate adds a new discount, gift certificate or other promotion to their POS system outlining what they need to investigate over the next few days. This gives the bookkeeper time to discuss with management where the new POS item will appear on financial statements, and it gives them time to investigate how to setup the Chart of Accounts properly. It provides essential training without it being training.