Technology

Church's digital upgrades bowl over chain's leaders

Church's spent about a year building a digital operations tool from the ground-up. As the chain nears completion of the system's rollout, leadership at all levels proclaim the endeavor to be a solid win.

Photo: File

January 14, 2021

Church's Chicken has nearly completed its domestic rollout of a custom-built digital operations tool, called OPS 360. The system centers around an app-based cellular tablet loaded with solutions designed to improve operations and provide better access to reporting dashboards, training websites and core operating systems, a news release said.

Since the tablet was always connected to the cloud, the OPS 360 System facilitates automated reporting within the Church's system. That, in turn, allows market leaders, franchisees and corporate field operations to evaluate engagement and completion of daily operational tasks and standards remotely. The end-result is that Church's is better able to get insight into day-to-day successes and challenges as they happen.

"When improving our daily operations, our operators want solutions that positively impact the daily routines of our managers and team members. We've strategically used proven technology to help us remove complexity and simplify operations," Brendan Berg, senior vice president of Global Operations Services, said in the release. "With our franchisees on our Operations Excellence Advisory Council, we agreed that a digital tool for recording quality assurance tasks would benefit everyone in the restaurant.

"Managers who have opportunities with shift control are gaining valuable training and experience through the use of the tool. Imagine a digital routines checklist that tells the manager what to do at certain times of the day, literally guiding them through the shift. The OPS 360 Routines Mobile App acts like a virtual coach, directing the manager in charge when to complete food safety temps, cleanliness checks, and stock up for the lunch/dinner rush."

The system goes beyond paper checklists that manage tasks and food safety checks to provide step-by-step instructions organized by daypart and restaurant type. Additionally, it uses interactive links to digital resources such as updated job aids, OPS manual procedures and training videos to provide troubleshooting best practices.

The system also tracks which managers are logged into the system during a given shift and measures how they interact with their daily routines, helping franchisees track behaviors (by Manager-in-Charge) and identify any performance trends that need reinforcement and redirection.

"Any website that has a mobile app, we can download that onto the tablet," Luis de la Torre, Church's director of Ops Excellence, said in the release. "Our biggest surprise is how our managers love accessing the mobile app version of our online training program, Pathway to Excellence University. Team members can complete their training courses, review messages, and access support resources right on the tablet. They can now complete certifications without having to fight for screen time on the back office computer."

In partnership with its vendor, NEXTx, the Church's team created the initial system in six months, with beta testing and primary launch taking a few months more. All told, the OPS 360 System was a project that was completed in less than a year.

So far, Church's has deployed the digital OPS 360 tablets to 450 US restaurants, with restaurants worldwide scheduled to be running on it the end of Q1 next year. The brand wants to introduce the OPS 360 System into key international markets after having completed translations and programming modifications to account for any regional and cultural differences.

"Going digital has dozens of positive repercussions beyond just centralizing everything Church's onto one tablet," de la Torre said. "Managers are being more thorough completing their assessments. Market leaders are responding quickly to alerts and requests. Our Ops Excellence Coaches are now more efficient coaching on specific restaurant needs deepening on the managers performance.

"We are also able to easily roll out new procedures related to new menu items — such as when we launched our new Chicken Sandwich in October of this year. Due to limited travel restrictions, all in-person and in-market training had to be done virtually using the Microsoft Teams app loaded onto the tablet. Training for our Chicken Sandwich was seamless, allowing everyone easy access to training resources right on their tablet. Not to mention, we're saving a ton of money and being more environmentally friendly by eliminating the printing and shipping of paper documents."

Berg said the brand was using a Mobile Device Management system to control what is included and restricted in each OPS 360 tablet, providing better security of sensitive documents and data. Tablets are password-protected and geo-fenced so information can only be accessed on the restaurant premises.

The initial response from franchisees and corporate management teams has been overwhelmingly positive, with users reporting the system to be simple, intuitive and reliable.

"We have dramatically improved the day to day routines of operating a successful Church's restaurant," Berg said. "The more teams utilize OPS 360 to the fullest extent of its capabilities, the better they will be able to drive efficiency and profitability."

Dallas-based, Church's Chicken and its sister brands, Texas Chicken and Church's Texas Chicken, have more than 1,500 locations in 25 countries and global markets and system-wide sales of more than $1 billion.