Why a Healthy ERP is Essential to Automating Your Restaurant’s Back Office

By: Eli Meyers

At a glance

• The main takeaway: An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can optimize restaurant operations and improve the restaurant’s overall financial health.
• Impact on your business: Leveraging restaurant technology, such as an ERP system, can help restaurants achieve operational efficiency, drive continuous growth, and make data-driven decisions.
• Next steps: Aprio’s Restaurant, Franchise & Hospitality team has a suite of technology solutions that can work with your ERP. Fill out our ERP Health Check Form to get started.

Aprio’s ERP Health Check Form

The full story:

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can optimize restaurant operations and improve the restaurant’s overall financial health. Leveraging restaurant technology, such as an ERP system designed specifically for the restaurant industry, can help corporate and franchise restaurant locations achieve operational efficiency, drive continuous growth, and make data-driven decisions.

In this article, we explore some of the restaurant industry’s pain points and how Aprio’s restaurant tech solutions can potentially solve them.

What is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system?

An ERP system is software that organizations use to automate business processes, collect valuable insights, and streamline processes. Many businesses consider their ERP system as “a single source of truth” due to the various business processes it can perform — including restaurant tech accounting, human resources, sales, marketing, inventory, project management, and compliance. ERP systems centralize data, and with everything in one place, employees spend less time digging through different types of technology to gather data essential to keep operations running smoothly. Leveraging and optimizing an ERP system could be a cost-efficient approach to growing your restaurant.

In general, technology planning is a pivotal stage that can make or break any business’s tech investment, and the same goes for ERP systems. We recommend consulting with a professional advisor to do an ERP health check on your current system and learn how to optimize it for continuous growth.

Benefits of using restaurant technology such as an ERP system

Investing in an ERP system can help your restaurant streamline processes, stay competitive, and achieve goals. Some of the key benefits of using an ERP system are:

• Cost savings: With the production of real-time data of business processes, restaurant owners can identify areas where costs can be reduced, and errors can be minimized by automating repetitive tasks.
• Increased efficiency: An ERP system tailored to your restaurant needs allows employees to focus more on integral tasks and improves overall business efficiency.
• Better financial compliance: With increased data integrity, ERP systems reduce any margin of error, and users will be working with real-time information which can improve financial compliance.
• Reporting and analysis: Data is a powerful tool, and with an ERP system in place, restaurant owners can access critical data points in real time. ERP systems can generate various reports on your business that help restaurant owners make data-driven decisions.
• Data security: ERP providers understand how crucial and sensitive any type of data is and take the necessary steps to protect it at all costs. We recommend ensuring your ERP system uses advanced security solutions to protect your restaurant from falling prey to online attacks.

Restaurant industry pain points

Your business grows and evolves every day. As a restaurant or franchise owner/operator, you oversee everything from growing your business to complying with ever-changing regulatory standards. Here are five industry pain points where a tailored ERP system can be put in place to achieve profitable growth:

• Delivery reconciliations: Lack of integration between POS systems and delivery platforms can lead to misrepresented sales, tax overpayments, and potential fraud.
• Bank reconciliations: Manual processes and lack of real-time updates cause discrepancies in sales and bank accounts, increasing the risk of fraud and errors.
• Payment systems and AP automation: Restaurants need secure, fraud-resistant payment processing systems that handle both payroll and bill payments without exposing sensitive information. Complex intercompany transactions require automated AP solutions to prevent fraud and ensure efficient operations.
• System integration: ERP systems with open APIs are required to integrate various data sources (POS, payroll, delivery data, etc.) for comprehensive real-time insights.
• Credit card approval and receipt collection: ERP systems can better manage credit card expenses and receipt collection to prevent unauthorized expenditures.

Why is an ERP health check important for my restaurant?

An ERP health check can help protect the business for efficiency’s sake, support internal controls, and drive adaptation in the competitive restaurant and hospitality industry.

Think of it this way: your ERP system is the spine of your restaurant, and the restaurant technology tools that you leverage are the muscles that strengthen your spine. An ERP health check performed by a professional team like Aprio is the tissue that connects them all. So, depending on your needs and rights as a restaurant or franchise owner, an ERP health check can determine exactly what technology solutions you might need and where upgrades may be necessary to fill gaps.

3 ways an ERP health check can help your restaurant move forward

An ERP heath check will assess and evaluate whether your ERP system modules are necessary, functional, and aligned with current business processes. Aprio’s ERP Health Check includes a full review of license usage and adoption rates to identify opportunities for cost savings or increased adoption:

1. Security Assessment: In the first phase of the Health Check, you will be given an in-depth assessment of potential vulnerabilities and solutions to protect your ERP system from cyberattacks.
2. Scalability Planning: Next, the Health Check will let you know whether your system is optimized to support your company’s future.
3. Analytics and Reporting: Aprio will conduct an interview with certain ERP users to identify gaps and additional functions they would like to be added to the system.

The bottom line

Aprio’s Restaurant, Franchise & Hospitality team has a suite of technology solutions that can work with your ERP. Schedule a consultation with us today or fill out our ERP Health Check Form to get started. We are here to make sure you have the best tech solution for where you are now and where you want to be.

Related Resources/Assets/Aprio.com articles/pages

Aprio’s Restaurant, Franchise & Hospitality Page

Aprio’s ERP Health Check Form

What Is ERP? (A Beginners Guide)