Apache Pizza

The challenge

Apache Pizza is a traditional and successful quick-service restaurant chain in Ireland. Since
1996, the company delivers to pizza lovers across the country. The increased popularity of the
pizza chain resulted in the opening of 200+ stores across the Republic of Ireland and Northern
Ireland. The company invested early in technology and software to respond to the growing
consumer demand for online ordering.

The goal was to invest in the future by setting up online ordering channels for consumers and
integrated kitchen management systems. New customers ordering online and a higher retention
rate of existing customers would ultimately generate higher revenue streams.

The first software provider offered a basic infrastructure and so Apache was able to collect first
experiences. The restaurant operations were already improved by setting up order screens and a few make screens and dispatching screens. Consumers were able to order online via the
website or app. However, the provider lacked proactive and continuous product
improvement. Ultimately Apache’s goal to deliver a flawless user experience for online
customers and smooth kitchen management operations could not be achieved with the slow IT development.

As an ambitious quick-service restaurant chain, Apache Pizza decided to take the next step in
the digital journey. With lessons from the past, Apache Pizza was looking for an innovative and
forward-thinking partner with experience in the industry. Expected were data insights on
restaurant performance, POS, kitchen software (make screen and dispatch screen), and
online ordering channels that would keep improving through new designs, A/B testing, as well
as facilitating smooth marketing campaigns.

“Hardware independence” was key in the decision process, so the headquarters wouldn’t need
to worry about supplying and managing the hardware for franchisees. Bringing previous
experience in the pizza industry, Apache Pizza CTO Jordan Pendleton decided to get in touch
with S4D to make a change.

Delivering solutions

Since 2018, the cloud-based and hardware-independent POS has been launched in all Apache
Pizza restaurants and consumers can order their favorite dishes via the integrated website or
mobile app.

After the implementation, the headquarters can manage the menu from a central perspective
chain-wide, taking a local approach for the different restaurants into consideration. The menu
updates are immediately visible to employees using the POS and the consumers ordering on
the website. The software is also flexible enough to keep up with Apache Pizza’s localized
menus and campaigns, such as time-bound deals.

Omnichannel data improves restaurant performance

Data of course flows both ways. Valuable consumer data is gathered in the Apache Pizza stores
and also available to the headquarters in real time. In this manner, KPIs, such as best and
worst-performing products, revenue, and Net Promoter Scores (NPS) for each restaurant in
comparison to the others can help analyze business operations. As a result of this data, it helps in the conversations the headquarters have with the different franchises. They can show that
as a result of a lower NPS than other restaurants the revenue is not keeping up with the
restaurant with better NPS scores.

The constant data synchronization generates actual operational efficiency based on data-driven
input and an improved (online) ordering experience for consumers. Now Apache Pizza benefits
from increased average order values, a higher conversion rate, and revenue numbers.
Jordan Pendleton summarizes that thanks to the cloud-based system of S4D,
our team can update the menu on the fly and we have a forward-thinking partner that knows
what we want.