Today Sagar Ratna runs more than 90 restaurants, which include both company-owned and franchised outlets. In an ever-evolving market, Sagar Ratna believes in keeping customers loyal with constant innovations in its menu. Having won numerous awards in the hospitality industry in various categories over the years, Sagar Ratna continues to delight its customers with its authentic South Indian food cooked freshly many times a day.
Business case
Until recently, Sagar Ratna didn’t use any automated software for billing and managing the company. This caused a number of major challenges:
- Each store was stand-alone, with no centralized database for managing the organization.
- The company had to manually manage data replication, run the reports and get month-end sales data.
- User training was very difficult.
- The manual execution of reports caused errors and data manipulation.
- Data collection (of items, staff, riders, delivery caterers, etc.) was very tedious.
The solution
When Sagar Ratna decided to move on to an automated software, they researched all available solutions. They needed a system that would solve all the problems related to front- and back-office operations, including sales and purchases, inventory, and financial management. After careful consideration of all options, the management realized that LS Central for restaurants was the best platform to fulfil their requirements.
The implementation started with five pilot stores, followed by all the stores Sagar Ratna owns. The first phase of the implementation in the five pilot stores took five months, during which the team worked to develop user acceptance, with user training and support. The biggest challenge was to train users, as they were very resistant to adopt the changes in the business environment. All challenges were overcome thanks to the enthusiasm and zeal of the implementation team. “The milestone of the journey was implementing LS Retail software solution in our oldest store at Defence Colony, New Delhi,” says Arun Mishra, CFO at Sagar Ratna. The Defence Colony location has the highest sales volume of the chain, and the largest number of loyal customers. The team worked very hard and managed to implement LS Retail software solution without lowering the sales. The implementation also included payment tools, including MobiKwik Wallet.
Benefits
Since the installation of the new system, the company has improved in multiple areas of its operation. Sagar Ratna can now control sales in real time across its chain. Data compilation and collection is much quicker, saving the company many man-hours. The accurate data has meant better data analysis and more effective decision-making. Some of the benefits Sagar Ratna has realized include:
- The company can now manage PAN India stores, their pricing and taxation through a centralized database system.
- LS Nav Hospitality ensures accurate inventory management through recipe control.
- The system offers an error-free environment, proving customer satisfaction.
- The company can now manage offers, deals and discount vouchers in an effective and efficient manner.
- The elimination of manual processes has ensured data accuracy.
- With LS Nav Hospitality, the company can manage both vendors and customers.
- The system smoothly handles back-end processes.
- Timely production minimizes waste.
- The system facilitates proper menu engineering on the basis of items sold.
The automations in LS Retail software solution have enabled Sagar Ratna to become the first Delhi-based company to be integrated with Delhi VAT Department under the scheme ‘Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao’. This is a system that enhances financial transparency by automatically sending a copy of bill to the Delhi VAT Department.
