New multi-million pound system provides quick route to operational independence for hospitality group
New multi-million pound system provides quick route to operational independence for hospitality group
Stonegate Pub Company has rolled out a completely new retail technology solution in record time working with two professional retail IT and services providers, Retail Fix and Centrality.
The Crutched Friar, in the heart of London, sees the final installation of the multi-million pound system that will drive the chain’s business operations, completing an enormous challenge, the scale of which had never been attempted before within the hospitality industry.
Stonegate Pub Company was faced with the challenge of 330 pubs and bars becoming independent from Mitchells & Butlers Information Technology systems and enabling a smooth transition at the expiry of the transitional services agreement (TSA) by mid-August 2011.
Ripping to replace entire IT systems
Retail Fix and Centrality collaborated in developing a strategy that would provide a first-class solution, on budget and on time. Faced with a new business that had skeleton staff, temporary offices and a diverse estate, the two-company team rapidly identified that an entirely new IT environment and business system needed to be built from scratch. This encompassed all the business disciplines including finance, payroll, property, supply-chain, machine management, electronic point-of-sale (EPoS) and the pub infrastructure.
The team presented their plan within 10 days, Stonegate responded within a matter of weeks, which incorporated the Christmas holidays.
“It was simply not an option for us to miss the deadline for the TSA,” said Stonegate’s chairman, Ian Payne. “The system had to be right for us as a standalone business. We had to ensure we could access all the management data required to effectively manage the business and enable our managers to operate efficiently at outlet level. Making a quick, well-informed, decision was critical given the timeline.”
Decision made, suppliers were geared up, surveys were carried out and pubs had to be re-cabled to enable them to reach the required standard to accept the new technology. This took a matter of months and it was not until the beginning of March that Retail Fix and Centrality could begin delivering the entire programme – just five months to complete the huge task, which included the installation of over 1,500 EPoS terminals and training over 750 people on the new systems.
Meeting deadlines on time, to budget
Retail Fix recruited the team of project, programme and business change management, while Centrality provided the implementation team, technical design and the training and solution development. A team of 95 people, including 20 from within Stonegate, acting as EPoS implementers, supplemented the Centrality resource.
Central systems took priority. The payroll system was live within six weeks. The roll out to 330 pubs took eight weeks, 256 of which went live in the final four weeks.
Added to this, during the process Town & City Pub Company merged to make Stonegate Pub Company a larger, 560 pub-strong chain. “This had little effect on the programme,” said David Broom, Retail Fix managing director. “What it did mean was that, although the original Stonegate had a standalone system, there was now an infrastructure and management team that could support the project.”
Payne added: “With such an enormous task to undertake, to complete this complex project on time and within budget is nothing short of heroic. From design to implementation it has been a rapid journey, a huge learning curve for our managers and staff but, through great teamwork, we achieved it.”
