Guzman y Gomez Regains Supply Chain Control and Reduces Food Costs with Crunchtime Inventory

Guzman y Gomez (GYG) was founded in 2006 by childhood best friends who had a vision to build a restaurant business that had the speed and convenience of fast food but to reinvent the category by serving high-quality food. Supported by a team of over 15,200 employees, GYG operates 250+ restaurants in Australia, Singapore, Japan, and the United States, with a goal to open over 40 restaurants a year globally.

Gong cha Uses Crunchtime Ops Execution to Improve Task Completion, Guest Return Visits, and Brand Standards

Gong cha increased brand standards compliance and improved above-store oversight across its 400+ stores in North America with Ops Execution. The increased visibility and access to real-time data empowers leadership to make more informed decisions and will help scale its store and field operations teams as it adds 300+ U.S. locations in the next two years.

CHALLENGE

Rapid Growth Created Complex Supply Chains and Cost Issues

While at first the Guzman y Gomez (GYG) concept was a difficult sell to Australian — who were used to a different, less authentic interpretation of Mexican cuisine — the third year in business marked a major turning point for the chain. And while the rapid growth that GYG quickly began experiencing was great for the brand, it led to operational challenges such as supply chain complexity, inventory management, and food cost control.

Daily orders and deliveries of fresh ingredients had to be orchestrated by over-taxed restaurant teams. “The accuracy of our stock control and ordering is essential, but the process prior to implementing Crunchtime was overly burdensome and time consuming,” said Steve Orleow, Head of Technology & Insights at GYG. This meant that GYG’s teams spent the majority of their labor hours completing vendor orders and inventory checks instead of spending valuable time on the floor with guests.

There were also problems stemming from GYG’s hypercustomizable menu; it was great for guests as it provided choice, but created further challenges with recipe management, inventory management, and accurate cost control. With goals of gaining better supply chain control, lowering food costs, and improving efficiency across all locations, GYG realized that it needed to find a better solution for managing restaurant operations.

“At GYG, we’re driven to be the best restaurant group in the world from a food perspective. What became clear to us is that we needed the technology to support this aspiration,” Steve noted. “We researched the market, looking for a solution that could support our growing needs, and provide competitive advantages as we scaled.”

Guzman y Gomez selected Crunchtime Inventory because it provided an all-in-one solution to their back-of-house troubles, from perpetual inventory management to vendor supply chain operations. Crunchtime’s ability to provide real-time analytics and reporting on a wide variety of KPI’s was another selling-point, as it gave each GYG restaurant instant visibility into sales metrics and cost saving opportunities. With greater flexibility and the assurance that Crunchtime would provide cost savings, the GYG restaurant teams were able to refocus their attention on the customer experience.

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SOLUTION

Real-time visibility and standardized operations for more compliance and efficiency in stores

Gong cha adopted Ops Execution to standardize operations and improve communication between stores, above-store teams, and headquarters. Rolling out the platform in phases, the team ensured smooth implementation and strong adoption. Gong cha’s success with Ops Execution stemmed from:

Store excellence guides: Gong cha created a comprehensive guide within Ops Execution to help managers prepare for third-party evaluations with visual aids and practice assessments.

Checklists and audits: Tasks like opening/closing procedures and food safety checks were standardized across all locations to ensure consistency and make it easier to track performance data from store to store.

National operations initiative calendar: To ensure execution against seasonal promotions, regional or market-specific projects, etc., Gong cha assigned tasks and projects in Ops Execution ahead of these initiatives so that stores could have visibility into upcoming work while also tracking how stores completed (or didn’t complete) the work.

Franchisee engagement: Franchisee and team engagement were also integral to success. Ops Execution forms helped align franchisees with performance goals, integrating compliance metrics into bonus structures to incentivize adoption. Additionally, interactive tools like the “Gong cha Great Values” form encouraged daily team member engagement and reinforced company values.

“With Ops Execution, Gong cha can easily track performance metrics, gather data from individual stores, and identify specific opportunities for improvement with more accuracy.”

Rebecca Kahn
Sr. Director of North America
Master Franchise Operations

Why this report is different

Industry Insights
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Instantly see how your operations stack up and identify precise areas for improvement to drive competitive advantage.

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RESULTS

Significant improvements in operational consistency, compliance, and decision-making

Within just the first year of rolling out Ops Execution, Gong cha improved operational performance in several key areas:

• 49% more daily tasks completed, demonstrating consistent execution of operational priorities and enhanced team accountability

• 20% better compliance with brand standards, ensuring a more uniform and high-quality experience across all locations

• 25% increase in guest return rates, reflecting stronger customer loyalty and consistent positive experiences across locations

• 20% increase in guest satisfaction, measured by Net Promoter Score (NPS), highlighting the impact of operational excellence on customer experiences

The data-driven insights provided by Ops Execution also empowered district managers to address operational weaknesses effectively. One franchisee—initially among the lowest performers—transformed into a top-three operator within only 90 days by following a customized action plan based on the insights from Ops Execution reports. This success illustrates the platform’s ability to drive meaningful and lasting improvements.

“Crunchtime Ops Execution was the right choice for us because it’s very easy to use, makes sense, and helps us standardize operations as we scale,” said Kahn. Gong cha’s commitment to operational excellence and brand integrity ensures that it will remain a leader in the competitive premium tea market.

RESULTS

Significant improvements in operational consistency, compliance, and decision-making

Within just the first year of rolling out Ops Execution, Gong cha improved operational performance in several key areas

49%

more daily tasks completed

demonstrating consistent execution of operational priorities and enhanced team accountability

20%

better compliance with brand standards

ensuring a more uniform and high-quality experience across all locations

25%

increase in guest return rates

reflecting stronger customer loyalty and consistent positive experiences across locations

20%

increase in guest satisfaction

measured by Net Promoter Score (NPS), highlighting the impact of operational excellence on customer experiences

RESULTS

Reduced Food Costs and Regained Supply Chain Control

“Crunchtime Inventory has been a big factor in our success. Their experts work with us weekly to better understand the rich functionality of the product, so we’re continuously making improvements that directly impact our restaurants. Together, we find new ways the product will drive operational efficiency or improved profitability,” Steve said. “Crunchtime Inventory is highly customizable, with strong menu management capability and central admin management. With Crunchtime, we’ve taken control of our supply chain.”

By leveraging Crunchtime’s sales forecasting capability, GYG was able to customize predictive ordering for each restaurant allowing managers to order inventory more accurately.

The direct integration with local vendors ensures each restaurant manager can place accurate orders for each location leading to significantly less food waste.

In addition to ordering, receiving and invoicing is now easy and efficient. GYG’s supply chain team can control their vendor ordering process across all restaurants to ensure consistent recipe creation, bid management, and electronic invoicing. With these changes, GYG’s restaurant staff no longer worries about managing vendor orders.

“Crunchtime Inventory automated all of our forecasting and predictive ordering, so GYG restaurant managers are better supported. They spend less time doing complex and time-consuming tasks because Crunchtime guides them with accurate, real-time information,” Steve shared.

GYG has also had success lowering food costs and eliminating food waste, both of which had been challenging before implementing Crunchtime Inventory. Crunchtime has given the company the ability to optimize its food prep processes to more accurately meet its customer demand, leading to an overall reduction in food waste. Steve also praises the effectiveness of Crunchtime’s actual versus theoretical cost variance tracking, which allows GYG to identify and quickly address profit leaks, further reducing wastage and noticeably improving profitability.

“Inefficiencies are highlighted faster, and variances are simpler to identify and rectify, for quick and easy benchmarking,” said Orleow, explaining that GYG can identify its better-performing restaurants to see what’s working well and challenge underperformers to strive towards similar, attainable improvements. Thanks to Crunchtime Inventory, GYG can now ensure that all locations deliver on the same promises of serving high-quality food and providing exceptional customer experiences.

“Crunchtime Inventory automated all of our forecasting and predictive ordering, so GYG restaurant managers are better supported. They spend less time doing complex and time-consuming tasks because Crunchtime guides them with accurate, real-time information.”

Steve Orleow
Head of Technology & Insights
Guzman y Gomez