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Case Study: Bourne Leisure
In the spring of 2004, Bourne Leisure, owner of Haven and British Holidays caravan parks, chose Zonal Retail Data Systems to implement ‘an end-to-end EPoS system’ across their successful Holiday resort complexes.
Ten months later, the project was completed with over 500 terminals installed with Zonal’s Aztec software. The system also offers flexible and comprehensive Aztec head office system functionality as well as real-time information via the Management Reporting System – Dimensions. Bourne Leisure is one of Britain’s most successful leisure companies with a portfolio of brands, including Haven, British Holidays, Warner and Butlins. The company has been established for more than 35 years, and manages over fifty hotels, resorts and holiday parks throughout the country. An important part of Bourne Leisure’s business is the operation of its bars and restaurants catering for over 400,000 families and generating over £100 million in sales in the course of a season. Bourne’s growth over the last five years has been through the acquisition of brands from other leisure companies; with each brand having until now its own food and beverage retail management systems.
Complete end-to-end solution
In early 2004 Steve Glossop, Bourne Leisure’s finance director, decided to find a single food and beverage management system to replace the existing systems. “What we needed was a complete end-to-end solution to enable us to manage the business more efficiently. Our objective was to find a solution that would enable us to maximise all our sales opportunities and put greater emphasis on control - Financial, Stock and Wages.”
The company surveyed the market for suitable options, and decided on the Zonal solution. “As the market leader, we knew that Zonal would be able to deliver what we needed, but more importantly they were able to deliver when we needed it,” said Mr Glossop.
“We had three goals whilst implementing the Zonal solution at the start of the season. We wanted over 20 of the 35 sites to be installed during the season; we needed the system to be easy to use as the majority of the team are seasonal and we needed, as a management team, to start receiving greater amounts of management information.”
Trouble free implementation with excellent training
“The initial beauty of the project was that we had a trouble free implementation
at all the sites during the season. Zonal carried out installations overnight
after we closed at 2.00am, and the new system was up and running again at
9.00am the next morning. The training Zonal provided was excellent, and the
company has a real problem-solving mentality. We also liked the fact that
Aztec is very easy to use, so that our entire seasonal staff in bar, waiting
and kitchen team in all of our sites were able to use the system to its full
extent without the need for a huge amount of training.”
Unprecedented levels of management information
After a period of ten months the Zonal solution has been rolled out to the
35 Bourne Leisure caravan parks up and down the country. The result is a comprehensive
business system, which provides unprecedented levels of management information.
At the individual site level, Zonal’s Aztec software features comprehensive modules for cash management, stock control and staff scheduling. At head office all the data is received from every site enabling strategic managers to monitor each site in minute detail, comparing sales of particular drinks between sites or the productivity of individual team members. Using this information, pricing can be changed on a global or per site basis, and promotions can be pushed out to individual sites remotely in response to the data that is fed into head office.
Enhanced performance monitoring
The Dimensions MIS system produces real-time detailed reports and graphs for
individual resorts, regions or the business as a whole. The performance of
each aspect of the business and the impact of price changes, promotions and
other management initiatives can be monitored easily and effectively.
Better customer service, enhanced product portfolio
Although Zonal’s solution has just completed its first season in the resort,
the benefits are already being felt throughout the organisation. “Before we
had Aztec,” says Mr Glossop, “the team used pieces of paper or spreadsheets
to plan their resources, but now they can get the information they need from
the system and plan it far more efficiently, and we have certainly seen an
improvement in our sales revenue and speed of service to our customers through
the easy to use touchscreen terminals.”
However Mr Glossop is not a man to rest on his laurels and this season he has ensured that the managers of his complexes are being trained on all the other aspects of the system particularly stock and wage control because this is where his business can improve its bottom line profit. “Overall last season we were able to improve our customer service and enhance our product portfolio to our customers but this season we want to help our managers run their business with the correct information at their finger tips – they all work extremely hard and we just want to make their job easier.”
In the near future Mr Glossop expects to use Zonal’s experience within other areas of Bourne’s estate. However like any good businessman when drawn upon the financial savings within the system Mr Glossop laughed and said “let’s wait until the end of this season and I’ll confirm whether I hit my targets.”