Microsoft Dynamics GP Implementation For The Chain of Restaurants

We will try to give you the implementation scenarios based on our real case studies and implementations of Great Plains for various restaurant networks, micro breweries and deli stores.  Typically restaurant network doesn't require complex accounting at the Headquarters: AP, AR, General Ledger, sometimes Payroll (often outsourced), purchasing is typically done on the level of the restaurant, so you do not need to track Inventory (food ingredients) in the central accounting application (however it might be different, especially when you are formalizing your network in the fast food style to sell franchises, where you have to take control on the purchasing at the center):
1. Daily Sales and Purchasing integration to Dynamics GP.  If you are growing by purchasing existing small restaurants and rebranding them into your firm name - then you are trying to minimize transformation cost and capitalize on existing equipment and systems in each newly acquired place, including Point Of Sale application.  In this scenario you need to formalize your daily sales and purchase data export format (typically tab or comma delimited text files).  Daily export files then should be migrated into Dynamics GP via Integration Manager.  IM is not very challenging part of the project.  What we saw in real situations - it is more challenging to organized exporting data onsite in each facility and upload it into Headquarters FTP
2. Retail operations: souvenirs, country stores, deli product sale, t-shirts - all these nice marketing tools are great for additional revenue, but they typically require POS system, such as Counterpoint, Microsoft RMS, Microsoft Point Of Sale, or similar with separate cash register.  Dynamics GP has out of the box integration with Microsoft RMS on GL transactions level to cover these nice add-ons.  Barcode scanning integration and barcode label printing is typically handled by small business POS systems, mentioned above
3. Restaurant Franchise Network.  In this scenario you are need to automate large company in Microsoft Dynamics GP Corporate ERP, where you need centralized purchasing, inventory control, including price lists for your customers, logistics and supply chain management to your franchisees, royalty invoices (probably scheduled payments in GP Accounts Receivable module).  In this scenario you will also be providing your franchisees with complete turn key Point Of Sale system, which should be seamlessly integrated to Dynamics GP company database.  Barcoding and label printing requires more attention, which could be automated in Dynamics GP Report Writer (with barcode fonts), or in Crystal Reports (might be more flexible and customizable).  Here you may expect more complex add-ons and custom programming for Great Plains: eConnect, Integration Manager with VBA, SQL Scripting, Extender, Great Plains Dexterity
4. Please feel free to call us: 1-866-528-0577, or email us help@albaspectrum.com