HuHot Mongolian Grill has been serving Mongolian barbecue for 26 years. Still family-owned, still growing. What started as a single-location dream in Missoula, Montana has expanded to 55 corporate and franchise units, with the second generation now at the helm and a data-first culture taking root from the grill line to the executive level.
Rebecca Stewart, VP of Technology at HuHot, joined Marc Cohen and Rich Sweeney on Behind the Numbers to walk through how the brand uses reporting, benchmarking, and automated alerts to move top-line sales and close the door on theft.
HuHot serves an average of 1.7 million pounds of noodles annually across its three core varieties. That number came straight out of the Actual vs. Theoretical report in Restaurant365. For an all-you-can-eat concept where every guest builds their own bowl, the AVT is one of the most direct reads on what’s moving, what’s being wasted, and where variances need attention.
Over the past year, HuHot made benchmarking a central operational priority. The team tracks discounting, voids, refunds, appetizer sales, per-check averages, and loyalty program activity. All of it is published weekly and shared down to the store level.
“We’re looking at things like voids, discounts,” Stewart explained. “Every day that information gets reviewed, not just by the store, not just by the regional, but also by folks at the corporate team.”
The rankings create a feedback loop. Regional managers compete. Store teams want their location at the top. When a number falls outside an acceptable band, it prompts a conversation rather than an accusation. The goal, as Stewart put it, is to ask questions first.
HuHot’s fraud detection runs through the Flash Report. With roughly 40 data columns, it gives each layer of the organization a focused view of what’s happening at their level. Corporate sees the full picture. Regional managers see their stores. Store teams see their own numbers.
The system creates accountability without requiring daily audits. When voids spike, someone notices. When discount percentages climb above threshold, the automated report surfaces it before it becomes a liability.
Stewart was direct about what’s at stake: research she cited from earlier in her career suggests that out of any 10 employees, approximately two will steal regardless, two never will, and the remaining six are susceptible depending on environment and opportunity. That middle group, she said, is exactly who consistent data visibility is designed to influence.
“Having that automated reporting that comes out, it’s in your face,” she said. “It takes a couple of minutes to look at and everybody has their own piece that they’re very focused on. It has helped us reduce theft and fraud really drastically in this last year.”
HuHot paired its data reporting with a high-definition, cloud-based camera system. The cameras serve two functions: fraud deterrence and speed-of-service measurement.
Because HuHot operates a live grill rather than a screen-based ticket system, tracking cook times requires a different approach. The camera system tracks movement on the grill line and generates data on how long food takes from drop to pickup. That information feeds into throughput analysis, helping managers understand whether they need to double up on certain ingredients during rushes.
Stewart also noted the brand has explored heat mapping to identify bottlenecks along the food bar, where guests load their bowls before hitting the grill. While not yet in active use, the technology can show where traffic slows and whether stations need to be reconfigured to keep the line moving.
Stewart builds custom ad hoc reports in Restaurant365 regularly and trains staff across the brand to run them independently. Labor versus schedule is one of the most frequently used. The subscription feature allows her to set different report distributions by role: stores get their own data, regional managers get their region, the VP of Operations gets everything.
“The subscriptions are great. You get to set it and forget it,” she said.
The brand runs Toast as its POS. For enterprise-level reporting, Stewart routes through R365, where she has more control over how the data is structured and presented.
At the store level, HuHot uses AI-assisted tools to help managers respond to guest feedback, particularly when English is a second language. At Stewart’s level, AI handles data aggregation: pulling from multiple exports, running queries, and processing information that would otherwise take an afternoon.
Her benchmark for the tool: it gets her 75% of the way there. She also deliberately refers to it internally as “automation” rather than AI, a reframing she says makes it more approachable for staff who are skeptical of the term.
She’s enthusiastic about Restaurant365’s direction on AI-driven insights inside the platform. Her framing was practical: a manager with two minutes between tasks should be able to ask the platform a question and get a useful answer. “The information is only as good as being in the hands of our operators,” she said.
Looking ahead, HuHot’s two major operational focuses are bench depth and new LTOs. On the people side, Stewart described a push to make career pathways visible from day one, giving entry-level employees a clear picture of where they can go. Online training has replaced binders. Certifications, including authorization to operate the grill’s fire feature, create structured skill milestones.
On the product side, HuHot conducted a broad marketing survey with existing guests and is building its 2026 LTO calendar around that feedback.
Stewart closed with two opinions. First: QR code menus at high-end restaurants are out of place. Second: mobile ordering is going to continue expanding, and brands that make it seamless for both operators and guests will see check averages climb. The ability to customize an order without any counter interaction, she noted, consistently drives higher per-check spend.
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