In 2023, Georgia Foods was a growing Bojangles franchise group operating a small but thriving cluster of Bojangles restaurants. Fast forward two years later, and they’ve expanded into a powerhouse with 46 locations spread across two separate entities—one with 40 stores and another with 6. The company’s rapid growth effectively doubled its size in a short span.
But behind the scenes of this booming business, the accounting team faced mounting challenges with their existing systems. As the business scaled, its existing accounting systems struggled to keep up, turning everyday tasks into time-consuming hurdles and revealing deeper inefficiencies just as the stakes were getting higher.
Initially, Georgia Foods relied on QuickBooks for its accounting needs. While sufficient in their early stages, the software soon became an obstacle. Staff accountant Tiffany Carter and CFO Stephanie Merrick highlighted major inefficiencies, especially within accounts payable (AP), where each entity required separate logins, significantly slowing down workflow and complicating vendor management. Month-end financial closings became particularly cumbersome, as generating even basic reports like profit and loss statements took as much as 30 minutes each.
“That can get really big when you have to pull 15 different reports for one period end, and it takes a half hour per report,” Carter explained. “Ultimately, we had too many things going on for QuickBooks to keep up.”
The system also lacked the flexibility and customization needed to support a growing operation. In search of a better solution, Georgia Foods initially transitioned to Sage that promised robust features and widespread industry adoption. However, this solution quickly devolved into a nightmare scenario. The platform faced severe issues, especially around the critical task of importing historical data, effectively derailing the financial team’s workflow. Vendor management across entities was chaotic, and the overall system reliability was alarmingly low.
The team faced months of intense frustration and decreased morale, grappling with a system that consistently failed to meet even basic operational expectations.
“There was a two-month span where Stephanie and I were working 70-hour-plus weeks,” Carter said. “For just one simple historical report, we had to review something like 24,000 lines on an Excel spreadsheet.
After months of frustration with their previous two systems and mid implementation with Sage, Georgia Foods made the decision to implement Restaurant365. Almost immediately, the platform gave Georgia Foods the ability to centralize operations and simplify workflows that had previously slowed them down. Tasks like switching between entities became seamless, and the accounts payable process ran far more smoothly.
One of the most powerful changes came from improved visibility for daily performance. “We get better day-to-day reporting… the integrations really do help,” Carter explained. “We get visibility. The next day we can see where we’re at with our food. We can see where we’re at with our sales.”
Since moving to Restaurant365, Georgia Foods has seen transformative results across its accounting operations. Reporting, one of the most painful challenges under the previous systems, has significantly improved. “It’s crazy because about 80% of the reporting is better with R365,” Carter noted.
Intercompany processes have also seen a major upgrade. Previously, managing vendors and transactions across two entities meant constant confusion and double work. With Restaurant365, the team can handle intercompany transfers with ease, without needing to log in and out of separate accounts or manually reconcile data. This has not only simplified vendor management but also improved accuracy during month-end and tax reporting.
Stephanie Merrick, CFO
Georgia Foods
Daily visibility into key performance metrics is another win. That level of real-time insight has empowered the team to be more proactive, identifying issues and opportunities faster than ever before.
Beyond the technical improvements, the human impact has been equally meaningful. Beyond efficiency, the impact could be felt on a personal level. “Our work-life balance has gotten better,” Carter said. “And we haven’t added people. So that speaks 100% to Restaurant365.”
“I know without R365, we would need at least one other person if not two—so at least $70–$140K in savings minimum, plus our quality-of-life improvements,” Merrick added.
The company is also looking ahead, actively exploring more features within the platform to build on its success. As Carter put it, “We hope to get better with some custom financial reporting and set up some of the financial dashboards and learn more about the tools of Restaurant 365 that we hadn’t had time to look at before.”
For a fast-growing company like Georgia Foods, outgrowing old systems wasn’t just inevitable; it was a critical turning point. The shift to Restaurant365 went beyond solving their immediate challenges; it gave their team the structure, visibility, and support they needed to operate at a higher level. From smoother intercompany transfers to faster reporting and real-time data access, R365 became more than a solution; it transformed into a partner in their growth.
What once took 70-hour workweeks and thousands of lines in Excel is now streamlined, automated, and manageable. With more time, better tools, and fewer frustrations, the Georgia Foods team is no longer working around their systems; they’re working ahead of them.
Up to $140K
in annual savings
Hundreds of hours saved
per month on accounting
Immediate visibility
with real-time reporting
Discover how you can start achieving savings like these for your business
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Restaurant365 bridges the gap between accounting and operations by centralizing all data, helping restaurant operators to become more efficient, accurately forecast, and tackle any challenge or opportunity with speed and accuracy.
