Houston-based Dos Ninos Enterprises, which is on track to become one of the largest Dave’s Hot Chicken franchisees in the U.S., had a problem. When CFO Brian Wells checked his food cost reports in R365, he quickly noticed that the price for one of Dave’s beloved spices was way out of line. With the ability to dig in further, Wells found a packer error mislabeled the spices as $200 per pound instead of the usual $200 for 40 pounds.
Wells quickly amended the issue, which bubbled up at three of the company’s then eight locations and re-emphasized the problem, the root cause, and the potential impact on the business’s bottom line to his managers.
“This was a powerful learning experience and teaching opportunity for them,” Wells said. “Within R365, you can set variances on incoming orders so they’re flagged if something is out of line, so you can’t just pencil this stuff in; this is what happens if you do that.”
Setting up Success with Lion Chaser
Having those reports and the ability to use them to solve any of the myriad issues that can crop up daily in a restaurant is precisely what Lion Chaser Development Group, a premier Restaurant365 implementation and consulting partner with more than 80 years of industry experience, set out to do when it opened in 2020, and when it partnered with Dos Ninos as it established and continued to expand Dave’s Hot Chicken in Texas.
"Lion Chaser is always open and available, and I'm very encouraged because they've already done my implementation package, and they're still there. They still recognize the importance of this connection, so if there’s something I need, I know I have a snap answer.”
“Recipes are the foundation,” said Lion Chaser Founder Carlos Camelo. “They’re the restaurant’s heartbeat from an implementation standpoint, and if we get the recipes and items right, our clients will have confidence in their inventory reports and the ability to take meaningful action.”
Setting up clients properly from the get-go is only part of Lion Chaser’s competitive edge. They’ve got pizza sauce in their blood. Camelo is a former R365 implementer whose industry experience spans 70 openings, 40 remodelings, and even serving as HR director for nearly 90 restaurants. Co-founders Angela Morris owned and operated a longstanding restaurant accounting firm that helped launch Zoë’s Kitchen, while Jessica Liberman worked for accounting and consultancy titan Deloitte.
Today, the firm handles bookkeeping for 200 restaurant locations and consults for another 100. Because of its founder’s and team’s deep experience with R365, Lion Chaser can help customers step confidently through the implementation phases and into regular use while also handling administrative details to help restaurant leaders focus on what they do best: providing unforgettable guest experiences.
“We don’t only implement R365, we use it, and that’s where the biggest strength is,” Camelo said. “We’re constantly focused on best practices, we speak the language, and we’re able to help our clients quickly bridge that gap from implementation to mastery.”
A Lion & a Chicken
When Dos Ninos Founder Phil Palumbo, a longtime California franchisee operator, partnered with Wells to bring Dave’s to the Houston area, they quickly realized R365 was the foundation that could drive their growth. The company opened its first location in September 2021 and is set to soon open its ninth with a commitment to eventually open a total of 26.
Wells came with deep experience running multiple commercial bakeries around the nation that at one time supplied nearly 3,000 Starbucks locations with fresh food daily. During that time, he became intimately acquainted and sometimes frustrated with the MAS 200 accounting platform.
“I found with MAS 200 I would spend a lot of time grabbing the edges of my computer screen and going, “I can see the information. I know you have it in there. Get it to me, and it was very difficult because it wasn’t built that way,” Wells said. “R365 was built that way, and it didn’t take me very long to see that it would work.”
Because of Dos Ninos and Lion Chaser’s lengthy industry experience, the two organizations were able to quickly dive deep into setting up R365 to meet the growing business’s needs in the moment and the long term.
“I’m more of an operational CFO. I try to present tools to my team and general managers so they can improve their margins,” Wells said. “As we get to 10-plus stores, I want to be able to have everyone on the same phone call, the same Zoom, and ask, “Why are we getting this kind of margin over here and that kind of margin over there?”
Wells added that Lion Chaser quickly understood Dos Ninos’ experience and needs and responded with tailored implementation, training, and consulting.
“They’re always open and available, and I’m very encouraged because they’ve already done my implementation package, and they’re still there. They still recognize the importance of this connection, so if there’s something I need, I know I have a snap answer for that,” Wells said. “If it’s a bigger thing, they will guide me to 365 to start a support ticket and help me get the answer I need, and I’ve found that invaluable.”
Prepping Future Success
As Dos Ninos plans to expand its location count into double digits, Lion Chaser is also focused on expanding and honing its capabilities to serve growing clients. At the same time, the company is closely tied in with Dave’s corporate.
“We are constantly getting all their recipe and item updates,” Camelo said. “We get with them three or four times a year, so anytime anything changes, we have the latest and greatest.”
At the same time, Lion Chaser is optimizing its implementation and consulting processes to serve an additional 250 locations in the next 12 months. The company is also ramping up its ability to support clients with Pay365, R365’s payroll platform.
It’s all part of Lion Chaser’s mission to be a one-stop shop to support their clients’ success, whether helping with an ongoing expansion, optimizing current operations, or coordinating relationships and operations with outside service or technology providers to ensure that everything contributes toward continued success.
