Revolutionizing Restaurant Repairs: How Doc B's Found the Secret Sauce to Efficient Facility Management
Key successes
reduction in repairs costs
less time spent on R&M
strategic oversight and control
Company background
Since 2013, Doc B's Restaurant Group has been a beacon of exceptional dining experiences, rooted in a dedication to providing wonderful guest experiences. Founded by Craig Bernstein and named after his late father "Doc B," the restaurant chain has cultivated a strong reputation for its commitment to best-in-class service, inviting atmospheres, and a menu crafted with care, featuring items made in-house daily.
At the heart of Doc B's ethos is a profound reverence for genuine hospitality, echoing the compassionate bedside manner of "Doc B" himself. Craig Bernstein's upbringing and familial influences instilled in him a deep appreciation for creating welcoming spaces where guests feel like family.
Over the years, Doc B's has emerged as the go-to community restaurant in each of its locations, with multiple locations across the United States, including Chicago, Miami, and Dallas.
Challenge
Prior to implementing ResQ, Doc B's faced significant challenges in efficiently managing repair and maintenance operations across its various national locations. They had a dedicated facilities manager, who was responsible for overseeing construction and repairs. If he needed something repaired, he would do it himself or call a vendor. It was a full-time job and he did it well.
Still, there were challenges. Doc B’s was growing across the country. The facility manager was based out of Florida, but also needed to be able to manage the Texas and Chicago locations. For example: he would need to make a 10 day trip to Texas to work through all the repair and preventative needs at the various locations, incurring significant travel costs.
There was also no tracking, central visibility or oversight, and no easy way to make strategic calls about what needed to happen with R&M. They’d get the invoices once the jobs were complete: it felt like a rollercoaster.
When the facility manager departed to pursue a new role, Doc B’s Vice President of Finance, Matt Christy, saw an opportunity to meaningfully streamline their R&M process: "when [our facility manager] left, there was a gap in our repair and maintenance management. We needed a solution to maintain efficiency and oversight, and decided to go all in with ResQ."
Solution
In response to these staffing and growth challenges, Doc B's centralized all their R&M operations in ResQ. This decision proved instrumental to saving time, money, and creating a better process.
Preventative maintenance on autopilot
One of the first things that Doc B's did was make sure that all their preventative maintenance plans, which had been scattered before, were input into ResQ. This allowed them to see everything in one view and ensure that the work was getting done.
“For me, having ResQ there to make sure the PMs are being done and the work orders are being requested was instrumental in not having to immediately panic and backfill that facility manager role. One of the largest pieces of success we’ve seen is from making sure that all our PMs are in ResQ. There’s no way that I could do it with the time I have allotted in a week, if I had to individually reach out to each vendor.”
50% reduction in repairs costs over the short-term
Another benefit of having PMs and repair requests in one place is that it enabled Matt and Craig, Doc B’s owner, to make better decisions about where to spend money.
Being more cost-efficient continues to be a top priority for Doc B’s as they thoughtfully prepare for future growth and generally uncertain economic conditions.
“If you hire a chef, they’re going to cook. If you hire a facility manager, they’re going to get stuff fixed. When you have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. But now myself and the leadership team can ask the right questions. Like, hey, does that need to be repaired right now or do we have someone coming out to a PM in two weeks? We can be more efficient just from that. We’ve averaging about 50% of our spend over the last few months, just from that. Between savings we’re seeing on the salary side and the savings we’re seeing on the repair side, we’re seeing material savings by managing everything through ResQ.“
80% reduction in time spent on R&M
Not only has Doc B’s realized significant cost savings, but they’re also saving a huge amount of administrative time by using ResQ to manage R&M.
“Before, somebody was dedicating 50 hours a week to repairs. I’m dedicating 2 hours a week. Plus each GM probably spends a few hours. So altogether, we’re spending 20% of the time on repairs as before. It’s huge.”
Further, Matt can now source new vendors in a fraction of time, even in other states.
“If we need a new vendor, we can source a new vendor the next day, versus me spending two days Googling and calling HVAC companies in the area, and then asking if they work on our type of equipment, and then getting them out to quote on it. ResQ has taken something like that, which could be 3 or 4 hours of work, and now it takes 10 minutes.”
Improved strategic oversight and control
Implementing ResQ also enabled Matt to have an unprecedented amount of visibility and oversight into all of Doc B’s facilities.
“From the time that the work order is submitted in ResQ at the store level until we pay the invoice, I have all that clarity, because the work order is not going out until I approve it. At that point, myself and Craig have already had a conversation about whether this is something that we need to do right now. I know what the quotes are coming in at. I have full transparency throughout. We are already down significantly in our repair costs just by being able to make these kinds of decisions at the management level.”
Between predictable invoicing, transparent quotes, spend controls, and better workflow, ResQ has made it easier for Matt to ensure that his entire R&M operation runs smoothly from top to bottom.
"I found ResQ super easy to use. It’s very intuitive. I will say some of our kitchen managers, who are a little less tech-savvy, might struggle and do things like just pick the top vendor from the list. But ResQ lets me control what they can see and what goes out. It prevents us from making mistakes."
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