Serving Up Success: Streamlining Restaurant Equipment Market with a NetSuite Solution

Background

With an extensive 20,000 square foot retail store and a sprawling 100,000 square foot warehouse facility, Restaurant Equipment Market (REM) is the largest retail store for restaurant equipment and supplies in the Southeastern US. Its comprehensive range of products includes kitchen essentials, refrigeration, furniture, and ventilation. Since 1992, the REM team has been passionate about helping its clients create the perfect kitchen and dining experience.

In the past, REM was suffering from software sprawl. It’s different departments were operating in silos—warehouse on Google Docs, accounting on QuickBooks, and sales on another industry system, creating fragmentation that undermined data accuracy, delayed decisions, and eroded efficiency. “We started looking at ERP software because at the time we were dealing with a lot of inventory issues and disconnection between different departments,” explains Alex Lu, President of REM. “We were looking for a way to connect all the data so it would flow back and forth seamlessly,” continues Lu.

The REM team explored a number of solutions, including Microsoft Dynamics, Infor, SAP Business One, Accumatica, and Oracle NetSuite. REM selected NetSuite, with Velosio’s RED ONE solution, which helps restaurant equipment distributors solve common challenges and leverage digital technology to drive growth and increase operational efficiency. RED ONE increases business visibility, improves financial management and inventory management, enhances customer engagement, and reduces both operations and IT costs. “We decided on NetSuite and RED ONE specifically because its AutoQuotes integration is integral to our industry,” says Lu. “Having that RED ONE AQ integration was a huge bonus for us in terms of the migration. We didn’t have to recreate products in the new system manually. With RED ONE, we could just click a box, and all those items would be imported into our system,” continues Lu. “We have a strong retail presence, and a lot of the other solutions had limited apps or software that you could integrate with the ERP, but NetSuite felt like getting an iPhone. There’s a SuiteApp Store with hundreds of additional solutions that you can seamlessly add to NetSuite. NetSuite has so many more partners than the other ERP solutions,” continues Lu. REM selected Windcave and Paystand for payment processing, NetScore POS software, RF-SMART for warehouse management, Snap Sign for e-signature, and more.

Implementation and Training

Alex Lu reports that implementations are always tough, but there was an integral Velosio team member who made the transition smoother.

“Velosio offered amazing support for us and went above and beyond to anticipate our needs and try to meet us where we were when we were still very new to the system. They were really amazing in helping us get comfortable with NetSuite.” – Alex Lu, President of REM.

For training, the REM team received a mix of train the-trainer for heads of each department, along with training videos. “After the managers were trained, we then gave sandbox access to the employees so that they could play around with it and ask their manager questions,” says Lu. “If the manager couldn’t answer the questions, we would shoot those back to Velosio to get answers. Once we were hands-on with the new system, we started learning new things about NetSuite every day. NetSuite provides constant updates, and it’s really cool because we are continually figuring out how we can improve our processes and use the system more efficiently,” continues Lu.

The REM team is saving time by replacing manually driven processes and cutting down on the potential for human error. “In the past, when we needed to count Inventory items, we would print out a sheet of paper and give it to our warehouse employees,” describes Lu. “They would manually write the quantity that they counted for forks or spoons, etc., and give it back to our buyer, who would then key in the numbers from a sheet of paper into the system to record how many items there were. But now we can scan the barcode of an item and then input how many items are counted onto an RF scanner device, and that automatically updates the software,” continues Lu. This manual process required all hands on deck, with employees coming in on a Sunday, when they were usually off, to count inventory. “Now, every day when there’s downtime, our warehouse staff can count a few items here or there with the simple scanning device,” explains Lu. REM employees now trust that the items they sell are in stock.

System Benefits

REM benefited from NetSuite with RED ONE almost immediately, especially when it came to accessing items through AutoQuotes. “Being able to use RED ONE to import items into our system was a huge deal,” says Lu.

“RED ONE also keeps that item up to date as the item is updated in AutoQuotes and lets you know if an item has been discontinued, so that’s also pretty nice. The other neat feature of RED ONE is the project imports. In the past, if our salespeople had a huge Auto Quotes project of $50,000 or $100,000, they would have to manually copy and paste each item into our legacy software, which was a manual, time-consuming process. But the RED ONE solution is very helpful because we can just import those projects into NetSuite without a manual, double-entry,” continues Lu.

NetSuite connects all of REM’s departments into one, integrated system. Accounting, warehouse, sales, and customer service are now using the same system, and can reference the same items for improved inventory management.

“Accounting can pull GL accounts and do their accounting periods much easier because they can now automatically create those from the sales records,” says Lu. Now that the point-of-sale system is integrated with ERP, the item amount automatically displays on the credit card reader.

“In the past, our credit card machine wasn’t connected with our ERP, so if, for example, a customer needed to pay $99.00 for a product, the associate had to manually key in the $99.00 charge. Now that it’s integrated, there’s no room for human error,” continues Lu.

The REM team is enjoying NetSuite’s user interface. “NetSuite definitely has a better UI, which is a good selling point for employees who aren’t as tech savvy,” says Lu.

“NetSuite cares about the UI, which is much more than I can say for some of the other ERPs. ERPs aren’t meant to be sexy, but I think NetSuite tries to make it as easy as if you were shopping for something online. It’s also cool to see how NetSuite is constantly updating and evolving its system,” says Lu. “I went to SuiteWorld this year and learned a lot,” adds Lu.

Future Plans

Moving forward, REM has a huge e-commerce initiative where they will increase their online presence and begin selling online. “I know that with NetSuite, we don’t have to worry that there will be a disconnection between whatever e-commerce we choose and NetSuite, because of the open APIs and multiple preferred providers,” says Lu. “We will be able to integrate NetSuite into our e-commerce platform, however we want to slice and dice it – with integrated data and workflows,” concludes Lu.

Work With Velosio

Velosio offers a strategic partnership to help you navigate business challenges and prepare for the future. As a trusted partner, we provide technology, services, and guidance tailored to your needs. With deep expertise in the foodservice equipment distribution industry, we bring fresh ideas and practical knowledge to support your success. Learn how you can work with us to optimize your business solution. Schedule a complimentary growth strategy session.

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