Case Study:
Xenial Support Flexes to Meet Yoshinoya’s Unique Operational and Support Needs
Read how Xenial Support and the Xenial DMB Health Monitoring portal help the brand run a lean operation
The Beginning
The menu board solution used in Yoshinoya America’s dining rooms and drive-thrus didn’t provide the uptime or ease of use the company needed to grow. After a power outage, store staff typically had to manually restart media players, and once they did, content was often on the wrong screen.
“Every power outage required a considerable amount of time from store staff and, often, IT staff, to resolve,” says Alex Adams, Sr. IT Project Manager for Restaurant Systems, Yoshinoya America.
“The Xenial Support team’s flexibility to work with us in a way that matches how our stores operate alleviates pressure from our store crews.”
- Alex Adams, Sr. IT Project Manager for Restaurant Systems at Yoshinoya America
The Transformation
The company adopted Xenial Digital Menu Boards in all 106 locations, including 34 drive-thrus, along with Xenial Drive-thru Director. Now, Yoshinoya America has a stable, easily managed, and fully supported digital menu platform that significantly reduces hands-on support and management from its internal IT staff. By relying on Xenial Drive-thru Director to improve reporting and crew competition, the company has slashed drive-thru service times by 35%, increasing throughput and fostering guest loyalty.
Xenial Support proactively monitors the entire fleet of Yoshinoya America menu board hardware, remotely, by using the Xenial DMB Content Management and Health Monitoring Portal. Yoshinoya IT staff use the portal for the same purpose.
“From a dashboard, my team can see if a particular store is not receiving content, which controllers or panels are operating normally and which are down, length of outage, time the issue started, and so on,” says Adams. “Issues with the Xenial DMB platform are quite rare.”
“We really appreciate that Xenial was and is willing to listen and apply what they hear, to adjust their support structure and methods to fit our store operations.”
- Alex Adams, Sr. IT Project Manager for Restaurant Systems at Yoshinoya America
Enterprise Support Flexes to Meet Brand’s Operational Requirements
In addition to proactive monitoring in the health portal, Xenial provides 365/24/7 support via Email, SMS/Text, Phone, and Web.
Adams and Yoshinoya wanted the switch to Xenial DMBs to reduce or eliminate the time that in-store operations staff and IT spent troubleshooting technology issues.
“We run very lean, operationally speaking, at our stores,” says Adams. “We can’t have our GMs on the phone with support for lengthy periods of time, trying to troubleshoot an issue.”
Xenial Support spent time meeting with Adams and his team to learn how stores worked. The result was a support model that aligns with Yoshinoya’s operational and labor model.
“We really appreciate that Xenial was and is willing to listen and apply what they hear, to adjust their support structure and methods to fit our store operations,” says Adams. “When a partnership works that way, there is a lot more synergy going on, and the Xenial Support team’s flexibility to work with us in a way that matches how our stores operate alleviates pressure from our store crews. Our operations staff are no longer trying to be DMB technicians, and they can focus, instead, on making great food and serving guests.”
Adams adds, “Xenial has helped us deploy the tools, resources, and support model we needed to survive and bounce back in the midst of a pandemic, which helped our business across the board, from operations, to technology, to marketing.”
Company Overview
From its origins in the bustling Nihonbashi Fish Market of Chuoku Tokyo, Yoshinoya Japanese Kitchen has grown to more than 2,000 locations, mainly located in Asia-Pacific. Yoshinoya arrived in the U.S. opening its first restaurant in Los Angeles in 1979. Today Yoshinoya America serves irresistible Japanese rice bowls in more than 100 locations, 34 of them offering drive-thru. Learn more about the company and franchise opportunities.
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