BB’s Tex-Orleans became a Houston staple by blending bold Cajun Louisiana flavors with the familiar comfort of Texas cooking – an irresistible combination that quickly earned the brand a loyal following. Founder Brooks Bassler launched the company in 2007, in a 1,100-square foot space on the corner of Montrose and Westheimer. Since then, BB’s has steadily expanded to 12 restaurants across Houston and San Antonio, plus a standalone concept called Wolfpack Woodfired Tavern.
Adam Gilvarry, BB’s Vice President of Food and Beverage Operations, jumped on board in 2011. At the time, the business was still young and largely running on instinct and effort. As the company scaled, however, Adam took on the responsibility of integrating operations, marketing, and back-office systems – while also helping to maintain the family-style culture that shaped the brand from the beginning.
“Brooks Bassler’s mother is from Morgan City, Louisiana, and his father’s side of the family is from Rockdale, Texas,” says Adam. “They’ve always been very big on family gatherings, food and fun, and you can really feel it in the culture of our organization.”
But BB’s Tex-Orleans faced complexity that few restaurant concepts encounter. The company sells more than one million pounds of crawfish every year, making inventory control both essential and incredibly difficult. And as BB’s expanded, the stakes only grew. Without accurate daily hot counts on high-variance items, BB’s struggled to stay ahead of rapid shifts in crawfish supply and pricing.
To solve these challenges and prepare the company for continued growth, BB’s adopted TouchBistro Inventory Management.
The Growing Pains of Scaling Without Modern Inventory Controls
At the beginning, BB’s relied on basic restaurant inventory management tactics to handle some of the most volatile food costs in the industry. As Adam puts it, “We were operating off of an Excel document. It was an absolute nightmare, not knowing what our ideal food cost was. It felt like we were back in the 80s.”
In circumstances like these, even small inaccuracies added up quickly. Crawfish prices shift dramatically throughout the season, and BB’s extends that season longer than almost anyone else by pivoting between farm-raised, wild-caught, and cryovaced (vacuum sealed) crawfish. Those constant changes made it hard to know exactly what each location needed, how much product was on-hand, and whether margins were slipping.
As BB’s expanded across Houston and San Antonio, these gaps became harder to manage. The team needed consistent food inventory practices across all kitchens, clear visibility into ideal versus actual usage, and a reliable way to track high-variance items.
Vendor ordering added another layer of complexity. For years, managers used Sysco’s ordering app with no restrictions, which led to inconsistent purchasing and costly substitutions. “My kitchen managers were walking around with an iPad and just going shopping with an open checkbook,” Adam says.
Between seasonal swings, inconsistent purchasing, and limited visibility into what each location was actually using, the team spent a lot of time chasing down answers. BB’s needed modern restaurant inventory management software that could bring structure to ordering and real-time visibility into food costs.
A Partner Built for High-Volume Crawfish Seasons
After evaluating several inventory and back of house solutions, BB’s ultimately chose TouchBistro Inventory Management for one simple reason: it consistently delivered where other solutions fell short. TouchBistro came with modern inventory tracking, structured ordering, and near real-time visibility into food costs across all locations.
For Adam, the decision came down to reliability and fair costing. He needed a system the team could depend on day in and day out – especially during the most demanded parts of the year. “We’ve stayed with TouchBistro Inventory Management because it gets it done.”
He also appreciated the company’s responsiveness when BB’s needed support or adjustments to pricing. “Moments like that help galvanize a relationship for me,” Adam says.
Once the system was in place, it quickly became more than an inventory tool. Adam relies heavily on TouchBistro’s customized reporting – especially the crawfish report, which sends automated updates to every BB’s location each morning and saves hours of manual tracking. He also adapted the scheduled-versus-actual labor report into a weekly performance tool for his managers. With the addition of a custom labor report Adam rebuilt into a performance tool, BB’s finally had the visibility it was missing.
Lower Food Costs During Volatile Seasons
During crawfish season, prices fluctuate constantly. The company manages well, thanks to its innovative product pivots, but with inconsistent counts and shelf-life windows as short as three to five days, BB’s still faced challenges with food costs.
After implementing the system, food costs consistently improved. “During crawfish season, we were hovering between 36% and 38% food costs on average,” Adam says. “We average a 34% to 36% food cost during crawfish season now. That’s a 2 to 4% decrease. It’s pretty impressive.”
TouchBistro’s suggestive ordering features also helped BB’s make smarter purchasing decisions. “Suggestive ordering really opened everyone’s eyes to pulling back on what we were buying,” Adam says. “I think that translated into an overall improved experience from a food quality standpoint for our guests.”
By adding structure to the ordering process and providing managers with reliable data, BB’s Tex-Orleans gained tighter control over these volatile costs. The result? A more predictable bottom line during the busiest months of the year, and a foundation they could build on.
TouchBistro also helped BB’s eliminate costly vendor substitutions that resulted from open-checkbook ordering and had quietly inflated food costs for years. Now managers only order approved items, and substitutions no longer appear without warning.
“If there are any substitutions, I get alerted,” Adam says. “I can make a decision, instead of a vendor just selling me whatever they want.”
Consistency and Control Across Every Location
As BB’s expanded, maintaining consistency became just as important as controlling costs. With multiple kitchens preparing the same high-volume dishes, small variations in prep, portioning, or recipe execution could add up quickly, impacting both food quality and margins.
TouchBistro Inventory Management helped give the team a unified way of managing and monitoring these standards. For years, BB’s used the platform’s prep tools to guide daily production across all locations. While the team later adjusted how they used this workflow, the impact was clear.
“It really increased our consistency across the organization with recipe and plate specs,” Adam says. “I think that translated to a more positive, more consistent experience for our guests.”
TouchBistro made it easier for Adam and his district managers to see which locations were sticking to ideal usage and which had drifted, all based on the key performance indicators the system sends out each morning. Stronger-performing restaurants stayed closer to their ideal food cost, while location-specific gaps became much easier to identify. This helped BB’s strengthen processes across the entire brand.
By tightening up prep and improving day-to-day visibility, TouchBistro helped BB’s maintain the quality and consistency guests expect. Whether dining in Houston or San Antonio, customers could rely on the same flavors, portions, and experience the brand is known for. That level of consistency is what keeps guests coming back. It’s also what allows BB’s to grow without losing what makes the brand special.
Smoother Operations and a Lower-Stress Workday
Beyond cost savings and consistency, BB’s new back of house software helped managers simplify day-to-day operations. Because the company doesn’t have office administrators at each location, kitchen managers and general managers are responsible for ordering on top of running busy shifts. Before TouchBistro, that process was slow and often required managers to step away from the kitchen for long periods of time.
For a busy, multi-location concept like BB’s, that time savings had an immediate impact on both staff workflow and overall morale. “Giving managers the chance to spend more time on their feet is the biggest net gain we have,” Adam says. “When the general manager and kitchen managers are placing orders, the quicker they can do it, and the more accurately they can do it, the better.”
BB’s also developed operational discipline by leveraging TouchBistro Inventory Management. Adam says that between 2017 and 2020, the company became significantly more profitable because the team finally had accurate counts, structured ordering, and consistent processes in place.
This foundation proved even more valuable during COVID. With a streamlined menu and a furloughed team, BB’s Tex-Orleans relied on TouchBistro’s near real-time visibility to control costs and keep up with unprecedented demand for drive-through crawfish. The system helped the company stay profitable at a time when many restaurants struggled simply to stay open.
TouchBistro’s reporting tools also gave Adam the flexibility to tailor insights to BB’s operations. With support from the TouchBistro team, he developed a daily crawfish report that now goes out automatically each morning. This saved hours of manual tracking across all locations.
He also repurposed the scheduled-versus-actual labour report into a weekly performance tool for his district managers. “I actually took that and made it my own,” he says. “It’s been extremely helpful.” These customized reports give the team the real-time visibility they need to stay ahead of problems instead of reacting to them.
Built for the Future
By adopting TouchBistro Inventory Management, BB’s Tex-Orleans gained a reliable foundation for accurate costing, standardized workflows, and new-store onboarding. As Adam puts it, “the best thing we did was inventory management.” With this system in place, BB’s can continue growing its brand with confidence.
Megan is the Content Marketing Specialist at TouchBistro, where she uses her passion for food to write about the restaurant industry. She’s a big “foodie” at heart, and you can always find her enjoying a delicious meal at a restaurant with friends and family, or cooking one up at home. She also loves relaxing with a good book and making progress at the gym.
The right POS should help you increase sales
The right POS should help you increase sales.
