“If you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to make it happen.” The saying couldn’t be more true for Connor Stoilov, who founded Harvest Clean Eats – a chef-driven fast casual restaurant – back in 2020, during a time where the restaurant industry was filled with uncertainty. The Harvest Clean Eats team was fueled by a mission to provide Canadians with quick, healthy, and affordable meals, including smoothies, power bowls, wraps, paninis, and other healthy grab and go items.
Connor successfully scaled the Harvest Clean Eats brand with the support of Baylee Hood, Director of Operations and Training. From working on-site taking orders at their first location in Halifax, to growing to 10 locations across Canada and managing 120-140 team members, the pair quickly proved they were a force to be reckoned with in the fast-casual space. However, the Harvest Clean Eats team knew they wouldn’t be able to franchise their operations without a strong tech stack to serve as the foundation of their operations. Enter TouchBistro’s all-in-one restaurant management system.
Key Takeaways
- Harvest Clean Eats was in search of a POS provider that was local and would help scale its growing multi-unit franchise.
- TouchBistro POS offered a scalable solution, allowing the business to fuel its expansion and manage 10 locations with ease.
- Harvest Clean Eats lowered costs, streamlined day-to-day operations, and gained confidence to scale its brand faster.
Finding the Right POS for Future Franchising
Opening Harvest Clean Eats wasn’t Connor’s first rodeo, as he had prior restaurant management experience operating a pizza restaurant. “We built out our first restaurant and our POS was always an after-thought because we had this $200 cash register, and it worked fine. We were able to bring money in and take money, so it technically worked, but it wasn’t the most efficient way of doing business,” Connor explains. And after much reflection, he notes that he didn’t have any visibility in how much they sold each year or what items were selling well.
Committed to running Harvest Clean Eats differently, Connor and his team went searching for a POS system that was not only local and Canadian, but one that could grow with them as the business expanded into new markets. “We were building a franchise system from day one, so it was important for us to make sure that we put the right tech stack in place, especially knowing that this brand will eventually have hundreds of units,” Connor explains.
Implementing TouchBistro POS: The Powerful Engine Behind Venue Expansion
With future franchising in mind, Harvest Clean Eats selected TouchBistro as its POS system of choice and has been using the platform since day one. The team chose TouchBistro based on Baylee’s experience using the system at previous restaurants and it felt like a natural fit to power Harvest Clean Eats’ growth.
TouchBistro’s restaurant franchise management software offered a simple and easy-to-replicate setup process that could support Harvest Clean Eats’ expansion goals. Connor explains, “The setup and the onboarding process is incredibly easy every time we open a new restaurant, which makes expansion more seamless. It’s also a very cost-effective platform to join from a hardware standpoint.” He continues, “TouchBistro is one of the easier components of opening in a new market.”
Being able to integrate third-party solutions with TouchBistro POS was also a massive game-changer for the Harvest Clean Eats team. For example, the ability to integrate TouchBistro with the online ordering aggregator Deliverect made off-premise ordering significantly more efficient because the team could manage online orders from multiple platforms in one place. “The day we made the integration happen with Deliverect, all of a sudden all I had to do was push accept on online orders, which was a huge game-changer for us,” Connor explains.
Baylee adds, “We also connected 7shifts to our TouchBistro POS so we’re able to see if somebody’s clocking in late for their shift and have that flagged on our schedule. We know a traditional POS system wouldn’t be able to do that.”
The Results
Using TouchBistro’s multi-location POS from day one set Harvest Clean Eats up for early success. The brand not only expanded into new markets, but also achieved major gains in terms of efficiency and cost savings.
Streamline Daily Operations
One of the biggest benefits of using TouchBistro’s integrated technology was streamlining daily operations. “The fact that the POS syncs directly to the TouchBistro KDS helps improve efficiency and saves time for our team on the floor. The system is easy and efficient to use because you don’t need to press multiple buttons just to ring in one menu item,” says Connor.
Customers even commented on how quickly orders were fired and served after the brand first implemented TouchBistro, with some receiving their orders before they’d even paid.
Reduce Labor Costs and Seamless Training
Harvest Clean Eats was also able to drastically reduce its labor costs and save time. With the use of scheduled reports and a heat map of sales, the team is able to identify their peak hours and schedule accordingly. Connor shares, “I remember early days where our labor cost percentage was 44%, but with TouchBistro’s reporting and the ability to track those numbers, we can get it down to where it should be, under 30%.”
In addition to the reduction in labor costs and time saved, TouchBistro has also allowed Connor and Baylee to train their employees with ease. “I just did POS training with our new Toronto franchise partners this past week where we ran through practice orders for a couple of hours. Within the first 30 minutes they were already like, ‘I think we get it now’ – that’s how easy the system is for new team members to learn,” Baylee shares.
As she sums it up, “If you can use an iPhone, then you can use TouchBistro.”
Multi-Location Management and Reporting
In addition to helping Harvest Clean Eats run more efficiently on a day-to-day basis, there’s no doubt that TouchBistro and its multi-unit management features have been pivotal in helping Harvest Clean Eats expand over the years. For example, being able to bulk edit menu items across all locations or make individual menu changes has made it easier for the team to oversee the brand’s menu from afar.
The multi-location reporting feature has also given Baylee granular visibility into each locations’ operations and metrics, including sales data, while working remotely from her office in Halifax. For example, she has been able to track Harvest Clean Eats’ partnership with Greenhouse in Toronto, see how much they’ve been selling, and make adjustments when needed.
Confidence for Franchise Expansion
Backing all these wins is a strong partnership between TouchBistro and Harvest Clean Eats, which is now in its eighth year. From day one, the brand has appreciated how TouchBistro is always willing to innovate to make their team’s experience better. “You can trust the people at TouchBistro. You know they’re going to do what they say they’re going to do, and that they’re going to execute on what we’ve asked,” Connor shares.
The partnership has been so great that it’s made Harvest Clean Eats more confident expanding as quickly as it has, especially thanks to the “customer-first” approach baked into TouchBistro’s DNA. Connor explains, “There’s never been a time where I’ve called, messaged, emailed, texted, and not gotten a response that day. So, I think that’s something that stands out for me, because I don’t think other companies operate in quite the same way.”
Moving forward, the team is confident that onboarding multiple new locations with TouchBistro every month will be smooth and easy. Connor shares, “I think the simplicity of the setup and the onboarding process really is going to help us fuel expansion.”
This process was most recently put to the test with the opening of the brand’s newest location in downtown Toronto’s Scotia Plaza. Manned by an army of brand-new staff, a sleek kitchen setup, and TouchBistro POS, the team opened the doors of its new location on September 1st without a hitch – and managed to give away 500 smoothies in the process.
The Future of This Canadian-Based Multi-Location Chain
“We want to be a leader in the healthy quick service restaurant space across Canada, and have plans to expand to the U.S. as well,” Connor shares. Harvest Clean Eats plans to scale rapidly over the next five years, taking its 10 location operations to 100 through its partnership with TouchBIstro. As Connor sums it up, “We feel confident that we’re with a platform that’s reliable and is going to give us consistency across all our locations.”
Thinking of scaling your restaurant to a mult-unit franchise with a POS system like Harvest Clean Eats has? TouchBistro can help!
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.
