Branded POS Upgrades at Exchange Restaurants Enhance Customer Experience
For decades, most Exchange restaurants have operated their own point-of-sale systems rather than using the custom systems developed by and for each brand.
Now, to better serve military diners, name-brand restaurants at CONUS Exchanges are converting their POS systems to those used by each brand.
Systems have been upgraded at Exchange Popeyes locations in the U.S., and a similar overhaul is almost complete at Starbucks.
And more upgrades are coming: Charleys Cheesesteaks, Arby’s and initial Burger King locations are planned for this year, with Qdoba, Taco Bell and remaining Burger King locations to follow through 2025. Subway, Slim Chickens and Panera Bread locations have utilized their branded POS options since each respective brand’s first Exchange locations.
A Fort Cavazos Popeyes associate completes a transaction using the new branded point-of-sale system.
“Before the internet, brand partners did not mandate any particular POS system for franchisees to use, so the Exchange often went with a one-size-fits-all strategy for our restaurants,” said Craig Masek, chief of restaurant support for the Exchange. “As a young food service worker in the mid-nineties, I remember our food facilities at Lakenheath and Mildenhall having a mix of three or four different brands of registers. By 1998, those were switched out to new Sharp registers, with the only difference being the menu items programmed into them. In the early 2000s, we gradually added Micros, which added network connectivity. This allowed for credit card swiping on the POS, remote-managed keys, and much better reporting features.”
A few years ago, EPOS replaced Micros, bringing food and retail onto the same POS system and making training, programming, and even spare parts easier to manage. The advancements in technology over the last few years, along with shifting customer expectations, have led brands to create customized registers to meet those specific needs, Masek said.
“What we then find is a register designed for selling Starbucks coffee is a lot different from a register designed to sell Popeyes chicken,” he said.
These differences include unique loyalty and gift card programs, mobile apps, mobile ordering and other systems that are specific to each brand. All these and other improvements to the customer experience have gone live for each brand as its point-of-sale system has been converted.
“One excellent example of the benefits to this is DoorDash integration,” Masek said. “With our own POS, a cashier has to punch the customer’s order into the register manually. Using brand POS systems, the order automatically goes into the register as soon as the customer submits their order through the DoorDash app, saving both the associate time and speeding up the pace of service for the customer.”
Because the new registers tie directly into the brands’ own systems, each brand partner also now has visibility of each location’s financial performance, allowing them to provide feedback to help make each location more profitable. Masek said another benefit of brand POS systems is the brands themselves own their own technologies, so the work of programming, installing and maintaining the new systems is done by the brands, not the Exchange. In fact, Masek said about 75% of the work that goes into the conversions is working on contracts with the different vendors that provide the equipment and software that comprise each brand’s POS system.
“Every brand has several vendors they use for the hardware and software,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of help from Valbona Phillips and the team in PZ and Philip Schnorbach in GC in reviewing these agreements and making sure they meet the requirements for a federal contract.”
The Exchange’s IT directorate has also helped make the conversions a success. A team led by Intrusion Detection and Prevention Manager Jesse Tobar analyzes the security of the POS system, while a networking team, led by Operations Manager Terry Vo, integrates the new systems into the Exchange network so financials and other data can be sent to FA.
A third team, led by Infrastructure Support Manager Mike Waycaster, provides field support for the brands and removing the Exchange-ran POS systems. Lastly, a team led by Policy and Planning Manager Tom Giangreco analyzes the conversions from a policy perspective to ensure all contractual agreements are met, in addition to performing a risk assessment of the conversions and ensuring all customer data is protected.
“I think for all four of us, our biggest job is to protect customer data, and that’s kind of what these processes are meant to incorporate and encompass,” Giangreco said. “In security, you follow the data and implement controls to protect it. That starts with the preliminary discussions and contract agreements, then goes on through to looping in the IT teams to figure out what those tasks are to get the POS installed and then the daily operations and overall support side.”
Masek said the upgrade comes down to improving the experience for Exchange diners.
“When a customer comes to one of our restaurants, they should just think, I’m going to Burger King or Popeyes.” Masek said. “It shouldn’t matter if the restaurant is operated by the Exchange. We want the customer to look at their Starbucks like any other Starbucks, and that includes, for example, being able to use the app to order their coffee ahead of time. For our customers, that’s a huge convenience and major improvement in service.”
