Columbus Café

With more than 220 stores, Columbus Café & Co, like many franchises, is faced with the challenge of centralizing data, which impacts both purchasing strategy at head office and operational excellence in the field.‍

Nicolas Riché, CEO of Columbus Café & Co, explains: "The choice of Inpulse is part of our digital transformation process. More than just an ordering tool, we're offering our franchisees inventory management software that also forecasts activity, and optimizes purchasing and margins. Franchisees will have better control over their food costs, and as a franchisor we'll have a global view of recipe sheets, price lists, orders... to accelerate the go-to-market of new products and optimize purchasing at network level."

Enabling franchisees to place the right orders

‍GuillaumeTirquit, Columbus Café & Co franchisee in Rouen, reports on the problems encountered in the field: "Before Inpulse, we had out-of-stocks and losses, due to the lack of precise data on our stocks and raw material requirements. We hope to optimize our inventory management and therefore our margins. Order recommendations and automated credit requests via Inpulse will also save us time."

After just a few weeks of use, franchisees are already seeing the first benefits:‍

Sébastien Polo, operator of 4 Columbus Café franchises (Montpellier, Béziers, 2 in Nimes) tells us about the onboarding of his teams: "I tested Inpulse on my 4 stores. The tool is easy to learn. It's simple and intuitive. I'm amazed at the accuracy of the sales forecasts." Augustin Anandout, Columbus Café & Co franchisee in Bourges, adds: "My manager was quickly trained, and as for me, I can track my margin from the analyses, so I don't have to wait until the end of the month to see how my establishment is performing."

Manage stores performance with reliable, centralized data

Reconciling franchisees' orders with the quantities and prices negotiated by the purchasing department is essential to improving the network's purchasing strategy. As Anne Jacquinod-Carry, Director of Functional and Digital Transformation at Columbus Café & Co, explains: "We needed access to reliable data, both at head office and in the field, to enable us to act more quickly in this turbulent environment. Thanks to Inpulse, we can centralize key data for analyzing financial performance at head office: sales, purchasing volume by reference, by supplier and for each outlet : food cost Sales, difference between theoretical and actual consumption".

Structuring and digitising the entire process "from product creation to sales".

Anne Jacquinod-Carry, Director of Functional and Digital Transformation at Columbus Café & Co, adds: "We wanted to provide franchisees with an intelligent tool to optimize their supplies and inventories, and better manage their margins. We took advantage of Inpulse's implementation to review a whole range of internal processes, streamline our methods and professionalize our teams. More than a 'purchasing' project, it has become a truly cross-functional project to improve coordination between marketing, the central purchasing department, franchisees and suppliers."

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‍ If you'd like to see a demonstration of Inpulse, ask for an appointment with an expert today to discover what Inpulse can do for you.