Case Study

A Recipe for Success
DDI System Caters to Restaurant/Food Equipment Supply Company with Largest Gourmet Kitchen Showroom in Connecticut

Chef’s Equipment Emporium Using Distribution Management Software to Automate Retail and Commercial Operations

Sandwiched in by three major competitors in the tri-state area, Chef's Equipment Emporium has distinguished itself as a food service equipment supply house and retailer that is optimizing distribution technology to provide quicker and
more efficient service to its commercial and consumer clientele. Chef’s Equipment Emporium (www.chefsequip.com) is a family-owned, full-service restaurant and food equipment supply company based in Wallingford, CT that has served the New England, NY and NJ area for more than 35 years. In 2000, Pasquale Salvatore, president of the fastgrowing company that now employs a workforce of 60-strong, opened a 30,000 sq. ft. professional gourmet kitchen showroom to the public – the largest in Connecticut. The retail store offers a range of essential small wares and electrics for the home chef. Chef’s Equipment is truly automating its retail and distribution operations with Distribution Management Software from DDI System.

According to Robert Halligan, systems administrator for Chef’s Equipment, the company’s previous distribution
technology solutions were inadequate. “Our first solution was a standard cash register-in-a-box that ran on a PC,”
said Halligan. The software’s limited functionality left much to be desired for the company. “We then upgraded to an
inventory and accounting solution offered by a large distribution technology vendor. It was a complete ERP solution but it did not have the necessary capabilities for our complex industry and customer service was also non-existent.”

With that in mind, Salvatore spoke with DDI System president Adam Waller and was impressed with his knowledge of the food equipment industry. Salvatore and Halligan conducted further due diligence and realized DDI truly catered to the company’s industry – unlike its current and overpriced technology platform. According to Halligan, “It was great to talk to Adam since he knew our business well and he was throwing us solutions to our problems before we even bought the DDI System. They also saw problems with our operations that we did not even notice.” It was this attention to detail that impressed Chef’s Equipment.

In June 2005, Chef’s Equipment deployed DDI System across the company including its warehouse, retail, remanufacturing and DDI SYSTEM, LLC. contract departments. DDI engineers installed the system and completed database conversion in a day and a half. After going live, DDI conducted software training for Chef ’s Equipment employees. “DDI started the deployment on Monday morning and went live on Tuesday afternoon,” he said. “After that, we were running full steam and the technicians stayed the rest of the week to answer any questions we had.”

Immediately, on both the retail and commercial side of the business, Chef’s Equipment noticed a considerable ROI with DDI’s point-of-sale functionality. “Compared to our previous solution, DDI System offers an unbelievable difference in terms of software robustness,” he said. “Personnel in the warehouse and retail showroom can easily bring up customer information and view purchase history items.” The company can now communicate more efficiently with DDI’s built-in email platform. “The email system has definitely improved communication across the entire company since the interface is so easy to navigate,” he said. “The system also offers auto-notification emails when a special order arrives at the warehouse. This feature allows us to get products out the door more quickly than in the past -- this equates to better customer service.”

In pursuit of the paperless office, Chef’s Equipment is using DDI System’s Electronic Proof-of-Delivery Signature Capture and Electronic Document Scanning solutions to digitally archive signatures, purchase orders, packing slips, invoices and hand-written notes. “With these solutions, we can now throw out packing slips after scanning onto the DDI System and drivers don’t have to worry about paperwork while making deliveries,” he said. “All the information they need, as well as signature capture technology, is embedded onto their durable PDAs.

For Chef’s Equipment’s road salespersons, DDI’s laptop implementation has proved invaluable to help them sell commercial products and service customers on the road. “No other distribution technology vendor had a laptop solution that worked seamlessly like the one provided by DDI System,” he said. “This feature is hands-down the best sales tool on the market for food equipment supply houses.”

Before DDI System, Chef’s Equipment could not embed industry auto-quotes into its system without a custom application. “We can now access this extensive list of ever-changing prices on the more than 260,000 items we sell,” he said. “This allows us to ensure price point accuracy across our operations.” Unlike the untrustworthy min/max method that the company used with its previous system, Chef’s Equipment uses DDI System’s projected purchasing functionality which is based on a complex formula to determine customer purchase orders throughout the year. “Previously, buyers did not trust the min/max method, but our new system is surprisingly accurate most of the time,” he said.

Chef’s Equipment is looking forward to several upgrades including credit card integration and an in-house gift card program. “We are currently enrolled with a company to provide gift cards to our customers, but with DDI, we will no longer have to pay surcharges every time we swipe a card. By handling gift card services internally with DDI, we will eliminate the overhead typically involved in the process.” In terms of support, Chef ’s Equipment has experienced phenomenal customer service from DDI System. “If we have an issue, we call and leave a message and within minutes, a technical support representative calls back with helpful information from a software and operations perspective,” he said.

With DDI System, Chef’s Equipment Emporium has truly integrated its retail and warehouse operations and can grow its business without increasing its payroll.