IoT sensors + demand forecasting turned franchise chaos into predictable performance
Franchisee satisfaction was plummeting. Equipment failures during Friday lunch rushes were costing locations $3-5K each. Food waste from corporate's one-size-fits-all ordering system was running 22% above target. Three franchise groups representing 85 locations were threatening to leave the system.
500+ franchise locations, each with unique equipment, local demand patterns, and operational quirks. Corporate's centralized ordering system used chain-wide averages — sending the same inventory quantities to a college-town location as a suburban family restaurant. Equipment maintenance was purely reactive: things broke, stores called, trucks rolled. Meanwhile, the IT budget had been cut 15% year-over-year.
We deployed IoT sensors ($50 each) on critical kitchen equipment across all locations, feeding data into a predictive maintenance model. Each location gets customized demand forecasts based on local events, weather, day-of-week patterns, and school calendars. Automated inventory ordering adjusts per-location. Our engineering team built custom integrations for each franchise group's POS system and manages the pipeline overnight.
Corporate finally gave us something that actually helps. My fryer tells me it needs service before it dies on a Friday night. My walk-in orders what it needs, not what some spreadsheet in Irvine thinks it needs.— Multi-unit Franchise Owner (12 locations)
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