“I want a service dedicated to my bottom line. DTiQ offers that.”
My partner and I started with one site, a combination gas station, and SUBWAY® restaurant, in 1993. Over the years, our enterprise continued to expand significantly; today we operate 67 locations in total.
Why DTiQ?
I became a DTiQ customer in 2006. I was tired of dealing with different vendors for security systems and wanted to implement one that could work across my entire enterprise. I was also not impressed with the video quality or playback functionality that other vendors offered. When I was introduced to DTiQ, it was not only the most convenient choice but also turned out to be a high-quality system that makes sense for my operation.
I can’t be at every location at one time so I rely heavily on my team to run the operation on the ground. Having 40+ physical locations means I can only go to about two a day and I need to be sure that what I am pushing down from the top is working properly at the store level. Both the SmartAudit™ reports and MyDTT™ portal have become a critical part of my business, in that regard.
SmartAudit™
I use the audits to ensure that our policies are being executed properly. The reports let us know what areas we need to work on and we have made significant changes/ improvements to our operation based on the feedback we have received from these reports. I appreciate that the DTiQ Loss Prevention department acts as my eyes and ears in the stores. Some of the items we request for them to look at include:
- Are staff members in uniform?
- Are IDs being viewed for purchases of alcohol or tobacco?
- Are all crew members on duty actually working or slacking off (i.e. on cell phones, smoking outside, etc.)?
- Are discounts being given when they shouldn’t be?
SmartAudit™ are so valuable to my business; I wouldn’t be a DTiQ customer without them.
MyDTT™
Our stores are typically 4,500 square foot buildings with a convenience store attached to a Dunkin Donuts or SUBWAY® restaurant. The restaurants are fully built with dining rooms fit for approximately 45 people, a full backroom and freezers. We employ multiple general and district managers in the field and each of them has a MyDTT™ login.
It is used most frequently to watch stores live using the Custom Views page. For example, they can view all the registers of all the stores they manage at one time, on one screen. This allows them to oversee whether transactions are being rung accurately, staff members are where they should be, and guests are being taken care of.
When I notice that one employee is working while another is outside smoking I can make the decision as to whether or not two employees need to actually be on duty at that time. In the same way, if a manager complains about being understaffed, I can take a quick look and confirm based on how many customers are in line at any given time.
“In order for a multi-unit/concept operation to be successful, we have to have standards, enforce them constantly, and then confirm that they are in fact being enforced. DTiQ helps us to adhere to that policy.”
DTiQ Saves the Day
Restaurant Incidents
We opened a new SUBWAY® location near a college campus and hired students to work in the store. Unfortunately, we found that a lot of them thought it was ok to offer an employee meal discount to their friends. As a result, we had to re-classify and re-visit how we handle employee meals. A couple of employees were terminated along the way but on the whole, we were able to clean up this process significantly and have lowered food costs by about 1% since.
C-Store Incident
C-stores are constantly worried about losing their liquor license, being fined, going to court and paying attorneys, etc. Alcohol and tobacco account for about 50% of sales so if one store violates any of these laws, authorities yank the liquor license. This is why DTiQ’s SmartAudit™ are so critical.
In our c-stores, our policy is to ID anyone who looks younger than 40 years old. For a period of time, every single SmartAudit™ showed that our employees were not adhering to this policy and only requesting IDs for customers who looked younger than 21 years of age. This led to us changing our procedure. Recently, the Police ran a sting operation and ended up congratulating us for our ID policy! Before DTiQ’s SmartAudit™ we would not have passed this investigation. DTiQ will be implemented into all new stores, with 32-camera systems for full coverage.
DTiQ Teams
Both the DTiQ Support team and our Account Executive, Sandra Martinez, have been great. Also, the Business Consulting Group has been phenomenal with teaching us how to properly use and take advantage of MyDTT™. I plan to go back for more training very soon!
Final Thoughts
I build my business around getting my staff to do what they’re supposed to and running a clean operation. I don’t worry about the small things but rather focus on larger issues such as adhering to company and brand policies, excellent customer service, store cleanliness, and monitoring any incidents that occur such as a slip and fall, customer complaint, or theft.
In order for a multi-unit/concept operation to be successful, we have to have standards, enforce them constantly, and then confirm that they are in fact being enforced. We have a zero-tolerance policy, this means that if an employee is caught stealing, whether a product or cash, we will terminate immediately. DTiQ helps us to adhere to that policy.
Almost every security vendor offers remote viewing but I don’t just want a commodity; I want a service dedicated to my bottom line. DTiQ offers that.
Contact us for more details.
