Introduction

J&L Sandwiches, INC., a Subway franchise operator, is committed to delivering top-tier customer service and operational efficiency across its locations. With over 37 years in the industry and 21 locations, Owner, Jim Cagle understands the importance of maintaining high standards to drive customer satisfaction and business success. To achieve these goals, J&L Sandwiches partnered with DTiQ, a leader in video surveillance and business analytics, to optimize their operations.

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Challenges

Operating multiple Subway locations presents unique challenges, particularly in ensuring consistency in service, adherence to operational procedures, and managing loss prevention. Jim Cagle recognized the need for a solution that could provide actionable insights and real-time monitoring to address these challenges effectively.

• Loss Prevention: Jim was concerned about shrinkage, destruction, and employee theft, impacting his bottom line. Despite his best efforts, the lack of a reliable monitoring system made it difficult to identify and address these issues efficiently.

“We were robbed a couple of times, we had vandalism where they threw rocks through the window, or somebody broke in. The cameras really helped tremendously in all those instances. You can pull the footage for the police. We’ve watched people and knew exactly who they were when they were breaking into our store at night. Sometimes they were our employees.”

• Operational Efficiency: Running multiple locations, Jim struggled to maintain consistent operational standards across all his stores. He needed a tool that could provide insights into various aspects of his business, from customer service to cleanliness, to ensure that each location met Subway’s high standards.

• Customer Experience: Jim understood that a positive customer experience was key to his stores’ success. However, without real-time feedback, it was challenging to ensure that every customer interaction met his expectations.

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Solution

J&L Sandwiches implemented DTiQ’s security solutions, which combines video surveillance with advanced analytics. This system allows Jim and his management team to monitor operations across all Subway locations remotely, ensuring that every store adheres to the company’s high standards.

“We’ve got DTiQ in every store.”

“We mainly focus on when an employee does something on the POS such as a suspicious ring-in, an override, or a comp, you know, an employee meal—things like that.”

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‍Results

Since partnering with DTiQ, J&L Sandwiches has seen significant improvements in overall efficiency and customer satisfaction. The real-time insights provided by DTiQ’s platform have enabled Jim and his team to address issues proactively, resulting in a reduction in operational inconsistencies and improved staff performance.

Moreover, the ability to review footage has strengthened J&L Sandwiches’ loss prevention efforts, ensuring that any discrepancies are promptly addressed.

• Improved Loss Prevention: With DTiQ’s advanced surveillance and analytics, Jim can quickly identify instances of theft and other forms of shrinkage. The ability to monitor employee behavior has led to greater accountability and a marked reduction in losses.

“One time, our GM noticed her bread count was off. The cameras caught an employee making four foot-longs for his buddies but only ringing in a bag of chips and a drink. We fired him, but it’s situations like these where DTiQ’s system really proves its worth.”

“We watched a guy one night taking orders with the camera right over the register. He never closed the drawer on cash deals—he’d take the money, turn around, and stick it in his tip jar. DTiQ’s system caught it all.”

“The system works really well, and it’s exactly what the city wanted in case of robberies.”

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: DTiQ’s dashboard has allowed Jim to oversee key performance metrics in real-time. By tracking cleanliness, customer service, and policy adherence, he can ensure that all his stores operate smoothly.

• Elevated Customer Experience and Incident Management: Through continuous monitoring of customer interactions, Jim can maintain high service standards and prepare for scenarios where more information is needed to identify the source of the problem.

“We had a customer/employee communication incident that would have cost us $10,000 if it wasn’t for DTiQ.”

“The best thing was that we could handle customer comments and complaints against an employee—you want to see what happened and who’s telling the truth. Just because it’s a customer doesn’t mean they’re telling you the truth, which, many times, they weren’t. They get upset, have a bad day, and say things. So, the cameras helped tremendously.”

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Conclusion

DTiQ has empowered J&L Sandwiches, INC. to enhance its operational efficiency, reduce theft and shrinkage, deflect destruction, prepare for incidents, and uphold its commitment to delivering exceptional service across all Subway locations. With the continued support of DTiQ’s solutions, Jim Cagle is confident in maintaining and even exceeding the high standards that his customers have come to expect. Through the prevention of loss, a culture of evidence was created.

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About DTiQ

DTiQ is a leading provider of video surveillance and business analytics solutions designed to help businesses optimize operations, enhance customer service, and improve loss prevention. With a focus on delivering actionable insights, DTiQ serves a wide range of industries, including quick-service restaurants, retail, and convenience stores.

I have been in the restaurant business for 30 years and always believed in security systems. Previously we worked with a vendor that we were not happy with at all. When I received a call from DTiQ and watched a demo, I was excited about the potential of the service.

There were several other restaurant concepts and operators using the system and I heard some very positive reviews.

DTiQ System Utilization

We were interested in surveillance for several reasons; most importantly:

• Employee productivity
• Improvement of internal controls to reduce theft
• Protection for employees
• Internal and external security

Over the past couple of years I’ve seen DTiQ’s technology continue to improve and I find myself using the system more and more. They make it really easy.

SmartAudit™ Reports

The biggest selling point for me is the SmartAudit.™ As technology has developed, one important thing I learned is that camera systems are only good if someone is watching what is going on. I don’t have enough staff to handle watching video at all my stores everyday but DTiQ’s SmartAudit™ team handles that for me. Now, if an employee or customer does something wrong, I know about it. The staff knows they’re being watched and that makes the system really valuable to me.

I share the reports with the whole team and display them at staff meetings. They are great for pointing out opportunities for improvement but can also be used to reward employees for good Speed of Service and exemplary customer service.

“I encourage operators to sign up for 1 audit per week. It’s a constant reminder that we have a tool available to us to help improve performance.”

The End-of-Month reports on the portal are also great for showing store trends. They tell us where we are doing well and where we could use some work.

Because of the audits, we were able to identify several instances of internal theft. We’ve also had incidents where guests have complained about an employee and, upon review of video, it was revealed that our employees did everything by the book; the guests were actually out of line. In those scenarios, the system saved multiple employees their jobs.

I encourage operators to sign up for 1 audit per week. It’s a constant reminder that we have a tool available to us to help improve performance. It keeps our staff honest and, in combination with POS integration, helps us to ensure that transactions are being properly rung up.

MyDTT™ Portal

I’m a frequent user of MyDTT™, which I access mainly for Live View. I like the Custom View feature because I can see what’s going on at multiple stores from 1 screen. I have 1 setup that shows me the registers from 6 stores at once so I can get an idea of how busy they all are.

I also use it for Recorded Video Search if there’s an incident or question about something. I’m actually in the middle of an investigation because of an incident with our loyalty card program. We recognized that an employee was fraudulently using a loyalty card to take advantage of free food. We are only able to pinpoint which employee did this because of the video and POS data. Without it we would not be able to verify any of the details. What bothers me most about this is not that our employee was getting free food but that our customers were being denied access to the program.

Financial Impact

Compared to other Qdoba groups, we have improved about 1% on food costs since installing the DTiQ system. I think this can be attributed to a combination of things including product theft, issues with portioning, or ringing up transactions inaccurately. One of the most common problems was that employees would add Guacamole to dishes without adding it to the transaction. That can equate to a significant amount of money and product that goes unaccounted for.

Final Thoughts

I’m a big fan of DTiQ overall and especially impressed with the Support team. In fact, I’ve used DTiQ as an example of good customer service in conversations with other vendors. Anytime we have had an issue they have responded immediately.

In my situation, operating 13 restaurants over 3 states, DTiQ is a necessity. I can’t drop into all the locations every day but this system, including SmartAudit™, POS integration, and audio, has really increased my comfort level with remote markets. I almost feel like I’m there to an extent. In the past there was a concern about expanding our enterprise because you couldn’t easily manage it; that’s no longer an issue today.

See how this Multi-Unit QSR Operator got time and money back by implementing an outsourced loss prevention program

Summary

Third-party delivery is an integral part of most quick-service restaurant (QSR) operations. As an example, this multi-unit operator averages 36% of their orders from third-party ordering services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub.

Unfortunately, this multi-unit operator, like most QSRs, struggled with third-party delivery chargebacks that averaged over $500 a month per location despite having a well-trained team that promptly and diligently prepared food orders. When you consider that QSR users are typically charged a fee by the third-party delivery platform, restaurants can end up losing money on an order if the cost of the entire order is disputed. That doesn’t even account for the cost of food that is sent to the customer.

This Multi-Unit Operator implemented 360iQ by DTiQ and immediately saw major savings

The Challenge

The misuse of third-party delivery chargebacks continues to explode — all over the internet, people share their “hacks” for getting free meals by complaining in order to receive a free meal.

This so-called “life hack” was costing this Multi-Unit Operator upwards of $500 monthly per location and required up to 30 hours to challenge each chargeback. They knew they had to act fast to reduce the cost and efficiently dispute chargebacks.

The key? Finding technology that allowed them to quickly and easily prove they successfully filled each order.

Cue 360iQ by DTiQ.

The Solution

Since implementing 360iQ’s Video and POS integration solution that ties every transaction back to its corresponding video, this Multi-Unit Operator has won over 70% of their chargeback disputes — resulting in savings of over $3,065 monthly. The savings on this win are significant — their monthly chargebacks dropped from $500 to $150 per location.

DTiQ’s RISA+ feature allows our customers to easily share video footage of events and incidents in a universal file format with external users such as law enforcement and third-party service delivery vendors. DTiQ’s solution saves users a lot of time because they can share video footage remotely and avoid going on-site to manually create flash drives or CDs.

With easily accessible video, the Multi-Unit Operator quickly creates video evidence to prove they completed their order in-full and on-time. Users look at the order time of the chargeback to promptly pull video footage showing the order was completed properly. The video footage is shared with the third-party delivery service provider to dispute chargebacks.

“Receiving chargebacks, whether from customers themselves or third-party delivery services, is a growing issue in our industry, and DTiQ’s RISA+ feature allows us to counteract these in real time. RISA+ has become part of our stores’ day-to-day tasks to ensure we aren’t losing money on our sales through companies like DoorDash and UberEats. We’re able to download video footage to show the accurate orders going out directly from the 360iQ platform and easily share it for disputes. Without RISA+, our stores wouldn’t be winning nearly as many chargeback disputes.” Multi-Unit QSR Operator

The Outcome

This Multi-Unit Operator’s team was thrilled with some of the major outcomes they saw after implementing 360iQ at all 9 of their locations, including:

• Major decrease in time associated with disputes.
• ~No more traveling to the individual location to pull video, scrub footage to find the incident, request the video from their provider, pay for the video request, wait for the download, and then finally share.
• ~Now, they can access the transaction date and time while easily uploading and storing the video in the cloud to share with the third-party deliver service providers during the dispute process.
• Winning over 70% of the dispute cases by sharing video resulting in $3,065 per month in savings across 9 locations

Timeline with DTiQ

• Restaurant receives chargeback
• Team uses 360iQ to create a cloud video archive
• Video is shared with a third-party platform to prove order was accurate
• Chargeback dispute won

Time to chargeback dispute win: 20 minutes

Timeline without DTiQ

• Restaurant receives chargeback
• Team must request and pay for individual video footage from a third-party company
• Team must wait 24+ hours to receive individual video footage
• Video is shared with a third-party platform to prove order was accurate
• Chargeback dispute won

Time to chargeback dispute win: minimum 30 hours

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Operator Background

I’ve been in the restaurant business for 9 years and was started out as an investor. As we grew, I took on a bigger role handling more of the operations side. I have been a Capriotti’s store owner for 4 years.

I never really thought about surveillance/loss prevention until I was introduced to DTiQ through a SUBWAY® deal with one of my partners. So far my experience with DTiQ has been great; I especially recall the smooth sales process and my very helpful account executive. I utilize the system in all 17 of my stores.

Surveillance as a Deterrent

We are on the cameras a lot, looking at different situations so we can know what’s going on in each store at any given moment. I also like that I can monitor from my office, my phone, and anywhere else. Employees know they’re being watched, so it’s a good deterrent. Of course we’ll still catch them on their phones or slacking off from time to time, but at least now we know and can do something about it. It does keep people honest.

“It’s difficult to say where specific financial returns have come from, but DTiQ has definitely made an impact in various areas.”

Using the System

It’s difficult to say where specific financial returns have come from, but DTiQ has definitely made an impact in various areas. The video footage and SmartAudit™ reports in particular have caught a ton of transaction fraud and stealing, including someone walking out the door with the safe. The audits are very good and can be customized as needed; we are always changing the questions to make them better and more applicable to our operation.

DTiQ has been helpful in terms of product and inventory tracking. I’m buying a store next week, and the current staff completes inventory checks about once a month. When inventory isn’t tracked carefully enough, the employees are usually getting away with some product theft. At my stores, I typically count about 17 different items of inventory on a daily basis and have a detailed weekly and monthly system as well. After about 6 weeks with DTiQ in a new location, none of the people that were employed to start with are still working there. They can no longer get away with their old tricks and either get caught stealing or quit.

Audio Integration

We use the audio a lot, both to protect our employees and to take our customer service to the next level. One day, we had a customer call and tell us that the manager made a racial slur toward his wife. He was extremely adamant about it, so I contacted DTiQ support to request the video and audio. There was nothing there! The customer was just looking for a refund and free food.

When I called him back, I said, “Look sir, this is interesting. My security team just sent the video and audio clips –“ He immediately interrupted and replied, “What do you mean, audio?” I told him we have cameras with audio integration throughout the store so we can protect our employees and verify any incident claims. I heard a “click” and realized he had hung up. The audio really comes in handy!

Final Thoughts

DTiQ is something we need to run our business – similar to other services like Internet, cable TV, etcetera. It’s a quality system that an operator should really want to have, especially as the technology improves. Overall, DTiQ helps me sleep better at night.

DTiQ Uncovers Internal Theft at SUBWAY® Store

I have been a DTiQ customer since 2007. At that time I did not have any interest in the SmartAudit™ service. A recent experience at one of my stores taught me otherwise. If I’d signed up for the service at that time, I could have potentially prevented significant cash loss.

Back in October, I received a complimentary SmartAudit™ from DTiQ that indicated possible fraud. I requested a more thorough look into the situation and DTiQ’s Forensic Investigation clearly indicated that an employee had been ringing up fraudulent transactions dating back to July of 2012. Approximately $13.00 per hour worked was stolen over a 15 month timeframe.

“There’s a cost to having DTiQ of course but the system pays for itself over and over and over again because I’m able to catch and prevent fraud.”

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The Process

The employee managed to pocket money using the item correct feature on our registers. She rang up items ordered and stated the amount to the customer; while the customer was gathering cash, she item corrected the tender to $0. The employee would collect cash from the customer and place it in the register, then calculate the customer’s change.

While doing cash balances, where cash was to be placed in an envelope, the employee was seen on camera keeping some bills on a shelf, not in the envelope. At the end of her shift, she’d retrieve the loose cash and place it in her purse or jacket.

Looking at the POS transactions from this employee’s shift, it was clear that the majority of cash transactions were item corrected. If a credit card was used for payment, all red negatives from the last few cash transactions were visible. This is how DTiQ was able to quantify all item corrects.

In the event that a customer asked for a receipt, the employee would have to re-ring the transaction without item correcting. So, receipts and credit card transactions posed a barrier for her scheme.

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Admitting Theft + Filing a Report

I contacted the employee over the phone and stated that she was terminated for stealing. She did not question it. A couple of weeks later, she sent me a text message admitting to stealing.

At the end of December I filed a report with the police department and was able to give them a flash drive with DTiQ’s Forensic Investigation and video clips showing the employee taking money. It was a very complete package.

If the employee admits to stealing only $1,000 it is considered a felony. I did also file an insurance claim and I know they will be going after her to recoup their losses.

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A Learning Experience

I know there is fraud going on at every restaurant in the world in different ways. It is up to the owner to determine how much they want to know. How much time, effort, and money do they want to spend on uncovering it? Do the potential findings outweigh the cost of the system? Now, I can confidently say that those costs are justifiable.

If I had been signed up for SmartAudits™ when I first installed the DTiQ system years ago, this employee would not have lasted a month. As an operator, you think you have a good employee but can never be sure. Once you get away with something it’s hard to stop; you become more and more greedy and the sky’s the limit. When no one’s catching you, you build a routine. This employee had been stealing month after month and created an additional income for herself.

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DTiQ Loss Prevention Services

I’ll be signing up for SmartAudits™ this month as a result of this whole experience. I used to think I could handle Loss Prevention myself; but, I don’t actually do it. Whatever I pay per month for these services is justifiable; it will save me money in the long run.

There’s a cost to having DTiQ of course but the system pays for itself over and over and over again because I’m able to catch and prevent fraud.

I recently talked with DTiQ’s Business Consulting Group and will be meeting with a consultant again soon for additional training. They will soon have me setup to receive an email notification every time a transaction includes an item correct with a $0 balance tender. Training is all about setting parameters and identifying what you want to be alerted about.

I think that I’ll see more of the same issues at my stores moving forward as well as a great deal of Sweethearting. I know it’s going on but haven’t been able to call people out on it.

With SmartAudit™ in place last year, I would’ve been aware of various problems at my stores. As a Franchisee, if you are not going to look for issues and monitor your operation regularly and consistently, then you need to hire someone to do it. I’m very confident that DTiQ is the right partner for my business.

Operator Background

I have always worked for Wendy’s in different capacities and purchased my two stores approximately 20 years ago. I started as an hourly employee in Hays, Kansas, then spent 10 years on the marketing side of the corporation, and subsequently became an operator. I’ve been using DTiQ in both my locations for almost 4 years.

“With DTiQ, all it takes is one phone call and their technicians take care of the problem, either remotely or by visiting the store. There’s no DIY necessary.”

Why DTiQ?

Our initial surveillance systems were sold by local IT and security providers, but they never worked properly. I would wrestle with the companies to get technical support and hardware repaired until the warranty was finally up, after which I would begin looking for a new solution. I don’t have time to untangle wires or make sure everything is properly plugged in, so I needed a provider with top-notch customer service. With DTiQ, all it takes is one phone call and their technicians take care of the problem, either remotely or by visiting the store. There’s no DIY necessary.

The DTiQ Experience

DTiQ has met every one of my expectations. From installation, to customer service, to tech support, there have been no hiccups and DTiQ makes everything really easy. We’ve captured people breaking in, caught employees stealing, used footage to verify customer complaint issues, and disputed worker’s comp claims. DTiQ has a great system in place for pulling specific footage and we are always able to easily provide evidence for police reports. We have cameras and audio in the back office to monitor employee-manager conferences and eliminate the potential for he-said, she said problems.

Benefits of Remote Viewing

From an operator standpoint, if you walk into your store and immediately hear someone calling your name, that’s a sign that things aren’t running smoothly. If all employees are doing their jobs efficiently and there are no major issues, there is reason for your arrival to be identified. DTiQ remote view gives us the chance to look in on each store unannounced and see what’s really taking place when we’re not there. It gives us a better scope of the business from the time the door is unlocked in the morning to the hour it’s secured at night. Remote viewing really helps us figure out the dedication level of various employees, particularly those at management level. Are they performing their role with best interests in mind for the operation, or are they slacking off and becoming unproductive while they think they’re unsupervised? Remote view allows us to uncover positive and negative employee activity.

SmartAudit™ & Triggers

We take our SmartAudit™ reports very seriously. They act as another set of eyes to look at each store and detect areas for improvement. We can identify slip and fall potential, food safety issues, product mishandling, customer service snags, and much more. I love that we can make the reports as detailed and as customized as we want. For instance, we’re currently struggling with employees misusing the back door, so we requested that specialists take a look at that area each time an audit is performed.

We also installed a back door trigger so we can review photos every time the back door is opened. These help us figure out why the door is open: is it a scheduled trash run? Is the manager supervising? Or are employees just walking in and out for breaks, which in turn causes a security issue?

DTiQ in Real Life Situations

We don’t watch our cameras 24/7, but one night we happened to flip them on and saw a brown paper bag sitting right outside the back door. Naturally, this rose some suspicions, so someone went by the store and discovered that the bag contained a bottle of alcohol. We called the manager on duty and asked about it; apparently an employee had purchased the alcohol from a convenience store while on a break, then brought it in the store. The manager didn’t want the alcohol inside, so she took the bottle and placed it next to the back door.

This would have been a tricky issue if we didn’t have the capability to play back footage – how would we have verified if the manager was telling the truth? Because of DTiQ, we knew that the she did everything correctly and that the employee was in the wrong. No questions were left unanswered.

Final Thoughts

I would recommend DTiQ because of its reliability. You really get what you pay for – unless you can afford your own on-call IT consultant, what good is it to have a Walmart system that doesn’t work? DTiQ works 24/7 – in the time I’ve been using the system, it’s never gone down.

Business Transformation Case Study

I operate 5 Cinnabon and 5 Auntie Anne’s Locations. For my company, DTiQ represents an unbiased opportunity to learn about what’s really happening in all of my locations.

How Did You Learn About DTiQ?

I first heard about DTiQ at a FOCUS Brands Tradeshow years ago. I was impressed with their ability to offer POS Video Integration, and I decided to try them. I’ve been a happy customer ever since.

Over the years, I’ve seen DTiQ’s relationship with FOCUS Brands strengthen, which has improved the services they’ve been able to offer me as a franchisee. Specifically, they are now the only loss prevention company that offers POS Video Integration with Revel POS.

“One of the best parts about DTiQ is the service they provide. The Account Executive I work with, Rick Lopresti, is by far the best of any vendor I partner with. My relationship with DTiQ is completely hassle-free, thanks in large part to his dedication.”

What Are the Benefits of DTiQ?

DTiQ offers FOCUS Brands Franchisees the ability to review an unbiased account of any incident that occurs. It gives you peace of mind, knowing that even if you’re not physically in one of your locations, you can be virtually present at that location and react to any situation.

For me, this service has been invaluable when it comes to things like resolving customer complaints, cash discrepancies, slip-and-falls, or workers compensation claims.

I can use DTiQ to make informed decisions in regards to those incidents.

How Has DTiQ Been Effective?

The day before I wrote this case study, one of my locations was broken into. The first call I made was to DTiQ.

I was instantly connected with a service representative who walked me through gathering court-admissible footage and submitting it to the police. I’m confident that the police will be able to identify and apprehend a suspect because of the video surveillance I had in place.

In addition, I can use DTiQ’s video surveillance to show my insurance company that the store in question had followed all operational security procedures prior to the break-in. Having DTiQ in a situation like this means there is no going back-and-forth with insurance or the police. I can submit the video evidence and show them what happened in crystal clear HD quality video.

Final Thoughts

Overall, DTiQ has been a perfect fit for our business. I believe that because you can customize their services to meet your specific needs as a business owner. For example, with their SmartAudit™ service, you can request that their auditors look for specific things, like excessive employee cell phone use or uniform violations. It’s completely customizable.

In addition, I’ve found DTiQ’s employees to be easy to work with and knowledgeable about loss prevention. They are a great resource for any FOCUS Brands Franchisee.

When we were in the market for a surveillance system we wanted something that would give us an understanding of what was going on at our stores at any given time. Looking at financials alone, for example, does not provide a comprehensive overview of the operation; cameras do. If food costs look higher than normal, a review of camera footage may show that night shift employees are rolling out dough, wasting butter and paper cost. It’s a fine art to manage our roundup! DTT really helps

A big draw when we were looking for a system was the SmartAudit™ tool. We have a lot of stores and a lot of cameras, making it difficult to monitor and manage them all. As an operator, you need assurance that everything is being watched; plus it’s really valuable to have DTT’s LP team on our side. Cameras are great at deterring theft, possibly minimizing sweethearting, and keeping employees on their toes but the system is about more than that. It’s about improving the whole operation. With SmartAudit™, we know if employees are in uniform, if they’re upselling, if there is enough product in the warmer, etc. With DTT’s LP specialists on our team I know the operation is being monitored and that we will be notified when something needs to be addressed. I also love that the audits are easily customizable. For instance, if you have a strict uniform policy, SmartAudit™ will monitor that.

“DTiQ has impacted our operation in a positive way. Labor is the area where I find it most helpful from a financial standpoint.”

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MyDTT™ Portal

DTT also works for us as a human resource tool. If an employee is caught stealing, we will address the problem directly but also log it in MyDTT™. This way, HR can access the data and review details regarding any incidents that take place. Also, using the “actions taken” feature, they can confirm that appropriate steps were taken to address any issues.

I reference MyDTT™ daily to follow up on exceptions. Voids and No Sales are most important to me so I review those transactions as well as corresponding video to see if there was any fraudulent activity.

The great thing about MyDTT™ is it’s so easy to use. We currently operate 60+ stores. I can pull up live footage from 1 store then within 2 clicks view another. It’s really easy to get from one store to the next to see what’s going on where.

Our Managers access the system also. They work hard to create a great environment and service for our customers as well as establish a good reputation within the community so I want them to know how important their role is. They use it mainly to remotely view live and recorded video. Also, if we receive a complaint from a customer, they can review video and audio data to verify what really happened. Video doesn’t lie. We wouldn’t want to reprimand an employee for something they didn’t do.

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Audio Module

We installed an audio kit at our stores to help us monitor customer greeting and upselling. We not only verify that guests were greeted and upsold but also that employees followed the correct scripts – did they offer the right sauce or dip? Did they distribute a sample? It has become a great training tool too, especially for new employees just learning ropes.

Overall, I know DTT has impacted our operation in a positive way. Labor is the area where I find it most helpful from a financial standpoint. By monitoring the DTT system we can determine whether we have enough staff members on duty at any given time or if we have too many and make adjustments accordingly.

Contributors: Karan Chawala, VP of Operations | Steven Attard, Head of Operations | Maximus Roszkowski, Loss Prevention Manager | Wade Gill, District Manager (8 locations)

Summary

IOAN Donuts Holdings, LLC & Affiliates know success in the QSR space. The group successfully grew from three to 70+ Dunkin’ locations over three years, largely due to their industry expertise and leadership. They took locations that were struggling and turned them around completely.

It was this extreme success across so many locations that made it easy for the group to catch on that something wasn’t right when it came to their refunds.

Their Dunkin’ locations were losing hundreds of dollars a month due to said refunds and the number of monthly refunds continued to climb — on track to cost the stores $1,067.07 per month, or $12,804.84 annually for just two locations. This raised red flags. The team knew that he needed a video solution that could actively aid in discovering and solving the refund problem at hand.

The Challenge

IOAN Donuts Holdings, LLC & Affiliates used March Networks at the time, a video surveillance company , and found that there was no consistent communication or support coming from their team. This lack of communication made it near impossible to home in on what was causing the costly spike in refunds.

The team recognized that their video provider was not up to standard. They received no direct or consistent communication with their current surveillance provider. The team found themselves without a point person at the company or any training, meaning insights from his video provider were hard to pull. They needed a solution that allowed them to review their store performance easily and immediately and provided actionable insights, especially around the growing refunds.

Refunds were becoming a growing concern across locations, with close to 100 different refunds processed in December of 2022 at two stores alone . The team almost immediately picked up on this problem, but without video that could effectively pinpoint each situation, it was increasingly difficult to pinpoint how this was happening. If left unchecked, refunds were on track to cost the team$12,804.84 by the end of the year.

IOAN Donuts Holdings, LLC & Affiliates needed a solution that made it possible to find these incidents with ease, versus sifting through hours of video without support or guidance.

The Benefits

They needed to make a change, so he brought DTiQ in. Within two days, fraudulent refunds that March Networks missed were caught by DTiQ, and refunds started to drop.

• Cost Savings: Thanks to SmartAudit™ services, large-scale refund fraud and cash theft was caught. Without SmartAudit™ services, these locations were on track to cost $12,804.84 annually.
• Capture of Fraudulent Refunds: Fraudulent refunds were immediately identified and documented with DTiQ’s SmartAudit™ services, conducted weekly, and with custom reporting . This resulted in a 54% decrease in the number of refunds, and cost savings of up to $576.24 monthly at a single location.
• Dedicated Support: DTiQ’s team is packed with industry professionals who first-hand experienced the pain points that were taking place at these Dunkin’ locations. They were able to come in and immediately add value, as well as be available on a continuous basis to support.
• Insights on the Go: DTiQ’s mobile offering made it possible for Maximus, Karan, Wade, and Steven to review store performance from anywhere at any time. In addition, the team has access to a Sales Activity Report and Loss Prevention Reports in place to address this immediately.
• Trimming the team to a trustworthy group: Thanks to DTiQ’s insights, it became clear that certain employees were stealing from their locations. Those employees were terminated, due to their theft that was caught on camera.

“DTiQ has been a great partner during years of tremendous growth at our organization – having only 6 Dunkin’ locations when we first partnered to over 70 Dunkin’ stores today. With DTiQ as our eye in the sky, we’re able to continue expanding the business with peace of mind knowing loss prevention efforts are being always monitored, from refunds to discounts and employee theft. Compared to the theft uncovered through DTiQ, our monthly services pay for themselves while we increase our revenue and ensure we staff honest employees.” Karan Chawala, VP of Operations

The Outcome

The result was insights so powerful that IOAN Donuts Holdings, LLC & Affiliates has weekly SmartAudit™ reports across their 70+ locations, totaling over 244 SmartAudit™ reports conducted monthly for their business. The numbers of the results speak for themselves:

• Over 244 SmartAudit™ reports conducted that go straight to their loss prevention team
• Significant decrease in refunds across stores, resulting in $12,804.84 annual savings for their Dunkin’ locations
• ~85 December monthly refunds of $920 dropped to 39 refunds in January, valued at $236
• ~46 July monthly refunds of $576.45 dropped to 24 refunds in August of $193
• Over 646 audits between January and March 2023, with 51.7% Incident Capture Rate and 3.8% Fraud Capture Rate
• A team of dedicated customer support managers that the Dunkin’ team could get in contact with easily and understood the business inside and out

Insights from the SmartAudit™ services addressed the groups’ main pain points, tackling the increasing costs from refunds, so much so that they had the capacity to hire somebody full-time to work with DTiQ on this. Aside from the considerable cost savings from refunds, the team now has a team in place that they can trust — both internally AND with committed CSMs with DTiQ.

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Locations: Michigan & Wisconsin

“The system health check feature means I never have to worry about my cameras or DVR failing when I need them most.”

Why DTiQ?

We’ve had DTiQ installed since 2012. One of my friends is actually a Subway Franchisee who has DTiQ in all of his stores. I was looking for a reliable camera system that could top what I had in place so he suggested I get in touch with DTiQ.

I didn’t know much about the DTiQ system when I first started looking into it and really needed cameras to access recorded footage and validate incidents. I quickly realized how much more the system does and implemented DTiQ across my organization.

I know there are a lot of services I’m not currently taking advantage of but even so it has been a great investment.

DTiQ Utilization

Most importantly, if there is an incident at one of my stores, I can search the system to find it and determine what really happened. The Remote View functionality is really helpful for that.

Another great feature is DTiQ ’s Offsite Storage. DTiQ records 1 camera on the hard drive with no overlap, which means it never gets overwritten. There’s a great sense of security in knowing that footage is always available. I personally like to store the office footage just in case we ever need to access it.

I also love the audits. My team actually thinks I conduct those! I always forward the reports out for everyone to review. They know they’re being watched – both to monitor theft and things like that as well their behavior.

Thankfully nothing crazy has been uncovered as far as my employees are concerned. We see pretty standard behavior – cellphone usage while on the clock, inactivity during slow hours, grazing of food products. I do think their behavior has improved since implementing SmartAudit™.

We just installed system at a new store and an audit identified one of my employees sleeping in the office. He was reprimanded and let’s just say word got around!

Another incident worth mentioning is in relation to a thief who broke into a store after hours when we were closed. He somehow broke a window, crawled through, and stole products. The DTiQ system captured photos of his face, which we presented to law enforcement. Ironically, the same man had been caught stealing from another location after ours and was already in jail!

The DTiQ Team

I give DTiQ an A+ on their persistence in trying to train me! I know there’s a lot to learn about the portal so I understand why they want to make sure customers know how to take advantage of it.

The sales personnel seem to go over the top to make sure I’m a satisfied customer. I know that it will never be a problem to call and make adjustments to my system. At my first store, for example, I wasn’t happy with the placement of cameras and someone from the DTiQ team returned to the store with a wide-angle camera so the view could be improved. I have no hesitation reaching out to the team anytime I need something.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I think the biggest benefit of DTiQ for me is that I don’t need to babysit my cameras, they do that for me. I can log into the portal or app and search for footage if needed but when it’s important and I’m in a rush a quick phone call to DTiQ will allow me to get information about what exactly happened. Within an hour I’ll get a call back with an explanation plus photos of the incident.

Reliability is a big deal for me. My old cameras worked well for 8 months to a year then had issues. I’ve actually had about 4 or 5 security systems at my stores before DTiQ and there’s a lot of peace in knowing that if something goes wrong with my system, DTiQ will let me know. The system health check feature means I never have to worry about my cameras or DVR failing when I need them most.

Our costs are in line on the whole. I am certainly strict with my management team about costs so I can’t give DTiQ full credit for my healthy margins but also can’t deny that the DTiQ system has helped me out financially as well.

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