Background
Montana’s BBQ & Bar is known for smoked ribs, steaks, burgers and casual BBQ dining, with nearly 100 restaurants. Recipe Unlimited, formerly CARA, operates and franchises a portfolio of more than 1,100 restaurants.
Montana’s joined the VECOM program through a subsequent brand-specific implementation, with its own menu configuration and ordering requirements. The engagement has continued through support, application enhancements and changes to restaurant technology.
Today, Recipe’s teams develop and brand the web and mobile front ends. VECOM provides their technical catalog, e-commerce and order-management services, while Visionmax’s call-centre application remains in use by agents.
The Challenge
BBQ ordering needs to represent meal selections and combinations accurately, apply the relevant prices and offers, and pass the resulting order to the restaurant for preparation.
Digital customers and telephone agents need access to consistent ordering rules even though they use different interfaces. Restaurant staff need the order in their established POS and payment workflow.
The implementation also needed room to grow as Montana’s menu, promotional activity, loyalty requirements and supporting systems changed over time.
The Solution
Visionmax configured and enhanced its Enterprise Customer Order Management system for the Montana’s menu and operating requirements, connecting customer ordering with restaurant fulfillment.
Brand-specific configuration: Product catalogs, meal choices, pricing, specials and coupons are supported through the application and its integration with restaurant data. The rollout required configuration and development suited to Montana’s products.
Digital application layer: Recipe’s web and mobile teams use VECOM APIs for the technical e-commerce functions behind their branded experiences, allowing presentation changes to use the established ordering services.
Assisted ordering: Visionmax’s call-centre application supports live telephone orders and customer troubleshooting, integrated with the IVR and enterprise order management.
Kitchen and POS integration: VECOM delivers pickup and delivery orders to the restaurant POS, enabling automatic kitchen printing, order lookup and pickup payment, with delivery-driver reconciliation where applicable.
Scene loyalty: Guests can have their balance checked, redeem points toward meals and earn points on paid orders through the integrated workflow.
Continued evolution: Application support and development have accompanied new brand requirements and the Recipe POS transition from legacy Oracle Micros systems to newer Oracle Simphony environments.
The Results
Montana’s has a connected ordering workflow that brings its BBQ menu and offers into the restaurant’s preparation and settlement processes.
The application foundation serves both digital channels and call-centre agents, while Recipe retains control of the customer-facing design and development.
Successive enhancements have kept the brand’s implementation part of an ongoing operational service, with its own menu needs and rollout history rather than a one-time rebranding exercise.