A&W Canada digitizes daily operational routines in 1000+ locations with CMX1

The COVID-19 Pandemic &  

An Accelerated Need for Digital Transformation 

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in 2020, A&W Canada needed a way to quickly implement and measure new safety measures and updated operational guidelines across all their locations.

Part of tackling the ‘new normal’, the large chain needed to ensure restaurants were being disinfected and sanitized correctly. They also focused on protecting the safety of their staff—something they immediately prioritized with health screening checklists. Adding to the requirements, they needed automated record-keeping to monitor compliance.

With time of the essence, these new and updated procedures had to be rapidly embedded into the chain’s daily operations—no easy task when you’re dealing with 1000+ locations across the country.

Fortunately, A&W Canada’s long-standing investment in digital transformation technologies meant that they already had a system in place that made the path ahead much simpler to navigate.

Challenges Faced

A&W Canada has been a CMX customer for more than four years, using the CMX1 platform and ActivityStudio® for in-person audits and self-assessments in each of their locations to drive quality and operational excellence.

Their satisfaction with the results led them to consider how they could further leverage the platform. It fast became obvious that it could be expanded to address their new challenges, which were:

• Fast-changing regulations that influence how chains such as A&W needed to operate;
• Communicating changes to the organization’s SOPs to 1000s of employees across more than 1000 locations, in a timely manner;
• Ensuring and maintaining compliance across all 1000+ locations for daily SOPs.

Solution and Results

“Previously, we used ActivityStudio® for in-person audits and self-assessments in each of our locations. We’re now beginning to expand our use of ActivityStudio even further by making use of the platform to perform daily operational routines. ActivityStudio’s self-service visual form designer makes it easy for us to quickly move from manual and paper-based programs to a digital and more automated approach for checklists.” Tina Parsons, Director, Guest Experience for A&W Food Services of Canada

Digital Checklists for Restaurant Routines

With ActivityStudio®, A&W Canada was able to easily create customized daily checklists for cleanliness and sanitation and introduce new operational assessments as needed to help their restaurants improve their operations and to deliver a great guest experience. Parsons continued, “With this expanded use, we are able to easily pivot as needed with the ever-changing regulations related to the pandemic, make updates on the fly, and roll them out quickly as part of our Operating Standards.”

ActivityStudio’s visual form designer, publisher, and program management tools provide the team at A&W with the self-service features needed to configure the platform to match their unique brand standards. Including the need to create SOPs and checklists in both English and French (CMX1 supports more than 30 languages).

Attaining New Levels of Success

The benefit of foregoing paper-based programs has improved chain-wide visibility—ensuring not only greater compliance but also more opportunities to optimize the excellent guest experience that’s so core to A&W Canada’s mission.

Parsons concluded with, “We have achieved measurable impact since leveraging CMX’s technology. Brand Compliance Assessment scores have improved year over year, Key Operating Standards are allowing us to better execute on our strategic objectives to deliver an exceptional guest experience, and we are attaining new levels of success with lower-performing restaurants.”

A&W Canada + CMX = An ideal partnership

CMX’s CEO Mitch Porche had this to say about the partnership with A&A Canada, “We’re seeing an increase in the adoption of digital tools as organizations like A&W Canada recognize their value for helping them run their businesses better. Digital platforms also give brands better insights and visibility into restaurant operations, allowing management to analyze performance on a daily basis, compared to quarterly audits and assessments. We’re very proud to assist A&W Food Services of Canada in this important transition.”

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About CMX

CMX’s Enterprise Quality Management Software (EQMS) helps highly regulated organizations manage supply chain partners, ensure product and service quality, and improve operational execution. Some of the world’s best known brands including Burger King, Hasbro, Arby’s, and Taco Bell choose to partner with CMX.

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