SpeedLine Solutions: Increasing restaurant delivery performance

Speedline Solutions, developer of restaurant point of sale and enterprise management software, uses Bing Maps to power their visual dispatch system SpeedLine LiveMaps.

Delivery performance is tightly coupled with a restaurant’s profit margin, and SpeedLine LiveMaps utilizes capabilities such as real-time traffic data, routing and visual analytics to help their clients increase operational efficiency and profitability.

“Bing Maps provides the best balance for our clients today in mapping quality, functionality, and cost,” says Jennifer Wiebe, SpeedLine Solutions Marketing Manager.

Below is Q&A with the SpeedLine Solutions team about how they are using mapping in their solution and why they have chosen Bing Maps:

How do you use Bing Maps in your solution?

Bing Maps for Enterprise provides live map and traffic data to our visual dispatch system for restaurants, SpeedLine LiveMaps. Pizza and delivery restaurant chains use SpeedLine point of sale software solutions to manage everything from employee scheduling and time tracking to inventory to enterprise reporting. But a key component of the system is delivery dispatch.

The live data from Bing Maps makes it possible for restaurant operators to define delivery zones in LiveMaps, track associated delivery fees by zone, and dispatch drivers effectively to speed up delivery times.

Operators save money by reimbursing mileage based on best route in current traffic, rather than depending on driver-reported odometer readings. They can dispatch orders more efficiently (and deliver them faster) with a map interface that makes it easy to group nearby deliveries.

An interactive dispatch station lets expeditors dispatch deliveries efficiently. A big TV screen on the wall provides a live-updating digital version of the traditional delivery area wall map for drivers, expeditors, and restaurant managers.

And restaurant guests are happier because with the data from Bing Maps, LiveMaps can provide accurate ETAs based not only on order volume in the kitchen, but on current traffic en route as each order is dispatched.

In addition to the route mapping capabilities, LiveMaps with Bing Maps gives restaurant operators heat map views of important data for visual analytics. Delivery slowdowns, driver performance, and local sales trends come to life with visual map analytics.

Delivery is expanding rapidly in the restaurant world, and tools that drive more profitable delivery are high value. That’s why more than three-quarters of new SpeedLine clients add LiveMaps with data provided by Bing Maps for Enterprise to control delivery efficiency in their restaurant operations.

What are some of the benefits you and your clients are seeing?

Our clients tell us their delivery operations are more efficient and profitable using SpeedLine LiveMaps with Bing Maps. Below are a few examples of comments we have received from our clients:

“We love that we can map the deliveries to group the orders together for faster delivery times."

“Staff can just look at the TV and see which deliveries are in the same direction to send them out."

“Tracking delivery locations on a simple and interactive map makes all the difference.”

  • Overall, our restaurant operator clients are benefitting from:
  • Improved dispatch efficiency for deliveries, with instant visibility into customer locations and delivery stats on a large screen in the kitchen. This allows drivers to handle more deliveries.
  • Simplified training for delivery drivers and expeditors.
  • Fewer late deliveries, with drivers able to handle deliveries more efficiently.
  • Lower lifetime cost for delivery mapping: with no ongoing cost for map upgrades, restaurant operators save thousands of dollars over the life of the system.
  • Increased revenue through consistent, accurate delivery zones and fees—including the option to draw—and redraw—delivery zones on a map, much more accurately reflecting real delivery costs than traditional zones defined by a set radius from the store.
  • Easy auditing of reported driver mileage versus “best route” mileage for coaching and accountability—and for savings in mileage reimbursement to drivers.
  • Reduced labor costs due to accurate tracking of on-road time for drivers—particularly important in operations where drivers are paid a lower tipped rate while on the road, and a higher rate in-store.

Why Bing Maps?

The first release of LiveMaps used an open source map data provider. While it worked well in some areas, data quality was poor in others. After evaluating the options on the market, the move to Bing Maps for Enterprise made sense for our client base.

LiveMaps with Bing Maps has been a highly successful new product release for SpeedLine. Bing Maps provides the best balance for our clients today in mapping quality, functionality, and cost.

For more information about the Bing Maps for Enterprise solutions, go to https://www.microsoft.com/maps.

- Bing Maps Team