key takeaways
By automating its supply chain quality and operational processes through the X1 platform, Luna Grill was able to more efficiently:
- Manage & monitor overall food safety and quality assurance by providing employees with digitized instruction, examples, and checklists
- Build solid, trusting relationships with suppliers through improved partner onboarding & management
- Create an efficient, in-house process that supports and coaches employees—giving them a tool that helps, not punishes
opportunity
Luna Grill, a pioneer in the fast-casual segment, is dedicated to providing contemporary Mediterranean cuisine made from fresh, unprocessed ingredients—including raw proteins and fresh produce that are cut, cleansed, marinated, and skewered on-site at each location.
This means a lot of prep is happening in their kitchens, and food safety protocols are critical—not just in-house but down to the supplier and ingredient sourcing level as well.
To streamline and improve those safety procedures, Luna Grill partnered with CMX1 in 2021. Since then, the brand has leveraged the X1 platform to develop and execute in-house quality, safety, and operational checklists—including food safety and temperature monitoring, facilities and equipment evaluations, employee pre-shift and wellness checks, and much more.
Additionally, Luna Grill utilizes X1 for supplier relationship management, product & ingredient sourcing, product lifecycle management, quality assurance, and product quality incidents.
action
Since its program launch, Luna Grill has leveraged the X1 platform to execute quality, safety, and operational checks across locations—simplifying and optimizing back-of-house restaurant operations while ensuring front-of-house team members are prioritizing guest experience at all times.
Luna Grill had 3 key areas of focus for its team members:
- Manage & monitor overall food safety and quality assurance by providing employees with digitized instruction, examples, and checklists
- Implemented Bluetooth thermometers to streamline and automate temperature checks and cooling logs, creating a much more efficient logging process
- Ditched paper logs and moved to a digitized, cloud-based system so team members can manage forms quicker—resulting in fewer complaints from staff
- Build solid, trusting relationships with suppliers through improved partner onboarding & management
- Created automated forms for product and ingredient sourcing as well as supplier compliance and performance
- Expedited and automated product lifecycle management and product commercialization processes
- Resolved non-conformances from audits and product quality incidents experienced by suppliers
- Create an efficient, in-house process that supports and coaches employees—giving them a tool that helps, not punishes
- Created checklists for new employees so team members know from Day 1 what their responsibilities are
- Implemented “moonwalk checklists,” including mandatory in-app pictures, for end-of-day manager walk-throughs—setting store up for success the next day
- Leveraged BI reporting for benchmarking and trends to help spot ongoing issues or gaps and provide actionable feedback
outcomes
Not only has Luna Grill improved supplier relationships and program engagement, the restaurant brand has seen tangible efficiency gains including:
- Eliminated the need for many add-on apps, including a separate scheduling system, saving $1000s/year
- Improved accountability and visibility through reporting, helping increase completion rate of forms by 35%
- Used reporting to provide incentives to employees with 100% audit scores, celebrating wins and successes and driving engagement
- Increased agility, can make updates in a matter of minutes instead of updating paper manuals—what used to take 3+ weeks for printing and delivery now takes 1 hour to update activities and push to the field