Investing in a technology-driven cloud access control system is the first step for multi-site restaurants to protect their people and property and optimize business processes. As restaurants upgrade their security and technology infrastructures, advanced solutions replace traditional lock-and-key systems, offering greater efficiency and reliability. Franchise restaurants have unique management, compliance, and security requirements, and ProdataKey (PDK) addresses these challenges head-on.
Challenges for Multi-Site Restaurants
Managing security across dozens to even hundreds of restaurant locations presents several challenges. Efficiently coordinating appropriate access for many employees and vendors across sites is essential to business operations. Traditional key-based systems are complex to manage and present significant security vulnerabilities. Multi-site restaurants need a streamlined, reliable way to manage access for a large number of users.
On-time and accurate deliveries are critical to restaurants. Food and beverage deliveries can happen day and night, usually outside regular business hours. In the past, restaurant operators would have to either give each vendor their own individual key or try to coordinate a delivery schedule so that someone would always be on-site to receive them. Keeping track of mechanical keys is nearly impossible, and they don’t provide access activity reporting. Multi-site restaurants need an easy and secure way to give vendors access.
Restaurants are responsible for on-site security and maintaining food and safety compliance standards. Franchise restaurants house critical equipment, liquor, and customer information, and often, depending on the jurisdiction, must comply with strict standards to protect employees and customers. Restaurants need to ensure that only authorized workers can enter certain areas and have an accurate way to track activity.
Multi-Site Management
Standardized processes are critical for making efficient use of company resources. Multi-site restaurants often employ a dedicated IT or security team to manage access across facilities, and for franchise restaurants, this process can frequently be complicated and time-consuming. The ProdataKey platform streamlines access management by unifying user databases for multiple locations under one customer account. This centralized approach streamlines administrative tasks, such as adding or revoking access credentials, configuring access schedules, and creating audit reports. For example, if a manager needs access to multiple restaurant locations, the system admin can quickly add access to every site in just a few clicks.
After-Hours Deliveries
ProdataKey has the solution for after-hours food and beverage deliveries, eliminating the need to distribute multiple keys. Restaurant operators can give vendors access to delivery doors with key cards, fobs, mobile credentials, and keypad pin entry. System administrators can customize vendor permissions to allow access only during their scheduled delivery window and monitor their activity with reporting and instant alerts. PDK also makes managing vendor access flexible. Whether on the ProdataKey mobile app or PDK.io web browser, restaurant administrators can remotely give vendors immediate access.
Safety and Privacy Compliance
For safety and privacy compliance purposes, franchises need to be able to monitor and record access activity. In restaurant applications, access control can secure liquor storage, the BOH, A/V or network rooms, management offices, fire riser rooms, and more. Many jurisdictions require restaurants to provide activity reports for these critical areas for compliance and auditing. PDK access control systems allow multi-site restaurants to record the time, date, and location any user entered. System administrators can filter activity to quickly identify specific events on any web-connected device and respond to security incidents.
Customizable Permissions
Multi-site restaurants typically comprise many different teams, including cooks, servers, vendors, management, cleaning crew, and administrators, who all need different levels of access. The ProdataKey platform makes it easy to partition these groups to specify when and where they can enter. For example, the kitchen team may need access early in the morning to start prep or only managers are allowed into critical areas like the office. This is a significant improvement on the lock-and-key system, where everyone would always have access. Creating granular access for every user contributes to a more secure environment for restaurants.
Adopting an innovative cloud access control system like ProdataKey is a crucial step forward for multi-site restaurants in addressing their unique management, compliance, and security challenges. By replacing outdated mechanical systems with advanced solutions, restaurants can streamline access management, ensure timely deliveries, and maintain compliance standards across locations. For franchises large and small, PDK’s mighty features empower business owners to ensure security and optimize their processes for success.
Listen in to the conversation with Jeff Goen, as we talk about how PDK systems assist in the restaurant industry.