chick-fil-a, inc.: selection of operating systems for pos

4/1&2 January-June 2003 5

Chick-fil-A, Inc.: Selection of OperatingSystems for POS Terminals to ServeBusiness Functions

Selection of OperatingSystems for POS Terminalsto Serve Business Functionsat Chick-fil-A

I. IntroductionMike Erbrick, Director of Restaurant

Information Systems at Chick-fil-A, wasgiven the responsibility of converting therestaurant’s point of sales (POS) systemsfrom a proprietary EPROM based systemto a newer system. This changeover hadan investment impact of approximately$3.29 million based on the differences inthe costs required to implement the vari-ous POS systems being con-sidered, which could be ashigh as $15,000 per outlet de-pending on the system cho-sen and store layout. Withinits more than 700 outlets,Chick-fil-A averaged about 8POS systems per store com-pared to the two or three sys-tems per store used by otherquick-service restaurantchains. The number of POSsystems gave rise to addi-tional confusion for thekitchen staff because theycould have six to eight ordersarriving simultaneously onthe Kitchen Display System(KDS) screens. Thus, thenew system had to be ex-tremely efficient and scalableto meet the needs of indi-vidual stores. Perhaps mostimportantly to the store own-ers using the system, who arecompensated based on theirsales figures and net income,the sales data should be re-

layed to Chick-fil-A’s corporate head-quarters accurately and reported back toeach store in a timely manner.

The members of the internal projectteam, referred to as the Operations Coun-cil, were Roger Blythe, Brent Ragsdale,Jon Bridges, Mark Walker, Sandi Moody,Mike Erbrick, and Ken Oliver. The Op-erations Council researched the problemand then made their recommendations toTim Tassopoulos, the Senior Vice Presi-dent of Operations, and Buck McCabe,the Chief Financial Officer for Chick-fil-A. The Operations Council recommendedtwo options for the next generation pointof sales system to be used in all Chick-fil-A restaurants. The first option put for-

ward was an intelligent POS based onWindows NT/95 that was robust, faulttolerant and database-driven. The secondoption presented was a “thin” POS basedon Windows CE that was fast, incorpo-rated memory-resident programs anddata, and was noted for being a stronglyresilient system after lock-ups. The pricedifference between the two was of theorder of $5,000 per store, depending onthe size and layout of the store.

The team was challenged to evaluatethe options with respect to operational us-ability, technical architecture, program-ming effort involved, environment, 5 yeartotal cost of ownership, and business is-sues.

Figure 1: Chick-fil-A’s Critical Success Factors.

Chetan S. Sankar P.K. Raju P. Klesius F. Nelson FordAuburn University

Journal of SMET Education6

II. Vision and Critical SuccessFactors of Chick-fil-A

II.1. PeopleChick-fil-A has a unique history and

business structure that separates it fromother quick-service restaurants. Thisoriginated with Truett Cathy, the Founderand CEO, when he opened the DwarfGrill in Hapeville, Georgia, in 1946 afterreturning from World War II. In 1967,Cathy pioneered the in-mall quick-servicerestaurant by opening the first Chick-fil-A in a shopping center location. Thismove made Chick-fil-A a leader in mallrestaurants. During the 1990s, Chick-fil-A moved beyond the traditional mall foodcourt to freestanding units, drive-thruonly stores, full-service restaurants, andcollege campuses, hospitals, airports,business and industry locations. Chick-fil-A had about 850 stores (including li-censed outlets) in 1999 and planned toadd approximately 100 new locations andan additional international location in2000.

Chick-fil-A had identified four Criti-cal Success Factors (CSFs) for opera-tions: satisfied customers, sales and branddevelopment, motivated effective people,and financial return for its business (Fig-ure 1). These CSFs were designed to workwithin the vision and stated mission ofChick-fil-A to enhance its competitiveadvantage in the market.

The Chick-fil-A corporate headquar-ters is located south of Atlanta, Georgiaon 73 wooded acres. The facility also fea-tures a five-story atrium and floor-to-ceil-ing windows. The headquarters housesthe Chick-fil-A museum, as well as TruettCathy’s private collection of automobiles.

There are over 350 employees at theheadquarters to service the entire needsof the organization, assisted by a fluctu-ating number of contract consultants. TheChick-fil-A home office provides supportin a variety of areas, such as accounting,marketing, information technology, hu-man resources and training. In addition,a Business Consultant helps operatorsgrow and develop their business by of-fering additional resources, guidance, andencouragement. The Business Consultantalso helps to make sure that all Chick-fil-A standards and quality requirements aremet.

Also within the headquarters is a train-ing facility for storeowners and operatorsto learn the point of sales systems that areused by Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A trains alloperators in a six-week, paid, trainingperiod which consists of three phases:two-weeks of pre-training in a Chick-fil-A Unit, three weeks in a classroom in theAtlanta headquarters (Figure 2), and anadditional week with a selected operatorfor hands-on experience.

II.2. Process

The process used by Chick-fil-A fordeveloping its product menu required sev-eral steps. First, large chicken companiesown/contract with numerous farmsthroughout the U.S. These large compa-nies have chicken processing plants thatprocess the chicken, preparing it to be-come “food”. The chicken bought byChick-fil-A was then filleted by high-pressure water machines. The breast fi-lets were packaged and delivered freshto Chick-fil-A stores via a food distribu-tion company. The chicken was then mari-nated and coated with special Chick-fil-A seasonings and pressure fried to per-fection. Finally these cooked breasts wereplaced on toasted buttered buns with thetwo crucial pickles and served with asmile (and hopefully with a soft drink,

fries, and a dessert). The company is con-stantly working to improve the process,and this has resulted in increasing sales,as shown in Figure 3.

Chick-fil-A had in place a pay struc-ture for store owner/operators which wasdesigned to motivate and reward them.All owner/operators had the same con-tractual agreement with corporate head-quarters. Each month, Chick-fil-A re-ceived 15% of gross sales for operationalexpenses. After all other store expenseswere paid, the operating profits from eachrestaurant were split 50/50 between theChick-fil-A corporate office and the op-erator. Each operator was guaranteed aminimum salary of $30,000 annually tosecure a certain standard of living. Be-cause of this profit sharing agreement,both operators and the corporate head-quarters are strongly interested in improv-ing net profits each month.

Since individual franchise owner/op-erators were compensated based on theirperformance and local promotions, theywere strongly in favor of national strate-gies that will promote their business lo-cally. Corporate assistance included sup-port in the areas of marketing, account-ing, information technology, human re-sources and training.

Figure 2: A member of the Chick-fil-A InformationTechnology Team displays the room where training ofstore owners takes place on the legacy POS System atthe Corporate Headquarters in Atlanta.


II.3. Product

Chick-fil-A offers a varied menu centeredaround chicken. The core products are theChick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A Nuggets, the Chick-fil-A ChargrilledChicken Sandwich, and the Chick-fil-AChick-n-Strips (Figure 4). Each year, anindependent research firm surveyed cus-tomers in each restaurant for the chain’sCustomer Satisfaction Monitor (CSM).The CSM is considered one of the mostcomprehensive report cards in the quick-service restaurant industry. Chick-fil-Aoperators are provided with feedbackfrom nearly 147,000 one-on-one cus-tomer interviews conducted throughoutthe year. The survey asked customers torate their overall dining experience atChick-fil-A from the moment they walkin the door until the time they leave therestaurant. Customers consistently

ranked Chick-fil-A’s products highest inoverall quality compared to their competi-tors (Figure 5).

III. Information Technology(IT) organization

III.1. VisionThe information technology organ-

ization’s vision was to work in a team-based environment as part of a smallgroup of talented professionals focusedon specific strategic objectives. The en-tire IT department for Chick-fil-A workedfrom the corporate headquarters. Theirday-to-day activities involved close con-tact with users and a close linkage to busi-ness functions (Figure 6). They did notexpect to work in a “vacuum” where theywere isolated from real business issues.In all areas of their operations, the IT de-partment attempted to simplify thecompany’s processes by implementingleading technology while providing su-perior service. Aligning IT vision withtheir business objectives led Chick-fil-Ato adopt a business process objective of“High touch- High tech systems.” (Fig-ure 7)

These “High touch- High tech sys-tems” were the foundation of the point ofsales support provided for all their stores.This foundation combined the need for asystem with a high degree of transactionprocessing efficiency with a high level ofusability to achieve the business goals set

Figure 3: Chick-fil-A Sales Figures for 1998.

Figure 4: Images of some of the products offered ata Chick-fil-A outlet.


by Chick-fil-A. The “High tech” elementnecessitated the automation of manualtasks while the “High touch” element re-quired the POS system to be easy-to-useby the end-user. The combination of“High touch” and “High tech” allowedfor decreased training time for employ-ees and increased speed of order place-ment, while saving money that would oth-erwise be lost due to incorrect order en-tries.

Bridges, the Chief Information Officer(CIO) of Chick-fil-A made the followingstatement about the IT division at Chick-fil-A:

“Some IT shops do technology for thesake of technology and ignore the truebusiness needs. That is something thatcan be hard to see for an IT person.We think about the bigger picture-reusability of systems and code. Thereare some functions that we can seehappening at our registers to boost ourbusiness and we want our POS to beable to handle those functions. The ITfunction is critical to our business. Itwill be a key enabler to the futuregrowth of Chick-fil-A.”

III.2. PeopleAt the time of the study, the IT de-

partment comprised 47 people, with JonBridges as the CIO and a corporate VicePresident. It was made up of four dis-tinct groups, with each group having spe-cific objectives: the Corporate Informa-tion Systems Team, the Restaurant Infor-mation Systems Team, the InformationTechnology Infrastructure Team, and theInformation Technology Client ServicesTeam. The Corporate Information Sys-tems Team was responsible for the auto-mation of manual systems at corporateheadquarters (payroll tax filing, account-ing data collection, etc.) to minimize thehuman interaction within transactions.They were also responsible for provid-ing value-added analysis tools for long-term business evaluation and maintain-ing a knowledge repository for futureinformation and experience. The Restau-rant Information Services Team was re-sponsible for developing a way of cap-turing transactions at the source (at thecounter, where customers interact withassociates and money is exchanged) andfor providing immediate feedback on per-

Figure 5: National Quality Survey for Overall Qualityin 1998.

Figure 6: IT Organization and alignment with businessissues.


formance to store operators. They had anadditional function of using informationtechnologies to leverage knowledge andexperience across the entire organization.The Information Technology Client Ser-

vices Team was to provide softwarerollout services, training related tochanges in systems, Help Desk support,and application development for the otherdevelopment teams. One goal of the IT

department was to develop a knowledgemanagement system to improve perfor-mance by sharing the “successful prac-tices” used across the organization.

III.3. ProcessChick-fil-A’s technology infrastruc-

ture provided a solid foundation for theirexisting business systems and futuregrowth. Chick-fil-A used a variety ofcomputer applications. These applicationscovered the areas of Help Desk and Train-ing, PC Management, Systems Manage-ment, and Systems Development andMaintenance. These applications includedvarious Microsoft operating systems,server support applications, data storagesoftware and hardware, and networkingsoftware and hardware, along with themany different programming languagesused for systems development.

The technical architecture (Figure 8)was designed to help Chick-fil-A fulfillits business objectives. The POS and com-puters in each store were connected toeach other using an Ethernet network andcontrolled by a BackOffice PC (based on

Figure 7: Business Objectives set for a High Touch-High Tech System.

Figure 8: A broad overview of the technical architecture used by Chick-fil-A.


Microsoft’s Windows NT 4.0). TheBackOffice system was in turn connectedto the headquarters computers using avirtual private network (VPN). This net-work ensured that the stores were con-nected to the headquarters only as needed,while at the same time providing secureaccess. An HP Unix Oracle web serverreceived the information from the storesand supported the applications at theheadquarters. This was a top-of-the lineserver where the main production Oracledatabase was maintained. An EMC Sym-metric disk storage array with the capa-bility of storing 2.8 Terabytes of data washoused in the headquarters. An EnterpriseData Manager provided a backup solu-tion with the ability to store 175 indi-vidual tapes. IT systems allowed Purchas-ing personnel based at the headquartersto maintain a close watch on individualstore inventories and to alert store own-ers when supplies needed to be orderedif they had not already done so. Finally,this data was archived at the headquar-ters to analyze marketing trends over timeand to support corporate decisions.

The IT department was required tosupport over 1,000 end-users of informa-tion technology. This support was giventhrough Help Desk support, classroomtraining, store meetings, and personnelmeetings. In addition to these supportfunctions, the Chick-fil-A IT departmentwas responsible for development andmaintenance of the systems that ran in therestaurants and in the corporate offices.

III.4. ProductsThe existing system allowed the IT di-

vision to produce daily reports that cap-tured sales off the POS systems through-out the organization. Another systemmade payments to vendors, while a thirdwas used to pay the employees, based onweb-based payroll implementation. Afourth system was used to order food viaEDI and this system was in turn tied tothe other three systems. The sales, labor,and inventory information were all fedinto an accounting system automaticallyso that they could produce an incomestatement for each store on a monthlybasis. Various performance metrics werecalculated by the financial system andsent back to the stores.

Each individual store had the abilityto generate reports and obtain summary

data on an as-needed basis. The storeowners/operators could print out a dailysales report and analyze it to identifytrends. Additionally, they could also pro-duce time reports and other reports of rel-evant store data every day. The daily timereport was used to help the operator trackemployees and the hours worked. Anotherreport compared the total dollar sales withthe number of employees and hoursworked within a store. They could alsoobtain information on what happened ona particular day during the previous yearand use it to plan for sales each day. TheBackOffice PC server in each outlet wasalso used to help the owners keep a handleon their business. Owner-operators usedthe system to monitor labor, productmovement, food cost, and hourly sales,thereby enhancing their ability to man-age the outlet. They used the system tokeep the food costs down and reduce thelevel of employee theft. The owners’ ex-pectation was that they would like to hirean employee in the morning, train them,and have them ready to work by the lunchhour.

IV. Business and Technology Issues for POS SystemsThe company was forced to choose a

new direction for point of sales terminalsystems since they were unable to con-tinue purchasing their traditional systems(Figure 9). Gemini had been a major sup-plier for several years (Version 1000 sys-tems since 1986 and Version 2000 sys-tems through 1998). However, theGemini Version 2000 systems had goneout of production and Chick-fil-A had tomake the next generation POS decisionduring 1998. They needed Gemini tocontinue to support their existing systems,since they had more than 500 restaurantsstill using them. The company had to con-sider business and technology issues inmaking its decision. The responsibility formaking this decision was assigned to theRestaurant Information Systems Team.

IV.1. PeopleTim Tassopoulos, the Senior Vice-

President of Operations, and BuckMcCabe, the Chief Financial Officer, as-signed the Operations Council to comeup with solutions to this problem (Figure10). This seven-person Operations Coun-cil team was composed of Roger Blythe,Brent Ragsdale, Jon Bridges, MarkWalker, Sandi Moody, Mike Erbrick, andKen Oliver. Mike Erbrick and Jon Bridgesacted as the team leaders. The OperationsCouncil was responsible for researching

Figure 9: The input touch board used by the EPROM system.


alternatives based on both present andfuture business needs.

IV.2. ProcessBusiness Issues

The business issues that prompted theneed for the next generation POS werethe company’s inability to purchase tra-ditional systems, labor issues, and theanticipated increase in self-service cus-tomers (Figure 11). These issues are dis-cussed next.

Mike Erbrick (Director of RestaurantInformation Systems) and Jon Bridges(VP, Information Technology and CIO)got together to discuss the issues involvedin the selection of POS. Mike Erbrickdiscussed the inability to purchase tradi-tional systems.He reported:

“The Version 2000 EPROM systemsthat we have been using since 1990are no longer going to be producedby Gemini. Subcomponents that areused in the 2000 can no longer bepurchased. In addition, it seems thatGemini has a new touch screen sys-tem that they want to produce. Theyare going to convert their whole as-sembly line to that new product. Sowe are faced with choosing our newpoint of sales system sooner than wethought.”

Jon Bridges replied:“We still need the support of Geminito support our stores that are usingtheir systems. We now have an in-stalled base of over 5,000 systems of

Figure 10: Jon Bridges,the CIO (left) speaks toMichael Garrison (right)at the Corporate Head-quarters in Atlanta,Georgia about the nextgeneration POS systemthat was chosen.

Figure 11: Business Issues considered by theOperations Council.

this Version 2000 in more than 500stores.”

Mike Erbrick explained:“We need to go ahead and purchase150 Gemini Version 2000 systems tomake it through the year while wedecide on a new POS system. Thatdecision should help us position ourcompany for all of our up-cominggrand openings. Any POS systemsthat we bought will probably lastabout eight years to ten years. So any-thing that has been deployed in the lasteight or ten years won’t be replaced.We will have to fully utilize and de-preciate the current Gemini systems.”

Jon Bridges agreed and added that laborissues also needed to be considered in thePOS decision:

“An issue from a business perspectivethat we face is labor turnover. We havea shrinking labor pool. The averageemployee is between 15 and 22 yearsold. Recent demographic trends showthis labor pool is shrinking. There arefewer people for us to choose from.There is also a proliferation of newrestaurants. The employees have moreplaces that they can work- it is get-ting harder and harder to get people-good people. We also experience highturnover. The restaurant industry onaverage experiences over 200%;

about 250% turnover per year. We, asa company, experience about a 100%turnover, which is significantly lowerthan the industry, but that means ev-ery year we basically have all newfaces; all new people trying to ring upand learn the keystrokes for the reg-ister systems. There is a learning curveany time you walk into a new project,a new company, a new process. Anynew POS we design needs to be easy-to-learn, possibly within a short time.”

Mike Erbrick agreed that labor turnoverwas an issue. He then introduced the topicof changes in customer buying habits andtheir impact on the POS selection:

“I agree with you on that. I am alsothinking that any new architecture thatwe use would have to be able to sup-port a rising trend that I am seeing incustomer attitudes. Many customerswant to handle orders themselves - Iwant to give them that ability by de-veloping a very simple touch-screensystem interface. Our old Gemini sys-tems did not support these new trends,where a PC-based system would. Ofcourse, these self-service POS sys-tems would have to be more “wizard-driven” than the ones that our employ-ees use, but I want the new architec-ture to be flexible enough to supportthis. Also, credit card use is rising,


even in the quick service restaurantindustry. Furthermore, customer loy-alty programs are growing in popu-larity. We need to make certain thatour POS selection considers thesetrends.”

Both Jon Bridges and Mike Erbrickagreed that the three business issues oftheir inability to purchase traditional sys-tems, future labor shortages, and custom-ers who prefer self-service had to be takeninto consideration in the POS decision.They also felt that the technology issuesneeded to be another driver of this deci-sion.

Technology IssuesThe technology issues that prompted

the need for the next generation POS werePC-based point of sale architecture, datasynchronization, and limited accessibil-ity to the system (Figure 12). These is-sues are discussed next.

Jon Bridges felt that the demandsplaced on the new POS meant that itneeded to be based on a PC architecture.He said:

“Clearly, we will have to go to a PC-based architecture that will supporttouch screen technology. Again, anynew POS must be able to supportmore than just ringing up orders- thereis a lot of other functions that we wantthis system to do. One of the chal-lenges that we will face is how tomove all of our input to the KitchenDisplay System and to the BackOfficeserver.”

Mike Erbrick explained that data synchro-nization is another major issue:

“We are going to have to run a net-work here from the BackOffice serverto all the POS systems in a store. Theissue is: where do we want the data toreside?”

Jon Bridges replied:“If the server retrieves it as soon aseach order is placed then you don’thave to worry about synchronizing thePOS and the BackOffice Server.”

Mike Erbrick pointed out a potential prob-lem:

“But then you have a single point offailure if the BackOffice server fails.What if each POS had its own data-base in case the server was offline?”

Figure 12: Technical Issues considered by theOperations Council.

Jon Bridges considered this suggestion:“That could be very expensive tomaintain and upgrade. Then youwould have eight POS databases thatyou have to replicate, consolidate,summarize, and then synchronizewith the BackOffice system (Figure13). At the other end, if theBackOffice Server keeps tabs on eachorder, it might get overloaded whenthe volume of business increases.Another issue is the POS databaseshave to be in sync when the headquar-ters offers special promotions and newproducts. It is important that the POSbe easy to change as our businesschanges- when we roll out new prod-ucts, change prices, and changemenus. These changes need to be re-flected in each POS accurately. Wedon’t want errors happening as theemployees ring up the orders.”

Erbrick replied:“In addition, if we have 10 POS sys-tems per store in 800 stores and wehave to make changes to the harddrive, then we have 8,000 hard drivesto upgrade. That is a tremendous ef-fort and cost. As per our capital main-tenance plans, the storeowners do nothave any incentive to upgrade ormaintain the systems at their loca-tions. BackOffice is not where theaction is; the decision-making is

where the customer interacts with ouremployees at the POS systems. In ourcurrent system, whenever a menuchanges, the only way to indicate thatis to put a new sticker on top of a key.This isn’t easy to change.”

Jon Bridges saw the problems. He said:“It is tough making any operating sys-tem stable and reliable. There are go-ing to be inevitable crashes of the sys-tem. During my research, I will see ifI can find answers to this problem.Maybe some of the POS systems willstore the order data in memory for asufficient period of time so that theserver can poll and pull that data inperiodically. We need the system tohelp our employees take an order inless than 20 seconds, perform the cashtransactions in less than 20 seconds,and deliver the food in less than 20seconds. We need a POS that can ac-commodate the need for a customerto leave the store within a minute ofentering it with the food items re-quested.”

Jon Bridges brought up the point that theBackOffice Server and the POS systemsmay not be easily accessible so that em-ployees can not put in floppy disks, playCDs, change cables, etc., on a routinebasis. He said:

“Some of our malls have just a littlecloset and the BackOffice Server


might be sitting on top of the refrig-erator. In a drive-thru location, thereis just sufficient space for two peopleto cook and sell chicken and that’s it.There are no special rooms for com-puters in these locations. The servermay be balanced on a shelf, sitting ina hallway, or wherever they can put acomputer.”

Mike Erbrick added:“If we go PC-based, I want it to be a“no Quake” zone. We don’t want em-ployees playing games, doing theirhomework, or changing out cabling.”

Jon Bridges replied:“That is what I am saying- we needto have a system designed so that onlythose with the authority can makechanges. It will include putting theserver away from the employee’sworkstations and putting locks whereit is appropriate. This includes theBackOffice to the actual terminalhead.”

POS Terminal FunctionsJon Bridges showed Erbrick a chart

that he had made listing some of the ter-minal functions that he wanted to includein the POS system (Figure 14). He said:

Any POS that we select has to obvi-ously do order entry. You know, thatis pretty simple, that is what most reg-isters do. But, then I thought aboutother things. An important feature Iwould like us to add is multimediatraining. You know, if we came to theexecutive committee and said, ‘Heywe want to go do multimedia trainingfor the stores as a separate task,’ thatwould be a hard sell. But as we arelooking for a new system, we mightbe able to incorporate the multimediatraining as part of the POS system; itis a good way to really justify our POSarchitecture.

Mike Erbrick asked:So you are suggesting that a POS beable to help with training?

Jon Bridges replied:“Yes, exactly. It would be truly mul-timedia training. We could have someof our training videos like the “Howto Bread Chicken” training video con-verted to digital format. I would sug-gest that our new POS have a modethat you can go into for training that

Figure 13: POS Connectivity with the BackOffice Server.

will run videos off the BackOfficeserver. We could have 6 of these vid-eos running 6 different screens at thesame time across our network. Ouremployees can play these training vid-eos during slow hours and therebylearn our system faster. And this couldgo beyond our employees at the salescounter - it could also include videosto train the cooks.”

Mike Erbrick liked this idea:“That would be particularly helpfulduring the busy holiday season. If wecan cut the training curve for a newemployee from weeks to hours, thenwe could really have an impact on

sales figures through this new tech-nology. And what else are you pro-posing for the POS system?”

Jon Bridges then made a suggestion infavor of suggestive selling. He explained:

“The POS can prompt the employeewith suggestive selling questions -popping up a little questions like,‘Would you like to up-size that drink?’Or, ‘Do you want a desert with thattoday?’ We can have the systemprompt the employee or customerwith these questions. Marketing hasfound that customers accept sugges-tive questions and that usually leadsto an additional profit margin. And

Figure 14: POS Terminal Functions demanded by theOperations Council.


there is a certain population that isinterested in ringing up their own or-ders. I think that we will always havea cashier taking a customer’s order,asking questions and ringing it up.However, I also believe that we willprobably begin to have at least onePOS system in a store that will allowfor a customer to ring-up their ownsales in the near future.”

Mike Erbrick agreed and wanted to ex-amine some other functions that the POSmay be able to handle. He commented:

“These are excellent suggestions. Iwas thinking that it might be nice ifwe could support our stores with timeclocks on each machine so as to keeptrack of employees signing in, takinga break, signing out, etc. This wouldreally help out and of course the com-puter can’t lie about the time, espe-cially if we limit access to the sys-tem.”

Jon Bridges replied:“That was my next point. Employeetime clocks need to be a feature of thisnew architecture as well, for employ-ees to login and put in their employeeID to clock in and also to clock out.Also employee satisfaction surveys;today those are done depending on theowner and are typically paper-based.Again, we could capture that informa-tion electronically and analyze it atseveral different levels.”

Mike Erbrick identified two other de-mands that he had for any new POS, say-ing:

“I would say that I want two other fea-tures out of any new system. One, ithas to be tough. I mean it needs tostand up to spills from soft drinks thatare being handed across a counter.And two, it needs to be a really flex-ible POS system. By this I mean thatI want to be able to use it in all ourrestaurants- from our in-mall quick-service outlets to our full-service res-taurants. The screen has to be able tochange icons depending on the out-let. Something else, I think that thenew POS should be able to handle anyspecial promotions that we are hav-ing. We need to keep these sugges-tions in mind when we are presentingour findings. Is there anything elsethat we have not considered?”

Jon Bridges closed the conversation withthe following:

I think that whatever we choose, itshould be based on a 32-bit architec-ture. 16- bit architecture is almost allgone now- 32-bit is the standard.UNIX has now moved up to 64-bit,so probably in two years the PC worldwill be totally involved with 64-bitarchitectures. I think that we shouldjust go ahead and get away from the16-bit legacy POS.

IV.3. ProductThe Operations Council drew up a

slide show of their high-level criteria forthe next-generation POS (Figures 11, 12,13, and 14).

V. Identifying Vendor/SystemChoices for POS terminals

V.1.PeopleThe Operations council approached

Tim Tassopolous and Buck McCabe andshowed the slides from their previous dis-cussion. After reviewing the document,Tim Tassopolous said:

“The new system must be resilient. Iwant a system that never goes down;that can do hundreds of orders an hourand be banged on in a very, very dif-ficult environment and hold up in that.After all that, and at the end of eachshift and the end of the day, it has totell the management what happened.I don’t want the owners to try to trackdown trends in the data on a paper tapethat may or may not have gottenprinted that day. Our marketing func-tion is more than brand development-we need to be identify our top sellingitems through the POS. I like thepoints that you have made- but let’stry not to be on the leading edge oftechnology just for the sake of it.”

Mike Erbrick agreed with Tassopolous:“The Gemini Version 2000 POS sys-tems were bulletproof. I understandthat you want the next generation POSto be just as reliable, but incorporatethe functions that we have outlined foryou. It looks like we are going to haveto go PC-based from the criteria thatwe have set. Is that correct?”

Buck McCabe replied:“Yes Mike, that is correct. Also con-

sider that because we will have to buyall our hardware and software for aPC-based POS, we will also have tobuy or build a major IT infrastructure.This means everything- from datastorage here at corporate headquartersto a field service organization that canshow up and fix it when a piece of thesystem breaks. I also want the newPOS system to be ‘open’. It needs tobe able to work beyond any propri-etary systemsfrom the operating sys-tem to the network. Finally, we willwant a POS that has intranet andInternet capabilities. I would like youboth to see what vendors and prod-ucts are out there and get back to me.This looks great so far. Keep up thegood work”.

V.2. Process (JAD) (Figure 15)The company followed a Joint Appli-

cation Development (JAD) process by it-erating the design multiple times andworking with the vendor of the POS sys-tem.

Iteration OneThe Operations Council reported back

to Tassopolous and McCabe about thevendors that they had been investigating.

Mike Erbrick said:“Buck, it is possible that we could takeanother EPROM product and make itwork, but we think that touch-screenis where we need to be. And this isonly possible by using a PC-based ar-chitecture. The total cost of ownershipis probably going to be twice as muchas if we stayed with an EPROM prod-uct, but we think that the benefits willpay off more in terms of shorter train-ing cycles, higher productivity, addi-tional information capture, and futureflexibility.”

Jon Bridges agreed with Erbrick, saying:“We have really investigated this andbelieve that a PC-based system is thecorrect choice. What happens whencredit cards become a mandate for ourindustry like they did for conveniencestores a couple of years ago? Pay-at-the-pump was not a big deal backthen, but now it seems like a require-ment. So, if we are faced with thechallenge of accepting credit cardswith EPROM, it would be a lot of


Figure 15: Joint Application Development (JAD) approachto system development.

work. With the flexibility of touch-screen, it is not that difficult. Besides,it is easy to use and there are a num-ber of ‘open’ devices that will workwith touch screen architecture.”

Mike Erbick added:“Touch screens really can do more.We have seen that with touch screen,we can create separate tabs on the dis-play terminals. So each tab could besomething different- you could havea drink tab, a desert tab, a trainingvideo tab- anything. With all of this,we could represent over 1,500 pos-sible items (Figure 16).”

Tassopolous replied:“Well, I hope that we never have thatmany…”

Mike Erbrick responded:“But, that’s the support- flexibility andscalability as our product and menuline grows.”

Tassopolous replied:“Okay, from the information that Ihave gotten and your work, touchscreen could be the future for us. Thenext task that I have for you two is tofind a vendor that will produce thissystem with us.”

Jon Bridges and Mike Erbrick sought outseveral vendors to see who could produce

Figure 16: A demonstration of tab menus such as thosesuggested by the Operations Council.

the next generation POS that had just re-ceived approval from Tassopolous andMcCabe They contacted two vendors.

Iteration TwoThe first vendor the Operations Coun-

cil contacted was Mercury. The Mercurysystem used Windows CE as the operat-

ing system (OS) and was a “thin POS”alternative. It was one of the top two al-ternatives for hardware and software thathad been identified by Erbrick andBridges.

The display screen on the “dumb” orthin POS used fewer colors than the com-petition. It was able to handle touch-screen technology and was often used inbusiness applications. The CE OS wasalso popular in the handheld devicesknown as personal digital assistants(PDAs).

The Mercury POS could be connectedto BackOffice servers using an open net-work based on TCP/IP over copper ca-bling. The input data on the screen wouldbe constantly polled by the BackOfficeserver and synchronized there. If theserver failed, the POS terminal wouldautomatically go into stand-alone mode.There is enough memory in the terminalsto hold 6 hour’s worth of orders whileawaiting service. With advances in tech-nology, this expected it to go up to 18hours in the near future. The server mustretrieve the sales data within 6 hours. Ifthe server fails, this has no effect on theKitchen Display Systems or the POS. Theemployees could be trained directly onthis POS by retrieving videos and otherinformation from the BackOffice server.


Finally, this POS has enough memorythat all the programs necessary to run thePOS terminal applications could residewithin it. This memory is not volatile- itwould not have to be reloaded if the POSsuddenly lost power. The reboot time ofan individual terminal is less than 45 sec-onds.

The Mercury POS would be capableof browsing the Internet, although anyheavy processing that was done wouldhave to be accomplished by theBackOffice server. The Windows CE op-erating system also allows for intranetbrowsing capabilities for use within thestore. Should the icons or prices on thePOS need to be changed, corporate head-quarters could send the needed code toall stores. Once the stores received the up-dated code, each individual owner/opera-tor would then install this code on theserver. Each terminal would reflect theupdated display screen as soon as theserver was updated.

Implementing a dumb POS system ina store would cost approximately $30,000to $35,000. This includes all the POSsystems (about 8 per store), a drive-thruPOS, kitchen display systems,BackOffice NT server, and network con-nections.

Iteration ThreeThe second vendor they contacted was

Gemini, who had produced the previousEPROM POS terminals for them, but hadbegun producing a PC-based touch-screen POS as the older EPROM systemswere phased out of production. Geminiuses Windows NT for the operating sys-tem of their POS. This system’s operat-ing system makes it the “intelligent POS”.It could also support touch screen tech-nology. Each individual POS terminalincorporates its own Pentium processorfor transaction and application execution.

This platform makes use of individual2 gigabyte hard drives within each POSfor storage of transactions. The harddrives are replicated and synchronizedwith the BackOffice server via a TCP/IPnetwork over copper cabling. These harddrives could also hold the training vid-eos and other applications that wereneeded by storeowners. The hard drivescould be easily swapped out should oneof them fail; however this also means thata Gemini POS has more moving partsthan the alternative. The reboot time for

each individual terminal after a powerloss is less than four minutes and alwaysmore than two minutes, since the OS re-quires the ScanDisk operation to be runafter failures. This POS option has theability to hold weeks’ worth of data in itsinternal database should the server be-come unavailable, thus eliminating thedependency upon the network to processtransactions. Should the server becomeunavailable, the Kitchen Display Systemwould not be affected. Internal store train-ing programs could be loaded into themachine databases individually, so thattraining could continue despite a serverfailure.

The Gemini POS interface on the dis-play screen has more colors than theMercury option POS. Windows NT is apopular operating system used in desk-top workstations in many businesses.Because it is so widely used in desktopfunctions, there are a larger variety ofprograms that could be integrated with thesystem than were available for the alter-nate option.

The Windows NT operating systemcould support both Internet applicationsand an internal intranet. New icons orprice changes that were needed for thedisplay screen could be “pushed” downfrom the corporate headquarters and in-stalled on each intelligent POS via theBackOffice server.

Implementing an intelligent POS in astore would cost approximately $40,000per store. This cost includes all the nec-essary components to implement the tech-nology in the store, including the termi-nal heads, network server, network me-dia, and the kitchen display systems. Thecost to support each restaurant per yearfor either the dumb POS or intelligentPOS was estimated to be between $1,500and $2,000.

V.3. ProductAt the end of this iterative process, the

Operations Council decided to present thetwo options, the dumb POS and the intel-ligent POS to the company’s senior man-agement, Tassopolous and McCabe.

VI. Decision by CFO(Buck McCabe) and COO(Tim Tassopolous)

VI.1. Decision among the Operations CouncilThe operations council reconvened

with Buck McCabe and Tim Tassopolouspresent to discuss the vendors and prod-ucts that were available for Chick-fil-A.They provided a memo to Jon Bridges(Figure 17) summarizing the events lead-ing to the decision. Mike Erbrick kickedoff the discussion:

Tim, it is really a decision betweenthe dumb and intelligent POS. Bothare great products, but we have todecide which one of the two is mostin line with our business.

Buck McCabe responded:Before we finalize our decision, Iwant us to discuss how we would goabout changing over to a new systemand how this would impact the cur-rent POS systems that we have outthere.

Mike Erbrick replied:We are clearly not thinking that weneed to sign a national contract withanyone right away. We need to have atesting phase to make sure that we aregoing to get the best support that wecan get. You know, we need to keepourselves in a position to negotiatewith the vendor that we choose.

Jon Bridges agreed:I think that you are right. When wechoose a vendor, let’s have some prac-tice grand openings at some of ournew locations before they actuallyopen.

Mike Erbrick suggested a way of doingthis:

We should commit to opening a lim-ited number of stores with whateversystem that we choose, that way wecould assess how good the support is.I was also thinking that we shouldhave this new system tested in storesin the Atlanta area and some storesoutside of the Southeast. That way, wecould test their ability to service us inareas that aren’t right under our noses.

Jon Bridges wanted to return to the issueof providing an internal organization to


support the new system and the time itwould take to fully implement any newPOS system. He said:

We also do not want to roll out a sys-tem in all of our stores right awaybecause we do not have the ability tosupport 8,000 plus PC-based systems.I think that we are going to find thatit is best to fully depreciate our cur-rent systems. Any new stores shouldget a new POS system, but this change

is going to take years for us to see fullyimplemented.

Before we make a decision, we needto consider our store environment.Not just the atmosphere in the cus-tomer sense, but the environment. Wehave a lot of heat and grease in a storeenvironment. The system must be ableto hold up in that kind of environment.Not only should we roll out the newsystem at different periods of time; we

need to make sure that the new sys-tems work with the older POS de-vices. My chief concerns have beenthat we need a system that is resilientto the environment, durable, able tohandle any future technologies that wewant to implement, and a system thatcould reduce our training times whilegiving us a high degree of order ac-curacy.

Chick-fil-A, INC.POINT-OF-SALE DECISION

Chick-fil-A is at a Cross-Roads:1. Gemini has been a key supplier for several years (Version 1000 systems since 1986 and Version 2000 systems through 1998)2. Gemini Version 2000 systems are out of production (although they can make more if we make special arrangements)3. Chick-fil-A must make a next-generation point-of-sales (POS) decision.4. We still need Gemini to support our existing systems.

Future System Features and Characteristics:1. Touch Screen POS will be the future architecture:

-Easy to use.-Based on PC architecture with Microsoft operating system (open standards)-Able to support more than just ringing up orders (customer activated, reporting, training, Internet access, etc.)

2. Support for the future (PC-based) systems will be less expensive (between $1,500 and $2,000 per year per restaurant)

Alternatives:1. The top two options are Gemini and Mercury.2. Both are major suppliers

-Mercury ships more POS devices than Gemini each month.3. Criteria have been identified by Chick-fil-A.4. Both vendors are ready for rollout of products.

Next Steps:1. Choose a vendor.2. Complete a 22-store pilot test of selection.3. List of stores participating will include locations outside of Atlanta for two reasons:

-To test ability of vendor to provide service in remote locations away from corporate headquarters.-Allow for the IT Priority Team to work closely with the system.

Objectives:POS Software:1. Value- Both initial and on-going.2. Easy to use.3. Bug-free4. Easy to adapt.5. Small footprint.6. Support.7. Year 2000 compliance.8. True 32-bit architecture.

POS Hardware:1. Cost of ownership.2. Reliable (mean time to failure 10+ years).3. Long useful life (7+ years as a technology).4. Easy to install/run wiring.5. Hot swap-able components (disk drives, etc.)6. Serviceable (simple; cost; service level).7. Expandable.8. Good design/ergonomics.9. Environmentally resilient.10. Open (Microsoft products).

POS Networking1. Response time.2. Accurate.3. Data movement technique.4. Can handle software updates from Headquarters.5. Can support menus/icons/promotions sent from Headquarters.

Figure 17: The final memo from the Operations Council to Jon Bridges.


Glossary of Terms1. Back-Office Server – Server situated

in the back office of a Chick-fil-Astore. Normally all the POS are at-tached to this server by cable.

2. Bread chicken- The process used byChick-fil-A to prepare the chickenonce it is received by an outlet.

3. CEO- Chief Executive Officer. Gen-erally, this individual holds the posi-tion of the highest office in an enter-prise. The CIO often reports directlyto the CEO on information technol-ogy related issues.

4. CFO- Chief Financial Officer. Gener-ally, this individual is a vice presidentof an enterprise and reports directlyto the CEO on financial matters.

5. CIO- Chief Information Officer. Gen-erally, this individual is a vice presi-dent of an enterprise and is respon-sible for the information technologiesand computer systems that supportenterprise goals.

6. COO- Chief Operations Officer. Gen-erally, this individual is a vice presi-dent of an enterprise and reports di-rectly to the CEO on operational con-cerns.

7. CSF- See Critical Success Factors8. Critical Success Factors- The aspects

of an organization that must be per-formed correctly for a business to suc-ceed. The number of CSFs should beas low as possible, to identify thoseareas that are crucial to the company’ssurvival.

9. Database- A collection of data that isorganized so that its contents can beeasily accessed, managed, and up-dated.

10.EDI- Electronic Data Interchange. Astandard format for exchanging data

between units and corporateheadquarters.

11. E-PROM: Erasable ProgrammableRead-Only Memory

12.Ethernet- A local area network (LAN)topology that is commonly used. AnEthernet LAN typically uses coppercabling for communications within astore at speeds of 10 or 100 Mbps.

13.Full-Service Restaurant- An outletthat allows for customers to enter aunit, be seated, and served by thestaff. Unlike a quick-service restau-rant, the customer interacts with thestaff away from the point of the trans-action.

14.JAD- See Joint Application Develop-ment

15.Joint Application Development- Aninteractive process that uses a team ap-proach of vendors, corporate staff,end-users, and corporate high-levelexecutives to reach decisions concern-ing systems design.

16.Memory-resident- Describes the abil-ity of a machine to hold applicationprograms, related data, and operatingsys tems, often within the RAM(Random Access Memory).

17.Operating System- A program in acomputer or machine that manages allthe other programs and applicationswithin that machine or computer.

18.O & M- See Operations and Mainte-nance

19.Operations and Maintenance- De-scribes the steps that Owner-Opera-tors take to maintain an outlet.

20.PDA- See Personal Digital Assistant21.Personal Digital Assistant- A term for

any small, handheld device that pro-vides computing and information stor-age and retrieval capabilities. Alsoknown as a handheld device.

22.POS- See Point of Sale(s)23.Point of Sale(s)- The device/location

where the transaction takes place be-tween a customer and sales associate.

24.Terabyte- A measure of computer stor-age capacity corresponding to 2 to the40th power. It is comparable to a thou-sand gigabytes. A byte is 8 bits long;a gigabyte is roughly a billion bytes.

25.RAM- Random Access Memory. Thisis the place in a computer or machinewhere the operating system, applica-tion programs, and data in current useare kept so that they can be quicklyaccessed by the machine orcomputer’s processor.

26.Terminal Head- The physical devicein which the applications and pro-grams for processing a customer’s or-der take place.

27.Quake- A popular game often playedon personal computers.

28.Quick-service Restaurant- An outlet inwhich the customer enters a unit,places the order, makes the transac-tion and receives the items personally.

29.Unix- An operating system that waswritten in the “C” language and isnoted for being “open”; no one par-ticular organization controls the rightsto use Unix.

30.TCP/IP- A communication protocol,Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

31.Windows- A generic description for asystem that makes use of the graphi-cal abilities of a computer. Using win-dows allows a user to share the graphi-cal output of a computer among sev-eral applications at the same time.Using a separate window for each ap-plication allows the user to multitaskbetween the applications without hav-ing to reinitiate those applications.

This case study is based on work from a field study. This case study was prepared for class discussionrather than to illustrate either an effective or ineffective handling of marketing strategies or informationtechnologies in this company. We acknowledge the strong support of Michael S. Garrison at Chick-fil-A, who provided critical information to create this case study. This case study is based upon workpartially supported by the Division of Undergraduate Education, National Science Foundation, underGrants No. 9752353 and 9950514. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations ex-pressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NationalScience Foundation.


F. Nelson Ford is Associate Pro-fessor and Coordinator of MIS Pro-grams in the Department of Manage-

ment at Auburn Uni-versity. His teachingand research interestsare in the areas of in-formation systemsand the management

and application of information tech-nology to improve decision makingand performance throughout the or-ganization. Dr. Ford has publishedin a wide range of journals includingMIS Quarterly, The Journal of Man-agement Information Systems, Deci-sion Support Systems, Interfaces, andExpert Systems with Applications.His doctorate is from the Universityof Alabama. In his personal life, Dr.Ford is a Christian, he enjoys life withhis wife, and he has two grown chil-dren.

Patrick Klesius is working as aSenior Decision Support Analyst fora large retailer in New York City. Pre-

viously, Patrick worked asa senior consultant forMicroStrategy softwareand as an independentsoftware contractor.Patrick holds a BA and

MS degree in Management Informa-tion Systems from Auburn University,and recently retired from the US Ma-rine Corps in November 2002. Hishometown is Auburn, Alabama and hecurrently resides in New York Citywith his fiancée.

P.K. Raju is Thomas Walter Pro-fessor & Director, Laboratory for In-novative Technology & Engineering

Education (LITEE), inthe Mechanical Engi-neering Department atAuburn University. Heworked at Purdue; theCatholic University of

America in the U.S. and several uni-versities in India before joining Au-burn in fall 1984. He was a visitingprofessor at the Technical Universityof Berlin (1981), an Invited Professorat the Universite Bordeaux I, France

Chetan S. Sankar is ThomasWalter Professor of Management andhas been on the faculty of Auburn Uni-

versity since 1989. Heearned his Bachelor ofEngineering degreefrom Regional Engi-neering College, India,his Master of Business

Administration from Indian Instituteof Management and his Doctor of Phi-losophy from the University of Penn-sylvania, Wharton School. He hastaught graduate and undergraduatecourses in MIS, engineering manage-ment and global telecommunicationsmanagement. Professor Sankar haspublished more than 100 refereedjournal and conference articles. Healong with Dr. Raju received the 1999Curriculum Innovation Award fromthe ASME International for integrat-ing theory, practice, and design in amechanical engineering designcourse. A multimedia courseware hecreated along with Dr. Raju won thePremier Courseware Award of 1998from NEEDS and John Wiley & Sonsfor its ability to stimulate active par-ticipation and teaming by students. Hereceived the Outstanding ResearchAward from the College of Businessin 1997. Professor Sankar along withDrs. Raju, Halpin, Halpin are activelyinvolved in using research methodolo-gies to develop multi-media instruc-tional materials for use in undergradu-ate classrooms. These projects havebeen sponsored by the National Sci-ence Foundation.

(1994) and an Invited Professor atUniversite Du Havre, France (1996).Since 1996 Dr. Raju has been Direc-tor, Auburn Engineering TechnicalAssistance Program(AETAP) and As-sistant Chairman of the MechanicalEngineering Department.

He has directed and managed a va-riety of sponsored research and devel-opment projects. These projects havedealt with different aspects of acous-tics, vibration, noise control, non-de-structive evaluation, and engineeringeducation. These projects have beenfunded by industries, government andinternational agencies and totals over$4.7 million. Dr. Raju has authoredor edited 18 books, published eightbook chapters and has published a to-tal of 142 papers in journals and con-ference proceedings.

Dr. Raju received the NSF Noveland Expedited Research Award(1989), NASA innovative researchaward (1991), Auburn University’soutstanding faculty award (1993). Heserved as a United Nations expert dur-ing 1995-1996. Dr. Raju is the recipi-ent of Auburn University’s BirdsongMerit Award in 1996 and the BirdsongSuperior Teaching Award in 1999 forexcellence in teaching. He received the1997 Thomas C. Evans InstructionalAward for the Outstanding paper inEngineering Education from theAmerican Society for EngineeringEducation. He also received the dis-tinguished Service Award in 1997 andin 1999 the Curiculum InnovationAward from the American Society ofMechanical Engineers.

Dr. Raju is a Fellow of the Institu-tion of Engineers and Acoustical So-ciety of India, member of the ASME,ASEE, INCE, ASA, ASNT, INCE, andPi Tau Sigma. He is on the editorialboard of the North American Case Re-search Journal and is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of SMET Edu-cation - Innovations and Research.


Chick-fil-A, Inc.: Selection of Operating Systemsfor POS Terminals to Serve Business Functions

INSTRUCTOR’S MANUAL

Educational ObjectivesThe instructional objectives for this casestudy are to:

(1) Make students aware of the necessityfor the technology selection process toalign with business needs. Show how thiswas achieved by Chick-fil-A in making itsselection of a new Point of Sales System(POS).

(2) Learn the iterative nature of systemsdesign used in Joint Application Devel-opment (JAD) by studying the exampleof Chick-fil-A’s use of JAD in making itsPOS decision.

Intended Courses and LevelsThis case study is designed for use inundergraduate and graduate MIS and en-gineering classes. Sophomore and jun-ior students or first year graduate studentswould be the recommended level for case

SynopsisMike Erbrick, Director of RestaurantInformation Systems at Chick-fil-A,was given the responsibility of con-verting the restaurant’s point of sales(POS) systems from a proprietaryEPROM based system to a newer sys-tem. This changeover had an invest-ment impact of approximately $3.29million, based on the differences inthe costs required to implement thevarious POS systems being consid-ered. This difference could be as highas $15,000 per outlet, depending onthe system chosen and store layout.Within its more than 700 outlets,Chick-fil-A averaged about 8 POSsystems per store compared to the twoor three systems per store used byother quick-service restaurant chains.The number of POS systems gave riseto additional confusion for the kitchenstaff because they could get six toeight orders arriving simultaneously

on the Kitchen Display System (KDS)screens. Thus, the new system had tobe extremely efficient and scalable tomeet the needs of individual stores.Perhaps most importantly to the storeowners using the system, who arecompensated based on their sales fig-ures and net income, the sales datashould be relayed to Chick-fil-A’scorporate headquarters accurately andreported back to each store in a timelymanner.

The members of the internalproject team, referred to as the Op-erations Council, were Roger Blythe,Brent Ragsdale, Jon Bridges, MarkWalker, Sandi Moody, Mike Erbrick,and Ken Oliver. The OperationsCouncil researched the problem andthen made their recommendations toTim Tassopoulos, the Senior VicePresident of Operations, and BuckMcCabe, the Chief Financial Officer

for Chick-fil-A. The Operations Coun-cil offered two options for the nextgeneration point of sales system to beused in all Chick-fil-A restaurants. Thefirst option put forward was an intel-ligent POS based on Windows NT/95that was robust, fault tolerant and da-tabase-driven. The second option pre-sented was a “thin” POS based onWindows CE that was fast, incorpo-rated memory-resident programs anddata, and was noted for being astrongly resilient system after lock-ups. The price difference between thetwo was of the order of $5,000 perstore, depending on the size and lay-out of the store.

The team was challenged to evalu-ate the options with respect to opera-tional usability, technical architecture,programming effort involved, envi-ronment, 5 year total cost of owner-ship, and business issues.

presentation. The ‘issues’ identified inthe case for Engineering students are alsoappropriate for Information Technologystudents, since Network engineers andTechnicians evaluate, deploy, configure,install, troubleshoot, and maintain net-work systems.

Connection to Theories inInformation Technologiesand Engineering(a) Information Technology issues:

(1) Business-Technology Align-ment Model: Parker, Marilyn M. Stra-tegic Transformation and InformationTechnology: Paradigms for Perform-ing While Transforming. PrenticeHall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. 1996.(Graphic: Page 198) (Explanation:Page 198-200). A convergence modelshows that end-user needs and avail-able solutions have to be balanced inorder to create the best solution for

the end-user.(2) Joint Application DevelopmentProcess: Reynolds, George W. andRalph M. Stair. Principals of Informa-tion Systems: A Management Ap-proach. Third Addition. ITP (Interna-tional Thomson Publishing). Cam-bridge, MA. 1998. (Graphic: Page523).

(b) Engineering issues:(1) Operating Systems (OS): Com-parison of alternate OS (Windows NTvs. Windows CE) and their impact onbusiness. In 2000, factory floors arebeginning to be equipped with thinclient systems that report the progressof movement of work-in-progress toan intelligent server located at the fac-tory office. An understanding of theissues that affect the selection be-tween NT vs. CE would help studentsin engineering and manufacturing re-alize the advantages and disadvan-


tages of these systems for use on thefactory floor.

Basis of ResearchSite visits and interviews with the ex-

ecutives of Chick-fil-A were used to de-velop this case study. The research teamalso visited a retail location of Chick-fil-A to collect information from the view-point of the owner/operator. All the ex-hibits used in the case study have beensupplied by the company and from World-wide Web sites. The Worldwide Web sitesthat were used are the following:

http://www.chickfila.com/

http://www.oracle.com/corporate/oracle_at_work/html/chckfila.html

http://www2.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/idgnet/9804134256

http://www.cio.com/archive/120196_consult_print.html

http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsCE/embedded/start/cs-radiant.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/press/1998/Feb98/Winrtlpr.htm

http://www.thestandard.net/companies/company_display/0,1591,51077,00.html

http://www.whatis.com/windowsc.htm

http://www.whatis.com/windnt.htm

Possible Format forClass Discussion

This case study works best when as-signed to groups of students. Thesegroups could perform the following tasks:

(a) Group A: Defend the recom-mendation to implement the intelli-gent POS system by identifying thecriteria for selecting the software,hardware, and network.(b) Group B: Defend the recom-mendation to implement the thin POSsystem by identifying the criteria forselecting the software, hardware, andnetwork.(c) Group C: Discuss the processused by Chick-fil-A to align the tech-nology choice with business needs.Critique and suggest means by whichChick-fil-A could have improved thisprocess.(d) Group D: Discuss the process

used by Chick-fil-A to analyze, de-sign, and choose the POS system.Critique and suggest ways of improv-ing this process.(e) Group E: Play the role of JonBridges (CIO) and select the systemto be implemented within Chick-fil-A.

The suggested team format for class-room management of the case parallelsthe method used by corporate manage-ment to review current operations, fore-cast short and long-term goals, and se-lect a new operating system. The teamapproach also uses a divide-and-conquerapproach, in that each team has a specificfocus that will become part of the overallrecommendation.

When the students research the casefor explanatory answers to the questions,they will read through much of the back-ground material included. This case studywas designed to provide a very engagingand critical analysis of the case.

A possible approach is for the studentsto be given the case objectives and thequestions to answer individually. Thiswould give the instructor a basis for indi-vidual student evaluation. Once teams areformed and given specific assignments,team members could compare answers toquestions relating to the team’s assign-ment. If answers varied, team memberswould agree upon a consensus and couldbegin to talk together and come up with aproposed solution.

It can also be helpful to require a for-mal presentation of the solution from eachteam. This shifts the responsibility to theteam to determine the most appropriateformat to use in presenting their solution.

How the InstructionalObjectives Were Achieved(a) Make students aware of the need fortechnology selection processes to alignwith business needs. Show how this wasachieved by Chick-fil-A in making its se-lection of a new Point of Sales (POS) Sys-tem.

Chick-fil-A had a legacy Point ofSales (POS) system that was adequatefor taking orders, displaying an orderto the kitchen via the Kitchen DisplaySystem (KDS), and tracking incomefor individual stores. These POS sys-tems made use of the DOS operatingsystem and lacked intuitive interfaces

and flexibility. Over time, many com-peting chains in the quick-service res-taurant industry had tried to make PC-based systems work within their storeswith limited success. Chick-fil-A hadclosely studied the successes and fail-ures of theses PC-based systems buthad decided to stay with the EPROM(DOS-based) systems that had beenin place since the mid 1980’s.

However, the manufacturer oftheir EPROM systems had decided tostop producing these systems in favorof the newer PC-based systems. Themanufacturer was willing to continueproducing and supporting theEPROM systems that were used byChick-fil-A, but only at a cost thatmade it prohibitively expensive tomaintain as a chain. It was at this timethat the need to make a decision con-cerning the adoption of a next-genera-tion POS system was forced uponChick-fil-A.

It was clear to the InformationTechnology (IT) group at Chick-fil-A headquarters that technology couldbe used to accomplish more than justringing up orders. The EPROM tech-nology was not meeting these needsof the enterprise.

To meet this challenge, Chick-fil-A’s IT group (under the leadershipof Chief Information Officer JonBridges) demanded that the POS sys-tems be used for more than simplysupporting the accounting division.By implementing new technologyproperly, Chick-fil-A expected that itcould analyze sales data at differentlevels of the organization and studymarketing trends. Additionally, thenew systems were expected to meetthe demands of storeowners in sev-eral areas, such as faster and moreeffective training, more accurate or-der entry, employee tracking, andeasier implementation of new menus,prices, and promotions.

Many critical success factors(CSF’s) were taken into considerationat the earliest stages of the selectionplanning. Chick-fil-A identified criti-cal success factors as those items thatmust be done correctly in order for thebusiness to succeed in achieving itsstated goals. By making food and la-bor costs the true metrics of the orga-


nization for success and focusing onthese demands, Chick-fil-A was ableto use technology to focus on thesethroughout their POS selection pro-cess.

(b) Learn the iterative nature of systemsdesign used in Joint Application Devel-opment (JAD) by studying the exampleof Chick-fil-A’s use of JAD in making itsPOS decision.

Chick-fil-A used a team approach toJoint Application Development(JAD). First, a small streamlinedgroup was formed (the OperationsCouncil) to identify the problem thatthe new technology was to solve forChick-fil-A and the criteria to be usedto judge its success. This composedthe entire first iteration, which iden-tified the PC-based touch screen tech-nology as the best solution at a macrolevel. After review, the team then setout to research the available solutionsand vendors and to check the feasi-bility of meeting the targets that hadbeen set. This second step narrowedthe choices to two PC-based softwareoperating systems (OS): Windows NTor Windows CE. Again, the work ofthe Operations Council was reviewed.The Operations Council then furtherinvestigated the two possible choicesand reported their findings to TimTassopoulos (VP Operations) andBuck McCabe (CFO) for final selec-tion. In the final iteration, the two al-ternatives were closely examined anda selection made.JAD groups consist of both problemholders and solution providers. Agroup normally requires one or moretop-level executives to initiate theJAD process. Many companies havefound that groups can develop morecomplete pictures of their require-ments than individuals working inde-pendently, and have found JAD to bea very successful technique.

Other possible selection models thatare available include:

◆ The traditional Systems DevelopmentLife Cycle (SDLC).This involves five common phases:

1. Investigation- Understand the prob-lem.

2. Analysis- Understand the solution.3. Design- Select and plan the best pos-

sible solution.4. Implementation- Place the solution

into effect.5. Maintenance and review- Evaluate the

results of applying the solution andmodify to meet business challenges ifnecessary.

◆ Prototyping.This is an iterative approach to the sys-

tems development process. For each it-eration, requirements for alternative so-lutions to the problem are identified andanalyzed, new solutions are designed, andsome portion of the system is imple-mented. Users are encouraged to try theprototype and provide feedback.

◆ Rapid Application Development(RAD).This technique employs tools, tech-

niques, and methodologies designed tospeed application development. RAD re-duces the amount of paper-based docu-mentation, automates program sourcecode generation, and facilitates user par-ticipation in design and development ac-tivities.

◆ End-user Systems Development.This includes any systems develop-

ment project in which the primary effortis undertaken by some combination ofbusiness managers and users. Informationsystems professionals encourage the par-ticipation of end-users of the system inthe development process.

Taken from: Reynolds, George W. andRalph M. Stair. Principals of InformationSystems: A Management Approach. ThirdAddition. ITP (International ThomsonPublishing). Cambridge, MA. 1998.(Text: Pages 520-524).

Short Answers to Questions(1) Identify criteria used to determine thebest POS software:

(a) ValueChick-fil-A had to consider both theinitial hardware costs as well as on-going costs. This is known as the to-tal cost of ownership.(b) Ease of useAny POS system must be intuitive tomeet the demands that labor force

training cycles be reduced.(c) Bug-freeThe system must be resilient againstfailures. This includes experiencing alow number of daily errors as well ashaving a long, useful life span beforebeing replaced by another POS sys-tem sometime in the future.(d) Easy to changeThe selected POS system had to havethe ability to rapidly adapt to promo-tions (or coupons) as well as menu andprice changes. For example, in Sep-tember of 1999, Chick-fil-A addedfour salads to the menu. A new POSsystem has to be flexible to allow forthese types of changes in menu struc-ture. This flexibility also encompassesthe ability to handle paradigm shiftsin the way that units do business. Forexample, Chick-fil-A may find thatcredit card payment becomes the stan-dard way that transactions are handledin the near future, much as pay-at-the-pump has proliferated in the gas sta-tion/fuel-service industry. A new POSsystem must be flexible enough tomeet this demand.(e) Small footprintChick-fil-A units vary in size fromdrive-thru only to full service restau-rants with waiters. This required thata POS system be able to adapt to thesedifferent environments.(f) SupportSupport includes aid from vendorsthat supply the system and an inter-nal labor force available to maintainthe system. A PC-based, open archi-tecture such as Microsoft WindowsOS allows for a greater labor pool thanwould be available with a closed, pro-prietary system, resulting in lowercosts.(g) Y2K complianceAny new POS system would have tobe able to handle this threat.(h) True 32-bit architectureA new POS system needs to distanceitself from the legacy of 16-bit archi-tecture. Chick-fil-A’s IT departmentbelieved that in the near future PC-based applications would require atleast a 32-bit architecture. This was aproactive step to protect the flexibil-ity of any new system.

(2) Identify criteria used to determine thebest POS hardware:


(a) Cost of ownershipA new POS system must keep the costof ownership to a minimum. To meetthis criterion, Chick-fil-A demandeda rugged system, as the system mustbe resilient against the environmentfound in their stores. This includedhaving components that could standup to the poor air quality and constantuse in order to reduce repair or re-placement costs to a minimum.(b) Reliable (mean time to failure of10+ years)A new POS system must be able tolast for several years without break-ing from normal use. For example,sales associates with dirty or greasyhands from handling orders must beable to input orders on the touchscreen without the system failing.Also, hard drives and other hardware(video cards, etc.) inside of a POS sys-tem need to continue to function for areasonable amount of time.(c) Long useful life (7+ years)The technology used in any new POSsystem must be advanced enough thatno technologies that are better suitedfor chain-wide implementation wouldbe likely to appear within seven yearsof implementing a new system.(d) Easy to install/run wiringNetwork cabling should not requirespecialized experts to make any newPOS system function properly. Thiswould keep installation labor costslow, as well as any unexpected main-tenance costs. The cabling should alsobe tough enough to withstand thestore’s environment.(e) Hot swapable components (diskdrives, etc.)In the event that there was a failurewith any new POS system, the com-ponents must have the ability to bechanged out on-site, reducing repairand maintenance costs forstoreowners/operators. In 1999,Chick-fil-A’s business model encour-aged storeowners to spend as little aspossible on repair and maintenance.(f) Serviceable (simplicity; cost;service level)Any new POS system had to havehardware that was easily repaired inthe event that the system needed hard-ware maintenance. The POS alsoneeded to be designed so that it could

be easily repaired at a minimal cost.(g) Expandable (customer activatedterminals, credit cards, etc.)As the quick-service restaurant indus-try changes, Chick-fil-A felt that aPOS system needed to have the abil-ity to change with it. A new POS ter-minal would have to be flexibleenough to accept likely future trendsseen in Chick-fil-A’s vision of the fu-ture. These internal forecasts includedcredit card “swipes” on the terminalsas well as customer-activated kioskswithin the units.(h) Good ergonomicsThe hardware design of any new POSsystem had to be comfortable for asales associate that would be work-ing on the system for several hours ata time. The design should keep fatigueto a minimum.(i) Environmental impacts (grease,flour)When considering the poor environ-mental air quality of the typical Chick-fil-A unit, any new system needed tobe able to withstand the flour andgrease that are present in the air. Forthis reason, Chick-fil-A wanted toeliminate the moving parts inside ofa POS system, such as cooling fansand hard drives.

(3) Identify criteria used to determine thebest networking/support strategy forPOS/headquarters operations:

(a) Response timeA new POS system must be able torapidly transmit and receive informa-tion from the BackOffice server fortraining videos, data synchronization,and menu and price changes. The sys-tem must also quickly display ordersto the Kitchen Display Systems(KDS) in the food preparation areas.(b) Accuracy of informationThe network used by any new POSsystem must ensure that the data thatis transmitted is accurately reportedto the BackOffice server. From theBackOffice server, the Virtual PrivateNetwork (VPN) used must also main-tain the accuracy of the data for trans-mission to corporate headquarters orvice versa.(c) Data storage techniquesData must be stored in a central loca-tion on the BackOffice server, but

there must also be a technique usedto eliminate complete dependence onthe network. To circumvent this prob-lem, a new POS system must be ableto hold some orders in a stand-alonemode, with an ability to continue tooperate independently while salestransactions are taking place. The datashould be easily synchronized fromthe POS terminals to the BackOfficeserver in a seamless fashion.(d) Depot for hardwarePOS terminal heads are likely to needrepairs that require them to be sentaway from the unit location. For thisreason, Chick-fil-A felt that its part-nership with the servicing vendorneeded to include a provision cover-ing this requirement. By establishinga depot of spare units, Chick-fil-A feltthat it could provide quick replace-ments for broken POS systems as theywere needed.(e) Software updates from corporateheadquarters via PCSoftware for a new PC-based point ofsales system should take advantage ofthe enterprise network used by Chick-fil-A. Using the network would en-sure that all units were using the mostrecent releases of software, while alsocutting down on the distribution costsassociated with updating softwarethroughout the entire business.(f) Menus/items/price changesfrom corporate headquartersMenus, promotions, and prices wereinevitably going to change as a newPOS system was implemented and putinto operation. Believing that thistrend was likely to continue, Chick-fil-A specified that all of this datawould have the ability to be “pushed”down from the corporate headquartersto all BackOffice servers that makeuse of the new POS systems. Fromhere, each storeowner could make useof their unit’s network and updateeach POS terminal head with the newdata that was received.

(4) Defend the reasons for choosing thethin POS option (Windows CE-basedOperating System)• The “thin” POS option involved theselection of Windows CE for the softwarerunning on the terminal head. This wasthe selection that Chick-fil-A made after


some discussion with the vendor. Win-dows CE is considered by Microsoft tobe the “light” version of the Windows 9Xseries. It is commonly found in handhelddevices such as palm-sized computers,known as Personal Digital Assistants(PDA’s), and other space-constrained de-vices. This technology is making moreappearances in an embedded form forsuch devices as microwaves, gas stationpumps, and information kiosks. In thiscase, the Operating System (OS) wasembedded into the memory. This allowedfor total POS reboot times (from start tofinish) lasting less than one minute (av-erage tests indicated reboots of less than50 seconds). Other than installing Win-dows CE on a terminal head, the onlyother requirements were the necessarydevice drivers (printers, video cards, etc.)Processing power requirements were keptto a minimum by placing all of the appli-cations needed onto the server.

In very much to the same way a net-worked computer functions, these devicesmake use of a server for data storage; typi-cally a POS terminal head can only holda day or so’s worth of orders indepen-dently of the server. In this sense, the de-vices are truly thin clients- applicationsappear to be running on the client but areactually running on the server. This con-figuration allows for the system to be freeof hard drives or floppy drives for bootup, data storage, and running applications.During the investigation of possible al-ternatives, this factor was especially im-portant because it eliminated the need forthe devices that require moving parts inthe POS terminal head, chiefly the cool-ing fans for the processor tower and thehard drives. Having moving parts wouldnecessarily raise the total cost of owner-ship, as these devices tend to fail often inthe poor air environment that is typicalof a quick-service restaurant. These sys-tems are slightly cheaper than a full-blown PC-based (the Windows NT) so-lution, although the lower cost of owner-ship is more important to Chick-fil-A thanthe initial investment.

This CE system also fully meets allof the criteria set by the Operations Coun-cil. The video quality is equal to that de-livered by Windows NT. Additionally, thetouch screen can represent menu items inpicture quality allowing for a possiblefuture option allowing customers to place

orders themselves.Another attractive feature of the Win-

dows CE solution was that it made use ofthe Windows 32-bit architecture. Thismeant that important software functionsthat may be needed (such as acceptanceof credit cards at the POS) could be writ-ten for the device much more easily andmuch more cost effectively than wouldhave been possible with a proprietary ar-chitecture.

Windows CE also allowed for com-munications with a wide range of appli-cations. Since CE already featured a fullyfunctioning TCP/IP capability, much ofthe time and costs associated with devel-oping a communications protocol wereeliminated. This capability could essen-tially make each POS terminal head anode on a network for Chick-fil-A. A cor-porate-wide intranet within the organiza-tion could be implemented and softwareand application problems within POS ter-minals could be addressed by accessingthis intranet for help. Company controlcould soon become much more central-ized and data mining techniques wouldbe able to analyze trends much sooner andin greater detail than had been possiblewith the existing EPROM systems. Thebuilt in communications abilities wouldalso allow for easily communicating withthe Internet in the future.

Windows CE also allows for devicesto be added to the terminal head easilyby making use of its ThinPATH familyof add-on software. These devices mayrange from microphones (for voice acti-vated order entry in the future), paralleldevices (such as printers), serial line de-vices, and speakers.

The interface is familiar to all of thosetrained in Microsoft’s Windows family.Windows CE developers were actuallyfew in number in 2000, but anyone trainedin Windows-based development could betrained in a reasonable amount of time.Developers for this solution would not beforced to learn a closed proprietary sys-tem, which often tends to scare away de-veloper talent in the industry.

However, there are concerns that thetechnology had not proven itself as a solidtechnology. As of early 2000, this tech-nology had few business applications andan unproven track record for industry us-age. Martin Mortensen, an analyst at theGarter Group, Inc., a consulting agency,

said, “We have to remember that Win-dows CE is a year and a half out of thegate [in 1999]. We are still talking aboutthe sale, and you want to make sure thatthis thing doesn’t suddenly go down.”

Several of Chick-fil-A’s competitorsare also investigating introduction ofthese devices in their restaurants.

(5) Defend the reasons for choosing thesmart POS option (Windows NT-basedOperating System)

Windows NT comes in two forms:Windows NT Server and Windows NTWorkstation. Chick-fil-A was only con-sidering Windows NT Workstation for itsPOS terminals OS. Windows NT (fromhere on only Windows NT Workstationwill be discussed) was designed to be anOS for those needing more advanced ca-pabilities than were available from otherWindows OS products. It was consideredto be a faster performing and more fail-safe environment than Windows 9X orWindows CE (For example, Microsoftclaims that its speed was up to 20% fasterfor 32-bit applications). This robustnessof the operating system was one of themajor criteria that made it a possible al-ternative for Chick-fil-A.

Windows NT also featured many moresecurity and management functions thatwere not available with other Windowsoperating systems such as Windows CE.Windows NT would obligate each POSterminal head to have its own databasewith its own applications resident on eachdevice. The network would really only berequired for the synchronizing of data fortransmission back to corporate headquar-ters. The elimination of network depen-dence adds a layer of independence toprotect against data loss in the event thatthe network became unavailable. Sincethe data would be resident on each ma-chine, backing up data without accessingthe network would be an option availableto the storeowner.

Windows NT was considered to behighly scalable because its use is so com-monly used to meet business needs. Thisadds a degree of flexibility, allowing it toreadily adapt to future needs that cannotbe accurately predicted in specific indus-tries such as the quick-service restaurantindustry.

Windows NT has all of the abilitiesof the CE solution in terms of communi-


cations. It also has the extended abilityto run several other network protocols inaddition to TCP/IP, for ease of integra-tion with other networks. These protocolsinclude IP, IPX, DLC, and NetBEUI.

Windows NT also has similar graphi-cal abilities to those featured in WindowsCE.

Window NT has some additional ad-vantages over the CE version. At the time,it was better supported with business ap-plications and was already widely usedin several industries. Support was routine,easily affordable, and there was a largelabor force readily available. Developersfor the Windows NT were also readilyavailable and could be recruitedaffordably.

However, Windows NT was consid-ered to have a larger footprint than Win-dows CE when in the two systems weredirectly compared. Windows NT wouldalso require that the terminal heads con-tain moving parts.

(6) Discuss the process used to show thelink between business and technology:Business-technology core competencylinkages theory could be used in thechoice of POS software for Chick-fil-A.

(a) Good user buy-in from operators andteam members

Business and technology consider-ations coincided in the selection for thestoreowners/ operators, due to their con-viction that any PC-based POS systemwould help them manage their storesmore effectively. Storeowners would beable to find important data without hav-ing to search through reels of receipt tapethat may or may not have been printed atthe end of each day’s operations. A PC-based system would also helpstoreowners/operators with order accu-racy, employee tracking, satisfaction sur-veys (both for customers and employees),provide suggestive selling prompts, inaddition to rapidly decreasing trainingtimes. By reducing the training curve fornew employees from days to hours, thesystem would help reduce the labor con-cerns of upper management.

(b) Buy-in from ITThe information technology (IT) de-

partment favored a PC-based system be-cause it allowed for greater control fromcorporate headquarters. Menu and price

changes, along with special promotions,can be “pushed” down to individual unitssimultaneously, giving them the ability topromote on a national scale more uni-formly. The information technology de-partment also believed that a PC-basedsystem would allow for better data ware-housing, resulting in better data mining.Thus, trends in sales could be analyzedby several different departments at thecorporate headquarters. This would alsohelp refute the idea that the IT departmentat Chick-fil-A was used mostly as a subfunction of the accounting department.

(c) Buy-in from financeChick-fil-A’s finance department had

found that a PC-based system would re-sult in greater order accuracy. For ex-ample, with the EPROM based systems,some combo meals came with a drink in-cluded in the price and other combo mealsdid not have a drink included in the price.Often, sales associates would deliverdrinks with combo meals that did not in-clude them, resulting in lost sales for oneof the biggest profit making portions ofthe business. The PC-based system andits use of suggestive selling were expectedto end this problem.

(7) Discuss the process used to analyze,design, and implement the option

(a) JAD processThe Joint Application Process (JAD)

was used to introduce high-level manage-ment to the needs of the end-users. Thisprocess is noted for collaborative workresulting in greater input than is possiblefor individuals working separately. TheJAD process is also powerful because it“flattens” the decision making process bygiving knowledge, input, and judgmentpower throughout an organization.

(b) Need for iterationsChick-fil-A used iterations to elimi-

nate options until it could focus on thefinal choices available. The iterative ap-proach also helped to identify the high-level and low-level criteria that were re-quired for POS system selection.

(c) Working with vendorsChick-fil-a worked with vendors to

help investigate the uses of available op-erating systems. Since Windows CE is arelatively new technology for industrialuse, Chick-fil-A relied on the vendor’s

own research into available technologiesrather than launch their own expensiveresearch and development project.

Prologue

• What did Chick-fil-A choose?Chick-fil-A chose the Windows CE

option for their next generation Point ofSales Operating System. However,Chick-fil-A had not yet signed a nationalcontract with the vendor for the new CEterminals. This change management strat-egy was an attempt by Chick-fil-A to ne-gotiate a better deal while deciding on anational business model for support of anew POS system with storeowners. OnceChick-fil-A finalized their five to ten yearbusiness plan, they were expected to signa contract for full implementation. How-ever, Chick-fil-A planned to fully depre-ciate the existing EPROM systems thatwere currently in use by store units. Onlynew Chick-fil-A units and units thatneeded new POS systems would get theCE terminals installed.

• Why did they choose that option?Chick-fil-A chose the CE option over

the NT option for several reasons. An ar-ticle that appeared in the CIO magazineis attached as Appendix A. The reasonsare listed as follows (in no particular or-der):

(1) The close proximity of the food prepa-ration area (kitchen) and the transactionsite (POS system) were of great concernfor the terminal electronics. The air envi-ronment in this area contains higher thannormal amounts of grease and flour fromthe food preparation in the kitchen, andthese contaminants ruin electrical devicesover time. The Windows NT option, withits necessary hard drive and cooling fan,would be likely to suffer damage from thecontaminated air, resulting in increasedhardware costs and a shorter life span forthe equipment. Past experiences of Chick-fil-A storeowners have shown that thistype of air environment has damagedmicrophones located near food prepara-tion areas, forcing replacement before thenormal expected failure.

(2) The reboot time for the Windows CEsystem is much shorter than for the Win-dows NT-based system. Any PC-basedsystem is likely to experience lockups


from time to time. The Windows NT OSwould be likely to attempt to run itsScanDisk operation after a failure, tak-ing up precious time. This ScanDisk op-eration and a complete loading of the OScould take up to four minutes, while theCE system averages a complete reboottime of less than one minute. During abusy lunch hour some storeowners pro-cess over 100 transactions during the typi-cal lunch period, and lost time waiting onan NT system to reboot could cost sev-eral missed orders especially in a mall unitwhere alternative food outlets are locatedvery close together. The CE version istherefore better for this situation.

(3) The “thin client” architecture concernsfor the CE based terminals were over-come through the use of internal memorythat can hold orders while awaiting main-tenance. The CE devices cannot hold asmuch memory as the NT versions withhard drives (again the air quality concernsare introduced), however the CE termi-nal has the ability to hold several hoursto more than a day’s worth of orders with-out having to synchronize with the server.This stand-alone operation was consid-ered long enough to eliminate dependenceupon the network.

(4) The CE terminal heads have only lim-ited access to the entire POS system.There are no CD-ROM or floppy drivesthat could easily be accessed by sales as-sociates. Therefore, concerns that em-ployees may attempt to use the POS forhomework or game playing was elimi-nated. Also, since CE is primarily targetedto space constrained applications (gaspumps, home appliances, etc.) there arefew applications and games available.

(5) The CE version is considered to be the“light weight” version of the Windowsfamily of operating systems. Chick-fil-A’sinformation technology department pre-dicts that in the future, POS systems willbecome smaller and will eventually bewearable by sales associates. By goingwith the CE version, Chick-fil-A has be-gun to move towards this vision.

(6) Windows CE is also the OS often usedin information kiosks. Chick-fil-A uppermanagement believes that in the future,there will be an increase in the self-ser-vice minded customer. If this trend doesmanifest, then customers will be placing

orders themselves and the CE displaywould already be familiar to those thathave used information kiosks. This typeof sales would be similar to the familiar“wizard–driven” approach to task accom-plishment. Additionally, the internalmemory will be able to offer suggestiveselling questions to the sales associatesin traditional order placement. It has beennoted by internal researchers from Chick-fil-A’s marketing department that the useof suggestive selling would be likely toresult in increased sales.

(7) The CE system makes powerful useof the available (currently copper-based)network. It has the ability to store train-ing videos in one location (the BackOfficeserver) and to run different videos to dif-ferent terminal heads simultaneously.This would reduce redundancies thatwould likely to be found on the NT ver-sion and thus reduce the chance that therewill be anomalies in the databases.

(8) The CE terminal heads are consideredto be more rugged than NT based POSsystems. Storeowners have reported thatdrinks are often spilled on the POS sys-tems during transactions (remember thatChick-fil-A often uses more terminal POSheads than other quick-service restau-rants, resulting in many orders beingpassed in near proximity to the terminal).An NT based system with hard drives andcooling fans would likely fare worse inthe event of a drink spill.

(9) The CE version meets all the criteriathat Chick-fil-A identified as necessaryfor their next-generation POS system.


Appendix A: Excerpt from CIO Magazine:The Missing Piece: Field, T. “The CIO Role,” CIO, http://www.cio.com/archive/120196/consult.html, Dec. 1, 1996.

Chick-fil-A’s senior director of infor-mation technology, Jon Bridges, reliesupon his contacts at SIM, Omicron andthe MIS group of the National RestaurantAssociation to keep up with competitorsMcDonald’s and Wendy’s. The first thinghe does when an important decisioncomes down is call a member who’s al-ready been through a similar experience.“There’s nowhere else I can go to ask stu-pid questions,” he says. “The whole keyis how fast can you get stuff put out. Ifyou spend all your time researching, youget bogged down pretty quickly.”Jon Bridges, a former consultant withAndersen Consulting, is the senior direc-tor of information technology at the $500-million, Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A Inc.restaurant chain, where he finds his con-sulting skills valuable in his position asthe company’s CIO-level IS executive.“My job hasn’t really changed,” saysBridges, who left consulting because hewas tired of travel. “I just do it for thesame company all the time.”At Chick-fil-A, Bridges says, he encoun-tered two challenges: one, to prove thevalue of IS, which previously was asubfunction of accounting; and two, toovercome the apprehension of some staffwho feared he would enforce a high-in-tensity, 90-hour standard work week in

the department. To address both issues,Bridges set an example through his dili-gent-but-reasonable work habits and byseizing rather than waiting for the oppor-tunity to make IS a major player in thecompany’s competitive strategy. Chick-fil-A identified food and labor costs askey metrics in restaurant management, soBridges became part of a team to developof a new, chainwide shared informationsystem to track administrative functionsthroughout the company-a first step to-ward tracking those food and labor costs.After securing executive support for thesystem, Bridges enlisted field consultants,financial analysts and store managers aspart of the IS development team to iden-tify and incorporate everyone’s needs inthe system design. “It was critical,”Bridges says of the cross-functional team-work. “We had to get the agreement thatthe result [of lower costs] was worth it,and we had to have the buy-in from thestores.” By giving the departments someownership of the project, Bridges wasable to meet their needs and facilitate asuccessful system rollout. And he alsohelped the IS staff become more comfort-able working both with him and withbusiness-side peers. That success gave theIS department a solid hit in its first at-bat, and it gave Bridges credibility within

the organization. Subsequently, he hasbeen pulled into such projects as menudevelopment, new products and corporatecommunications, and he has helped cre-ate a new financial system, logistics sys-tem and a data warehouse.

Despite the relatively low turnover atAtlanta-based Chick-fil-A Inc., VicePresident of IT and CIO Jon Bridges saysthe labor shortage is his company’s big-gest business challenge. In his quest toreplace Chick-fil-A’s old push-button reg-isters, on which cashiers can require asmuch as two weeks of experience beforethey feel totally comfortable, Bridges istesting new touch-screen POS systemsfrom the Hospitality Systems division ofRadiant Systems Inc. in Alpharetta, Ga.,and Par Microsystems Corp. in Norcross,Ga. “My daughter is 5, and she can ringup a sale on a touch screen with no train-ing,” says Bridges. In addition to beingeasy to use, touch screens can functionas training tools themselves. Radiant’sPOS terminals can be programmed to of-fer multimedia training as needed; if acashier’s average sale is below $4, forexample, a two-minute video on so-calledupselling would automatically play at theend of the shift.

Business Technology

Convergence

Final Solution

End-User Needs Available Solutions

chick-fil-a, inc.: selection of operating systems for pos

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