Q&A: Steve Barrow, Luby's Inc. VP of information systemsQ&A: Steve Barrow, Luby's Inc. VP of information systems

Alan J. Liddle

While observers have labeled the restaurant industry as lagging when it comes to adopting new technologies, the role of foodservice IT departments has evolved significantly in recent years, Steve Barrow, Luby’s Inc. vice president of information systems, told Nation’s Restaurant News.

Barrow, who has held his current post since 1999, said there are still plenty of conventional restaurant chores to be handled by teams such as his, including the rapid integration into the Luby’s business portfolio of the Fuddruckers system acquired in mid 2010.

He spoke recently with NRN about changes to the industry and at his company.

How have Luby’s IT priorities changed during the past two years?

The IT landscape has certainly changed. Historically, IT was primarily concerned with our employees consuming our internal systems, such as POS, above-store reporting and Enterprise Resource Planning [tools]. Success is now measured by the ability to integrate the consumer side: online ordering, digital menu boards and displays, self-serve kiosks, customer loyalty, social media and nutritional information, to name a few.

Have these changes affected the way you handle technology in your restaurants and at headquarters?

The new technology is innovative, with rapid development cycles, but not mature. The mindset is different when evaluating these systems because the landscape changes rapidly when contrasted with selecting a POS system from an established vendor with a life expectancy of five to seven years.

What are some major developments occurring right now in foodservice IT?

Decreasing network costs continue to drive innovation for the connected restaurant. The elusive WebPOS is no longer a pipe dream. We are evaluating moving the restaurant POS server to a virtualized system hosted in a data center. This configuration requires adequate store-level redundancy, but chains are testing and deploying these systems rather than just talking about them.

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What were your first three IT moves after purchasing Fuddruckers and Koo Koo Roo out of bankruptcy?

The first major IT initiative was replacing the Fuddruckers/Koo Koo Roo infrastructure. We designed and deployed a new network in three months. By leveraging the WiFi and VoIP [voice over Internet protocol] infrastructure in place at Luby's, we were able to substantially reduce the overall cost at Fuddruckers while providing a faster network with WiFi and VoIP. With a more robust network in place, Fuddruckers could take advantage of our internally hosted services, allowing us to deploy applications quickly.

Secondly, we wanted to be operational on our Luby's systems for accounting, human resources and payroll on day one of our ownership. Although that was risky due to our compressed timeline, we felt it best to spend our efforts transitioning our employees to our payroll rather than trying to learn and operate an interim system, only to convert later. This turned out to be an effective strategy.

Our third initiative was implementing a back-office application into Fuddruckers.

Where are you in the integration process?

We have completed the rollout to all of our Fuddruckers and Koo Koo Roo restaurants, and are now working closely with operations to maximize the benefit that an integrated back office provides.

You mentioned earlier digital signage as a growing, consumer-oriented technology. What's your experience, to date, with that?

Everyone loves the idea of digital signage, but no one loves the cost of ownership or the effort required to keep the content fresh. We have deployed signage in some of our campus locations, but we do not have the critical mass to make it an effective part of our marketing strategy.

Contact Alan J. Liddle at [email protected].
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