gusto!
86 Repairs is gusto!’s partner in preventative maintenance management, making the process “easier, less time consuming, more efficient, and less expensive.”
- Gave Partner and VP Operations 5% of time back
- Estimated troubleshooting savings of $200 per service request
gusto! is a quick-serve restaurant chain based out of Atlanta. Currently operating eight locations, gusto! offers healthy grain- or green-based bowls for its clientele. The group is anchored by the ethos of “Shake yourself awake,” truly living up to its name by exploring new ideas with enthusiasm—even when it comes to back-of-house operations.
This guiding principle helped Richmond Green, Partner and VP of Operations at gusto!, break away from the group’s status quo of tedious repair and maintenance (R&M) management, free up 5% of his time, and get invaluable peace of mind for his frontline staff by using 86 Repairs. Here’s his story.
Richmond has been with gusto! for five years. As a partner, a significant portion of his role is future-focused, exploring strategies for company growth. But the responsibility of the day-to-day operations for each location also falls on his shoulders.
One of the many things Richmond has to manage is preventative maintenance. “It's an absolutely critical task,” he notes. “Not having a good preventative maintenance plan opens you up to legal risks. It opens you up to safety risks, fire risks, and financial risks.”
Richmond explains that if an asset doesn’t have routine preventative maintenance, it may lead to massive losses: for example, a walk-in cooler could create $10,000 in damages and fees if it failed. He recognized that preventative maintenance was a necessary part of running operations at gusto! and had to be done, but it was eating up a large chunk of his time.
“I was making sure we had the right vendor contract signed, making sure that dates were being scheduled for visits, making sure that we were getting follow-up visits scheduled after vendor visits,” says Richmond. “And then coordinating with the leaders of our shops with the specifics for each one of their locations. It was a lot of management on my end.”
It wasn’t just his own time that Richmond worried about—it was also the time of the teams on the line. “The people who are actually running our restaurants have the hardest job in the whole frickin’ world,” he says. “Especially during the past two years, they've got a million different things that they're trying to balance and think about. And oftentimes repairs are one of those things that they’ll notice, but the resolution of a problem can be very inefficient.”
Richmond notes that leaving preventative maintenance or last-minute repairs up to his frontline staff wasn’t an adequate solution because they frequently don't have the time or bandwidth to troubleshoot issues, verify if a vendor completed a job properly, or even check around for fair and reasonable quotes for service.
"Half the time, troubleshooting saves us $200 in trip charges for something that could have been easily fixed with a screwdriver. That makes [working with 86 Repairs] absolutely worth it for us."
The gusto! leadership team considered adding a facilities manager to their staff to help free up Richmond’s time and take the burden of preventative maintenance off of employees who didn’t have the expertise to address it. But it was no longer a need after they started to work with 86 Repairs in June 2020.
With the tech-enabled solution, “We know we've got somebody that can devote their full attention to making sure things get done,” says Richmond. “Rather than me dedicating 5% of my time to making sure that it gets done. It's absolutely worth it to have a partner that is entirely dedicated to managing repairs.”
He mentions a hypothetical example: “An operator could say ‘I haven’t had anybody maintaining my HVAC unit and it gave out five years before it's supposed to.’ That's $15,000 that we've got to figure out how to replace,” Richmond explains. “The peace of mind knowing the equipment's being taken care of and being managed is in itself cost savings.”
86 Repairs resolved Richmond’s worries about frontline staff not having the necessary training or resources to properly handle preventative maintenance. “Y'all are good at following through and making sure something gets done, making sure it gets done correctly, and helping us follow up on warranty issues,” he says. “I love that 86 Repairs has the serial, make, and model numbers of all of our equipment so that if something goes down, the first response is to see if the warranty covers us. That's not something that necessarily the average restaurant general manager is going to really think about or follow through on.”
Richmond explains that 86 Repairs’ attention to detail goes beyond warranty status. “We all have information about the equipment that's in each one of our restaurants,” he explains, “[86 Repairs] just has a more detailed and thorough system than it would be if I was managing it. Y'all are able to have more insight into equipment, especially with our preventative maintenance providers.”
These insights help support 86 Repairs’ troubleshooting, which has been a game-changer for gusto! “I love that you guys will help troubleshoot things over the phone with our folks. That's one of the things that I think every restaurant operator probably struggles with.” Richmond says. “Half the time, troubleshooting saves us $200 in trip charges for something that could have been easily fixed with a screwdriver. That makes it absolutely worth it for us.”
"Having a partner like 86 Repairs can help make sure that things are done properly and on time, and things stay organized. It's a win-win-win all around.”
Richmond says that for gusto!, 86 Repairs is “a partner to help me make sure preventative maintenance gets done.” The solution makes the entire process “easier, less time consuming, more efficient, and less expensive.” Now, he can continue focusing on the big picture of the business with preventative maintenance management off his plate.
“[86 Repairs is] kind of like an insurance policy, making sure that things are getting done properly and on time,” Richmond notes. “Knowing that the hot box is getting taken care of or knowing that the vent hoods are getting cleaned every quarter, is a tremendous cost saver even if it’s indirect. It’s peace of mind.”
gusto! plans to expand its partnership with 86 Repairs to help support five forecasted restaurant openings throughout 2022. Grand openings used to be a struggle for Richmond, who had to set up every account and initial service to get new locations up and running. But instead, he can lean on 86 Repairs—preferred vendors, contacts, and all necessary details are documented for each location during onboarding.
“If you have any aspirations to grow beyond just a couple of restaurants, the equipment maintenance side of the business can be very tedious because it's very task-oriented,” Richmond says. “Having a partner like 86 Repairs can help make sure that things are done properly and on time, and things stay organized.”
“It's a win-win-win all around.”
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