Mulesoft > Case Studies > Tapping into API-led Connectivity: A Beer Monitoring Solution Using IoT Technology for Buffalo Wild Wings

Tapping into API-led Connectivity: A Beer Monitoring Solution Using IoT Technology for Buffalo Wild Wings

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

BeerBoard SmartBar platform
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
ServiceNow
Capgemini’s Core Integration Framework

Tech Stack

IoT-enabled flow meters
API-led connectivity
Amazon SQS/SNS messaging
Tomcat application server
MS SQL Database

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Cost Savings
Revenue Growth
Productivity Improvements

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Sensors - Flow Meters

Applicable Industries

Food & Beverage
Retail

Applicable Functions

Discrete Manufacturing

Use Cases

Inventory Management
Process Control & Optimization
Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
Supply Chain Visibility
Visual Quality Detection

Services

System Integration
Software Design & Engineering Services

About The Customer

Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc., founded in 1982 and headquartered in Minneapolis, is a growing owner, operator and franchisor of Buffalo Wild Wings® restaurants featuring a variety of boldly-flavored, made-to-order menu items including its namesake Buffalo, New York-style chicken wings. The Buffalo Wild Wings menu specializes in 21 mouth-watering signature sauces and seasonings with flavor sensations ranging from Sweet BBQ™ to Blazin’®. Guests enjoy a welcoming neighborhood atmosphere that includes an extensive multi-media system for watching their favorite sporting events. Buffalo Wild Wings is the recipient of hundreds of “Best Wings” and “Best Sports Bar” awards from across the country. There are currently more than 1,200 Buffalo Wild Wings locations across the world. Buffalo Wild Wings is one of the Top 10 Fastest-Growing Restaurant Chains in the country. The restaurant is more than just a NY-style wing joint with signature sauces-it is a dynamic sports bar that sells more draft beer than any other restaurant concept in America.

The Challenge

Buffalo Wild Wings, a growing restaurant chain, faced two challenges in its quest to provide the best beer experience and better connect with their fans. The first challenge was monitoring to ensure that the Perfect Pour guidelines were being followed. The second challenge was managing the growing assortment of beers available in the market. Both challenges prompted the need to better leverage technology for operational efficiency. Buffalo Wild Wings needed a real-time monitoring technique and a better understanding of inventory. This was an IT challenge considering that the company needed to configure all new beer items in more than 1,200 restaurant POS systems before a restaurant can begin selling a new beer to a guest. Additionally, it was a business challenge to ensure restaurants gained an understanding of the actual beer inventory usage across all restaurants to help drive future purchasing decisions.

The Solution

To address the first challenge of ensuring Perfect Pour guidelines were being followed, BeerBoard installed IoT-enabled flow meters on the tap lines to capture pour data. However, this was only one-side of the equation. BeerBoard also needed sales data, maintained in Buffalo Wild Wings’ POS systems, to measure their pour volume against the sales transaction that contained information on the type and size of beer that was ordered. Buffalo Wild Wings needed a way to integrate their sales data with BeerBoard and turned to Capgemini to consider potential integration options. Options such as file-based integration or writing custom code were discussed, but both parties saw that a unified platform approach and API-led connectivity offered the right mix of security, reusability and flexibility. Capgemini therefore recommended MuleSoft. MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform would enable Buffalo Wild Wings to continue adding integration applications as additional third-party vendors required access to different systems. Additionally, the integration through MuleSoft would allow on-demand web service thereby giving BeerBoard the ability to dictate the frequency of each request so that they could ensure the latest metrics are available to restaurants. Addressing the second challenge of managing the growing assortment of beers relied on implementing BeerBoard’s new SmartBar beer management platform. The SmartBar platform offered a web-based application that provides restaurants a single platform to manage all beer related activities.

Operational Impact

The solution was implemented in eight pilot restaurants and the results exceeded expectations.
For those pilot restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings saw a double-digit reduction in the amount of beer shrinkage.
There has been increased revenue in beer sales that would otherwise have been lost from theft (0.50% retention).
This is just the starting point as future enhancements are already planned to leverage the ground work that has been implemented and continue building an application network.
Having access to real-time pour data extends the company’s visibility to beer inventory. The real-time, accurate flow data is available to Restaurant Managers, the Field Leadership Team and Business and Analytics teams, reducing time and effort to extract and crunch data as well as equipping teams to make more informed business decisions.

Quantitative Benefit

Double-digit reduction in the amount of beer shrinkage.
Increased revenue in beer sales that would otherwise have been lost from theft (0.50% retention).
50% reduction in workman’s compensation costs.