Eyes on Fries
Fast Food Restauranteur Oversees Multiple Mall Locations
Philip and John Bourada, a father and son team, have mastered the art of being in four or more places at the same time. Owners of three New York Fries locations in Ottawa, Canada, the Bouradas turn on the computer in their home office first thing every morning to view live video from the March Networks® video surveillance systems in their three food court outlets around the city.
“We’re on the system every day. It’s on right now as we’re talking,” said John. “We turn it on in the morning to make sure our staff have shown up. If the lights are off when we turn on the computer at 9 a.m., it’s a bad sign, but it happens.”
Their March Networks system came in handy several years ago when a cleaner in the mall found a way through the gate and made off with a coin box containing $600 worth of change.
Inclement weather or a late night out can cause an employee to miss a bus or sleep in.
“Because of the size of our stores, we open with only one person, so it’s not like there are three or four people going in there,” said John. “That’s why it’s so important that we know. It’s easy for that one person to not make it in, and that means the store’s not open.”
John or his dad will try to call the employee or get someone else to cover. If all else fails, they’ll hop in the car themselves, don their aprons and begin prepping their famous fries for the lunchtime crowds.
The Bouradas purchased their first digital video surveillance systems in the late 1990s, qualifying them as digital video pioneers. The first recorders were four channel devices with 20 GB drives. They had five New York Fries locations at the time and figured it was the only way to effectively manage the business.
“There was some pushback in the industry and some resistance from franchisors about having cameras in our locations,” recalled Phil. “The thinking was that it was a cop-out and that we weren’t managing our stores properly.” Times change though and, today, most if not all fast food outlets in malls around the world have video surveillance systems and their advantages, both in terms of loss prevention and operational oversight are well established.
The Bouradas have seen vast improvements in video surveillance technology over the years, upgrading to March Networks’ 3204 NVRs with 500 GB of onboard storage and, more recently, to March Networks 8000 Series Hybrid recorders with 2 TB of storage.
The 8000 Series NVR delivers exceptional reliability, enables a transition to 100 percent IP video and allows for sharper analog camera images with no increase in storage.
Over each point-of-sale station, the three New York Fries stores have March Networks MegaPX WDR NanoDomes providing high-resolution images of the cash, the items purchased and the denominations of the bills entering and leaving the till.
“We use it to make sure that staff aren’t throwing a $20 bill in their pocket, which we’ve caught some employees doing over the years,” said Phil. “Everyone knows the cameras are there, so that prevents a fair bit, but there are always some people who are just oblivious.”
The Bouradas don’t have to worry about customers walking off with fries, but their March Networks system came in handy several years ago when a cleaner in the mall found a way through the gate and made off with a coin box containing $600 worth of change.
Analog Infinova cameras offer views of the front counter, customers waiting to be served and the potatoes in the back being hand-cut, soaked and finally fried to a perfect mouth-watering, golden hue.
They can pick up the phone if they notice customers lining up for service while staff are busy in the back, or take note of any deviation from the precise New York Fries three-step recipe.
New York Fries was founded by Canadian entrepreneurs Jay Gould and his brother Hal, and now boasts 201 stores in Canada, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Hong Kong, Turkey and Iraq.
The idea for the franchise came during a trip to New York in 1983 and a review the brothers read about a french fry stand at the city’s South Street Seaport. The two brothers checked it out and thought so highly of the product that they bought the company.
“These were no ordinary fries. No mashed up re-constituted french fry wannabees,” according to franchise lore. “New York Fries were fresh-cut, made from real potatoes and served in generous proportions, hot and crisp.”
The potatoes are hand-cut with skins on for both flavor and nutrition, soaked in cold water to remove the starch and cooked in non-hydrogenated trans fat-free sunflower oil.
Quality control is critical, said John. “We’re all about fries, so we know how to cook them. They have to be fried for a precise amount of time and they have to be shaken. That’s critical so they rotate in the oil and cook evenly.”
“But we don’t manage from the camera,” added Phil. “I won’t pick up the phone and say, ‘I’m watching you. You need to do this.’ Unless it’s really urgent, we’ll deal with it later. You don’t want people to think you’re watching their every move.”
Video surveillance is no substitute for face-to-face contact with team members, but used judiciously, it allows business owners with multiple locations to manage more effectively.
In addition to keeping an eye on the business from their home office in Ottawa, the Bouradas can log in from their laptop while on the road or on vacation.
“I don’t know what we’d do without it,” said Phil. “The March Networks system has been great, and I can’t say enough about the service. If there are ever any issues, they’re just a phone call away.”