Golightly & Long: An NCR Case Study

The customer

Golightly & Long (G&L) LLC was founded by Nathan Long and Wayne Golightly in January of 2002. G&L currently operates 20 profit centers, including eight quick service restaurants (QSR), 11 convenience stores and one package liquor store. All of the stores currently operate in western Kentucky and southern Illinois, along with one travel center located in southeast Missouri. The convenience stores run under the Cheers Food and Fuel brand; the restaurants operate under the Arby’s, Quiznos, Huddle House, Noble Roman’s/Tuscano’s and Farmer’s Kitchen brands. The convenience stores and restaurants are either joined or in close proximity to each other.

G&L is headquartered in Paducah, Kentucky and currently employs approximately 250 team members that are dedicated to their mission, “to provide an excellent work environment and outstanding customer service every day on every shift in a way that causes team players and customers to remain loyal.” In fact, G&L bases all decisions on their mission statement. This has led to the success of building a strong teamwork environment and positive store sales results for the past seven years.

The challenge

G&L had been using another restaurant point-of-sale (POS) system, which did not provide comprehensive scheduling, and was equipped with a user interface that made it difficult to program new items. They also wanted a system that provided easier training of new employees and improved their ability to manage controllable expenses, such as payroll and food cost. Other key purchasing criteria included low cost of ownership, superior reliability and affordability. In short, G&L needed a system that would handle the complex combination of service, software viability and hardware performance, and enable them to maximize their QSR business operations efficiently.