How this Fredericton Company Is Working With the World’s Biggest Fast Food Chains
A company based out of Fredericton is helping the world’s biggest fast food chains manage their operations.
Quick Service Software (QSS) is a software service solution that helps fast food and quick-service businesses with financial management, food-cost management and labour management.
“We coordinate with their point-of-sales system, so their cash registers, and that information is sent to us,” says Jacqueline Morehouse, vice-president of customer success at QSS. “Our software then takes information from their point-of-sale to help with financial management, inventory management as well as labour management.”
QSS has over 6,500 clients around that use its software to automate food orders, cash management, scheduling, and financial tracking. Their clients include McDonald’s Canada, Wendy’s, Tim Hortons, Burger King, KFC, A&W, Popeye’s, among many others.
“One of the features that make us stand out would be that triple-threat piece. We’re not just financial management. We’re not just labour management. We’re not just inventory, we’re all three. So that gives franchise operators that comparative analysis so they don’t have to go to three different areas,” says Morehouse.
“We’re software-as-a-service, so that means you can access your information on any device you can get the internet on.”
We really promote that we can give you the information in the palm of your hand, on your phone, on your tablet. That gets folks out of that back office with the doors closed going through piles of spreadsheets and that gets back into the restaurant and working with their teams.”
It’s this versatility that’s been helping QSS get the attention of fast food chains globally. The company recently signed on with McDonald’s Japan, a client Morehouse says they’re excited about.
“We’ve never done business within the Asian market before. We have business in international areas, but this is the first time in the Asian market. We’re very excited about that,” she says. “They have close to 3,000 restaurants, so that brings a lot of excitement as well as challenges and business opportunities for us. It’s a big win for this company.”
QSS also serves Tim Hortons locations in the United Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the U.K. They will also be working Tim Hortons as they open their first locations in Mexico at the end of September.
Panasonic becomes part-owner of QSS
Morehouse says a big reason QSS has landed such big clients is the company’s relationship with Panasonic International. Back in November 2015, Panasonic bought 51 per cent of the company.
“Panasonic’s eye on us is all about how we can promote synergies. They’re used to selling equipment, we provide a service,” says Morehouse.
“For instance, why can’t we start to think about how that equipment that they’re providing, whether it’s a fryer or temperature monitor or whatever it happens to be, how can those devices start to communicate with our software and what can we do with that information.”
The company’s main office is in Fredericton and has more than 50 employees in various departments: contact centre, development, training, account management, application management, business analysis and project management. The company has a second office in Niagara, Ontario, where its IT team, servers and administrative staff work.
Ambitious plans for growth
Morehouse says QSS plans to double its size in the next four years and is continuously looking for talent for its developer, quality assurance and support teams.
“We’re looking for good folks and for us, we still consider ourselves a smaller company and for us, fit is very important,” she says. “Because we still do work so closely with so many different members of different teams, we’re looking for that collaboration. That’s been part of our search.”
Though it has an electronic giant as part-owner, QSS has remained true to its Fredericton roots since it was founded in 2000, an example that a company can play on the global stage from New Brunswick.
“This is a small company that was started by a couple in their living room, basically. It’s evolved now into an international business. Our partnership with Panasonic was certainly a door-opener for us because now we’re considered large enough for folks to basically return our calls internationally,” says Morehouse.
“This has certainly been a huge growth opportunity for us, but we still keep that small company culture. We’re very aware where the roots started and what we need to do to keep this company great.”