Odoo for Chows

Company Name: Chows

Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Website: https://chowsbd.com/

Industry: Restaurant, Food and Beverage

Company Size: 20-25

Apps Implemented: Purchase, Manufacturing, Inventory, Accounting, and Sales, and Invoicing.

Implementation Time: 3 Months

Hosting Type: Odoo Online

Implemented by: DigiCore System

“Two more solutions caught our eye, but they would have required much more time to implement and were a little more complicated for our procedure. Therefore, we were strongly inclined towards Odoo because of its affordability, user-friendliness, and convenience of use.”

Saiful Islam, Restaurant Manager of Chows

Situated in Banani, Chows is an upscale eatery committed to providing the finest Cantonese food Dhaka has to offer. The restaurant, which is owned by Mishal Karim and associates, is two stories long and features a motif that blends traditional and modern Chinese design. It features a second-floor balcony with views of Gulshan Lake, as well as multipurpose private dining rooms and lounges.

This delightful eatery located in Banani, sources the freshest local ingredients as well as specialty ingredients directly from China, setting the terms for a vision of fine dining to bring you a subtle and flavourful experience. The quaint little joint which goes by the name Chows has certainly worked its magic among Dhakaites with its delectable menu.

Located in Road 19/A of Banani, one of the most buzzing areas of Dhaka city, Chows with its modern outlook specializes in Cantonese cuisine and offers a wide array of items. Once you enter the place, you cannot help but praise its unique architecture and ambience. Decorated with contemporary paintings, a portion of the building is made entirely of glass so that you can experience dining under the sunlight or the stars. If you feel like dining in open air, Chows also offers you a beautiful terrace. The versatile nature of the venue makes it possible for one to host a wide variety of events. Chef Chow Man, the culinary genius behind this restaurant’s delectable delicacies is from Guangdong, China. Hence, it goes without saying that the place is indeed a treasure trove of tastes.

A Group That Aims for Development

Manual Inventory Verification: After the restaurant opened in 2015, business has expanded two to ten times over. Every time they checked the stock, the crew, which kept track of all SKUs on an Excel sheet, dedicated at least thirty minutes. Sales representatives also found it inconvenient to refer to the sheet to check stock levels at every step of the sales process.

Inefficient Communication: Without an efficient platform to centralize data, the teams had to go through chains of emails where they send purchase orders (POs) and receive sales orders (SOs) to look for information.

Slow Paper-Based Invoicing Workflow: Chows hired administrative staff to handle paper invoices, limited to processing 200 per day. The physical nature of the invoices often caused issues like creases, tears, and missing signatures, requiring additional work to prepare them again.

Inefficient Accounting: Chows found managing their business on the ERP to be smooth for the ordering processes. However, they faced difficulties managing finances on the system until they integrated an external program for better information filtering and extraction.

The company’s existing ERP software was not capable enough to support the team’s rapid growth and expansion. It also struggled with the amount of data it had to handle on a day-to-day basis. Ultimately, the team agreed that the software did not serve its purpose as an ERP and had too many limitations when it came to customization. When the team came across Odoo, its well-integrated applications, flexibility and support service stood out from the other competitors, and DigiQore Systems Limited decided to begin the implementation.

Overcoming Obstacles with Odoo

After the quickstart implementation, the most primary and fundamental operation in Chows was digitized for the first time. Odoo’s manufacturing app enabled the restaurant to centralize data, build configurations, and, most importantly, seamlessly integrate with other operations. In the past, the enterprise faced difficulties in the distribution of information to teams, but with the help of advanced BoMs, working instructions are now simpler and error-free.

Shahin, a representative of Chows, points out that, by adopting Odoo, they primarily sought to automate their processes, improve their customer service, and optimize the manufacturing of their products. These goals were successfully achieved, thanks to the versatility and effectiveness of Odoo. When asked to speak about Odoo, Shahin highlighted the user-friendliness of the system, and its ability to adapt to the specific needs of the company, even facilitating management from mobile devices.

Odoo’s well integrated Sales & Purchase applications was able to redesign the whole workflow to a well organized one, and it’s the instant PO synchronization function that largely played a role in this. With over 1000 products, Odoo’s centralized inventory system made everything go from a ‘needle in a haystack’ to a ‘piece of Cake’. The time spent searching for products was cut by 50%. Using Odoo’s Purchase app, the procurement workflow was standardized and an approval rule was set up. Unique Purchase Units of Measures (UoMs) were created to handle diverse purchase quantities, enhancing operational efficiency.

In the kitchen, operators requested raw materials from the warehouse to manufacture semi-finished goods. The finished product cost was fixed based on the components of the BoM. Odoo’s Manufacturing app was a game-changer for Chows, allowing operators to efficiently request raw materials and automatically track costs.

Chows accounting needs were wide-ranging, from reconciling payments to generating profit and loss statements. Many of these processes were automated using the Odoo Accounting program, which uses Anglo-Saxon accounting. Operational and administrative expenses were recorded using the Expenses app.

“I believe an important factor that led us to the decision to work with Odoo was the technologies it is developed on. I know that the system is built on high-level technologies, which are also compatible with any other software through APIs and web services. That is an important part, which can be integrated. Integration with other tools and applications is easy,” says Shahin.

Another important factor that led Chows to decide to work with Odoo was the scalability of the software. For them, it was crucial how Odoo constantly updates without getting stuck.

Conclusion

Chows is an iconic, and established, restaurant with 15 years of experience in the market. Recognized for its dedication to offering the highest quality products, and exceptional customer service, it has become a benchmark in the industry.

Our experience with Odoo is a testimony to the positive impact that a well-implemented ERP solution can have on a company. The versatility, user-friendliness, and adaptability of Odoo have allowed Chows to reach new levels of efficiency and customer satisfaction.

“Odoo has clearly paved the way to a greater future for our company with increased efficiency and stability.” Mishal Karim, owner of Chows.

Streamlined and integrated, Odoo has helped Chows achieve advancement in efficiency. Thanks to the real-time data sharing of Odoo, the restaurant now also operates more professionally and mindfully, building a better restaurant image that can only benefit the growing business.