A growing multi-unit franchisee came to me with a familiar problem: their operations team was drowning in spreadsheets.
They were running 45+ restaurants across Jimmy John's, Dunkin', and Baskin-Robbins locations all over the United States — with plans to grow to 350. Every week, district managers manually compiled data from multiple sources: point-of-sale systems, labor scheduling tools, inventory platforms, and customer feedback portals.
Spreadsheets and manual reporting weren't cutting it anymore.
This is the story of how I built a custom performance dashboard that gives this franchisee real-time visibility into the metrics that actually matter — from labor costs and COGS to customer satisfaction scores and operational compliance.
Results at a Glance
- 45+ locations unified in one dashboard
- 30 key metrics tracked weekly
- Hours of manual reporting eliminated
- Single source of truth for all brands
The Challenge
With stores spread across multiple states and organized into regions and districts, leadership needed better visibility into weekly performance metrics. The data lived in disconnected Google Sheets, Retool apps, and email chains.
No Single Source of Truth
Weekly scorecards were compiled manually from multiple sources. There was no centralized system where leadership could see performance across all locations at a glance.
Hours of Manual Work
District managers spent hours each week manually calculating metrics like labor percentage and COGS variance. Time that should have been spent improving operations was wasted on data entry.
Inconsistent Data Formats
With three different brands and multiple regions, data entry formats varied wildly. Comparing performance across locations was nearly impossible.
No Trend Visibility
Leadership couldn't easily see period-over-period trends. Identifying underperformers or spotting problems early required manual spreadsheet archaeology.
Email-Based Approvals
Approval workflows happened over email with no audit trail. There was no accountability for when data was submitted or who approved it.
The client needed a unified platform that could handle the complexity of multi-brand operations while remaining simple enough for store managers to use weekly.
The Solution
I built a custom Ruby on Rails application that serves as the central hub for all operational performance data. The platform connects to an existing PostgreSQL data warehouse and provides a clean, responsive interface for data entry, approval workflows, and executive reporting.
The Tech Stack
| Layer | Technology | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Framework | Ruby on Rails 7 | Rapid development, convention over configuration |
| Database | PostgreSQL | Powerful queries, materialized views for performance |
| Frontend | Hotwire (Turbo + Stimulus) | Fast, responsive UI without complex JavaScript |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS | Mobile-friendly, consistent design system |
| Deployment | Kamal on DigitalOcean | Containerized, reliable, cost-effective |
Key Features
Multi-Brand Architecture
The system supports distinct configurations for each brand, accommodating different store code formats, metric requirements, and organizational structures — all within a single unified platform.
30-Metric Scorecard System
I implemented tracking for 30 key performance indicators organized into eight categories:
- Sales: Gross Sales, Net Sales, Cash Variance
- Labor: Labor Dollars, Labor Percentage, Scheduled Labor %, Overtime Hours
- Cost of Goods: COGS $, COGS %, Theoretical COGS, Variance Percentage
- Inventory: Negative Usages
- Operations: AM/PM Prep Scores, Opening/Closing Audits, Shift Change Compliance
- Customer Experience: Overall Satisfaction, Likelihood to Return, Speed of Service, Complaints, Sampling Programs
- Transactions: Ticket Counts, Year-over-Year Comparison
- Team Engagement: Meeting Completion, Training Module Compliance
Automated Calculations
Key metrics like Labor %, COGS %, Theoretical COGS, COGS Variance, and ticket variance are calculated automatically — eliminating manual spreadsheet formulas and reducing errors.
Hierarchical Rollup Reporting
Using a closure table pattern for efficient hierarchy queries, the system aggregates data from individual stores up through districts, regions, and state-level views. Leadership can drill down from a high-level overview to individual store performance in seconds.
Approval Workflow
Scorecards move through a structured workflow — draft, submitted, approved, or rejected — with full audit trails. District managers submit weekly data, and regional leadership reviews and approves before metrics are finalized.
Fiscal Period Support
The platform uses a 13-period fiscal calendar (28-day periods) common in the restaurant industry, with materialized views that automatically aggregate weekly data into period summaries.
Leaderboard & Rankings
A competitive leaderboard feature ranks stores and districts on key metrics, driving accountability and healthy competition across the organization.
FP&A Capabilities
Beyond operational tracking, the platform delivers financial planning and analysis functionality typically found in enterprise tools like Anaplan — at a fraction of the cost:
- Financial Projections: Forecast performance based on historical trends and seasonal patterns
- Budgeting: Set and track budgets at the store, district, and regional level
- Goal Setting: Define financial targets and measure progress in real-time
- Variance Reporting: Automatically highlight deviations from budget and prior periods
- Executive Reporting: Generate board-ready reports with period-over-period comparisons
This gives the operations team enterprise-grade financial visibility without the six-figure price tag of traditional FP&A software.
The Results
Before
- Weekly reporting took 4+ hours of manual compilation
- Data inconsistencies across regions
- No historical trend visibility
- Leadership decisions based on stale or incomplete data
After
- Single dashboard for all brands and locations
- Real-time visibility into weekly performance
- Automated calculations eliminate formula errors
- Clear approval workflows with accountability
- Period-over-period trend analysis at every level
- Store rankings drive performance improvements
Why It Worked
I Understood the Operational Reality
Restaurant operators don't have time for complex software — they need tools that fit into their existing workflows and deliver value immediately. I designed the interface to be fast, mobile-friendly, and intuitive for managers who are entering data between rushes.
I Connected to Existing Infrastructure
By connecting to their existing data infrastructure rather than requiring a wholesale migration, I minimized disruption. The team could start using the new dashboard without abandoning tools they already relied on.
I Automated the Tedious Parts
By automating calculations and providing clear hierarchical views, I gave leadership the visibility they needed without adding burden to store-level managers. Data entry is simple. Insights are automatic.
This case study is based on a real client engagement. Details have been anonymized to protect confidentiality.