Strategic Operations
White Hen Pantry Kiosk Design
Customer-Ordering Kiosk Design & Implementation
Project lead for Chicago-based White Hen (300 convenience stores) to develop self-service, touch screen foodservice ordering kiosks and eventual rollout to the entire chain.
Gray Cat was engaged to lead the project from start-to-finish and oversee the design; development and implementation of foodservice touch screen kiosks in all of the White Hen stores working with a dotted line White Hen team. Included were representatives from marketing, merchandising, operations, analysis and IT – as well as an outside technology vendor.
The benefits from the White Hen touch screen included improvement in speed of service, order accuracy, lift on up-sells/combos, as well as increased consumer satisfaction. From a technology standpoint, each White Hen store was equipped with a Kitchen Production System, Food Service Back Office, Remote Content Management, Management Reporting, and Analytics Dashboard.
The main goals of this project were achieved and the rollout was successfully delivered on the following:
- Authored the overall project plan and coordinated the installation effort
- Created a new White Hen self service application for the pilot stores and chain
- Coordinated with the vendor and installed the hosted self-service solution
- Demonstrated to White Hen staff on how to maintain graphics and menus
- Contracted vendor to provide hardware and software support to White Hen
- Ensured a smooth ownership transition of the self-service solution
Brandon Barnholt
Former President & CEO, White Hen Pantry
"John is the consummate project leader that's one of the reasons why he was ultimately responsible for four different divisions of ours as a vice president. That is why White Hen now has John tackling some major projects for us. He has a tremendous ability to quickly analyze a multitude of complex components, producing a detailed project plan while communicating with every team member involved until the project is successfully implemented. John always gets the job done."
John Matthews, President & CEO, Gray Cat Enterprises, Inc.
John Matthews is the Founder and President of Gray Cat Enterprises, Inc. a Raleigh, NC-based management consulting company. Gray Cat specializes in strategic project management and consulting for multi-unit operations; interim executive management; and strategic planning. Mr. Matthews has over 30 years of senior-level executive experience in the retail industry, involving three dynamic multi-unit companies. Mr. Matthews experience includes President of Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches; Vice President of Marketing, Merchandising, Corporate Communications, Facilities and Real Estate for Clark Retail Enterprises/White Hen Pantry; and National Marketing Director at Little Caesar's Pizza! Pizza!
