Customer Stories

How Luke's Lobster Simplified Their Vendor Payments & Financial Processes With ResQ

Key successes

Company Background

Luke’s Lobster is a seafood restaurant group specializing in lobster rolls, founded with a mission to bring sustainable, traceable seafood to diners across the United States. With approximately 25 locations nationwide, Luke’s Lobster has grown from its humble beginnings to become a beloved brand known for its commitment to quality and sustainability.

We sat down with Steve Song, their CFO, to discuss how he manages all the financial processes.

Challenge

Steve faced significant operational challenges in managing their back-office processes. As a CFO, Steve wanted to streamline these processes to allow restaurant managers to focus on delivering the best possible experience to guests. The complexities of managing multiple vendor relationships across different cities had become a significant burden, leading Steve to seek a more efficient solution.

Fragmented Vendor Management:

“Previously, we had multiple relationships with different contractors, different plumbers, electricians, repair people all over the city,” explained Steve Song. With locations in nine different cities, each vendor required separate management, including onboarding, payment processing, and adherence to various payment methods.

This lack of a centralized system created inefficiencies, with restaurant managers often struggling to keep track of vendor payments and requirements, leading to administrative burdens and operational delays.

Administrative Overload:

The finance team faced significant challenges in managing vendor onboarding, including collecting tax information, payment instructions, and insurance certificates. “Every independent contractor had to be entered into our system as a unique vendor,” said Steve. “We’d have to track down their tax information, we’d have to get their payment instructions. Some of them wanted cash, which we don’t really do.”

The process was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. Dealing with the administrative side of vendor payments, such as tracking down missing payments and resolving discrepancies, added to the workload.

Limited Financial Visibility:

Due to the decentralized nature of vendor management, Luke’s Lobster had limited visibility into when services were rendered, when invoices were issued, and when payments were due. This lack of visibility often led to delays and increased the risk of missed or incorrect payments. “A lot of the other contractors or people we work with, they take sometimes weeks to invoice us,” noted Steve.

Solution

Luke’s Lobster turned to ResQ, a platform designed to streamline vendor management and back-office operations in the restaurant industry.

Centralized Vendor Management:

ResQ provided a unified platform for managing all vendor relationships. “We decided to figure out a way to consolidate that and give our managers a streamlined solution,” Steve shared. This allowed Luke’s Lobster to consolidate 30 different vendors into one streamlined solution.

Restaurant managers were trained to use ResQ exclusively for all maintenance and repair needs, eliminating the need to manually search for and manage individual vendors.

"All our managers are now trained to go to ResQ for all their needs, as opposed to having to go find a plumber, having to go find an electrician."

Simplified Administrative Processes:

ResQ took over the responsibility of managing vendor onboarding, including obtaining tax forms, insurance certificates, and payment instructions. “It’s like having an extension of my accounting team in the software”. Luke’s Lobster’s finance team only needed to interact with ResQ, significantly reducing their administrative workload.

The platform also handled all payment processing, ensuring that vendors were paid according to their preferred methods while Luke’s Lobster simply paid ResQ.

"A lot of that work has been offloaded and just funneled through ResQ."

‍Improved Financial Visibility:

ResQ’s system automatically updated invoices and provided real-time visibility into when services were performed and when payments were due. “Because the system does it for us, I know when the repair happened and when we need to pay it,” Steve explained. This centralized view allowed the finance team to easily track and approve payments, reducing the risk of errors and missed payments.

With ResQ handling the bottom 25% of administrative tasks, Steve Song and his team could focus on more strategic initiatives.

"If I can use technology to handle all that and focus on the things that I do best, which is raise capital, you know, strategically plan for the future, prevent major risks, that’s just a better scenario for the entire company."

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Results

Operational Efficiency: By consolidating vendors and streamlining processes, Luke’s Lobster experienced a significant reduction in administrative overhead. Restaurant managers were freed from the burden of managing vendor relationships and could focus on providing a superior guest experience.

Financial Savings: The simplification of vendor payments and the reduction in administrative tasks led to substantial savings in time and resources. The finance team no longer had to chase down payments or resolve discrepancies, allowing them to operate more efficiently.

Enhanced Visibility: The centralized system provided by ResQ improved financial oversight, ensuring that all invoices were tracked and payments were made promptly. This increased transparency helped prevent financial mismanagement and improved overall accountability.

The partnership with ResQ has been transformative for Luke’s Lobster, turning a complex and burdensome vendor management process into a streamlined and efficient system. By leveraging technology, Luke’s Lobster has been able to offload administrative tasks, improve financial visibility, and focus on what they do best—delivering exceptional seafood experiences to their guests.

"Since working with ResQ, invoices has been a breeze."