Apicbase made my life easier as an entrepreneur.
Rens Bekkers
Founder Bright Kitchen
Operation Size
7 virtual brands
3 company-owned dark kitchens in Amsterdam & Eindhoven
Business type
Dark Kitchen Network
Modules
Menu engineering
Procurement
Inventory Management
Sales Analytics
HACCP & Tasks
All Killer, No Filler
What happens when you apply a tech approach to a food business? You get Bright Kitchen, a dark kitchen operation that closely monitors performance data to continuously improve menus and processes.
“Apicbase helped us reduce our overall food costs by 8%”, founder Rens Bekkers says. Currently he runs seven virtual brands, all plant-based, out of three kitchens in Amsterdam and Eindhoven.
Data-driven menu engineering has enabled him to turn his dishes into top performers on the delivery platforms. So much so that his Vegan Burger Brothers brand has been the best-selling vegetarian dish on Deliveroo for two years in a row.
Apicbase connects with our suppliers and our POS system. The live data allows us to identify uncontrolled stock.
Apicbase Removes Uncertainties in the Business Model
‘I have more of a tech background than a food background,’ Rens says. He takes the tech way of doing things to the food world.
‘Apicbase is a SaaS tool, it’s keeps developing and improving. That methodology fits really well with our business model.’ Bright Kitchens isn’t afraid to try things and measure the results afterwards.
‘Apicbase takes away uncertainties in the business model. It gives me more control over operations and food cost, and makes my life easier as an entrepreneur.
We found that most of our uncontrolled stock came from 20% of the ingredients. Before Apicbase we had no idea where to look.
What Gets Measured, Gets Managed
‘You can try to improve everything, but if you can’t measure it, you’ll never know if you’ve actually improved something’, Rens says.
When we asked Rens Bekkers what has been the impact of using Apicbase he summarised it into four essential benefits:
- Food Cost Improvements. ‘Apicbase provides us with a clear insight into our theoretical food cost.’ Ingredient prices are updated daily in all the recipe costings thanks to a direct connection with the Bright Kitchen suppliers.
- Closing the inventory gap. ‘We get a visual overview of the ingredients we bought in relation to the products we sold. That way we were able to reduce the gap between the two, down to 2%, which further reduced our food costs.
- Menu engineering. ‘It has helped us a lot.’ By relating the sales numbers to the menu matrix Bright Kitchen is able to keep perfecting the menus in terms of popularity and profitability. With great results as the brand continues to produce #1 sellers on the delivery platforms.
- Central Ordering. ‘I know I was supposed to only give three benefits, so let’s consider this 3B’, Rens says with a smile. Bright Kitchen staff no longer need to send separate e-mails to all suppliers or fill in multiple order forms. Everything is handled within the system at the touch of a button.
Modules in Use
Bright Kitchen managed to close the gap between theoretical and actual food cost to 2%, and improve operational efficiency by using five of the shelve Apicbase modules.
