Turning invoices into insights
RESTAURANT CASE STUDY
A quick-service restaurant with 400+ locations worked with WATS to streamline their waste operations. Their operations team was spending too much time manually reviewing waste overages and adjusting services. We’ve reduced time spent managing waste data by 70% since working with WATS.
"We were using (over) 4 different spreadsheets to manage our waste streams and store locations. Needless to say, we've consolidated it.”
— D.E. Waste Compliance Specialist
70%
Time savings
50%
Better data review satisfaction
BUSINESS TYPE
Quick-service restaurant
BUSINESS DETAILS
400+ locations across 8 states (hundreds of jurisdictions)
90+ vendors
2,400+ invoices annually
Challenge
The restaurant operations team relies on data from 90 vendors, with 2,400+ invoices annually, often in the form of PDFs.
Before WATS, the team would manually transcribe the data from thousands of invoices into their operations tool before exporting the data to Excel to review problem areas to target. This data entry process took 50 hours per month.
Solution
WATS automated the invoice data entry process. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), we parse invoices, standardize formats, and flag issues. The platform then consolidates the data into a dashboard for quick insights on costs and trends, with automated alerts for missing invoices.
The WATS dashboard aggregates monthly data from all 400+ locations so users can quickly see costs, compare month-over-month trends, and uncover insights to act on. WATS also sends the operations team automated notifications to indicate missing invoices and ensure complete data.
Results
WATS has reduced time spent on manual tasks by 70%, improving data review satisfaction by 50%. This allows the team to focus more on compliance and strategy.
This customer illustrates how WATS streamlines waste management, freeing up resources for long-term goals.