How Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza Replaced Emails and Texting

Background

Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza is a convenience store and pizza parlor based in Dayton, Ohio. With a drive to consistently deliver amazing food and brews, this establishment provides top-quality service to all of its customers. The establishment’s fifteen employees all do their part to either manage the drive-thru area, or oversee the pizza counter, to keep Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza running in tip-top shape every day.

Brian Todd has been the owner of Brew & Brews since December of 2017, but Brian hasn’t always run small businesses. After many years of working in an executive position at a successful care management company, Brian decided that he wanted a new challenge to take on, and proceeded to buy Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza. Brian finds fulfillment in learning new things, and in the varied challenges he regularly tackles in running his own business.

Unlike other local convenience stores, Brew & Brews stands out in a special way because of Brian and his staff’s exceptional attention to detail, and the contribution they make to the surrounding community. The establishment offers specialized craft beers, and boasts an indoor, New York-style pizzeria. Brian and his staff foster a warm and welcoming atmosphere for all of their customers, and even provide dog treats for pets accompanying customers, as well as lollipops for children. Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza’s conscientious attitude extends well beyond the doors of their establishment, contributing to the surrounding community with local fundraisers and events.

Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza’s Challenges

Before using Coast, Brian and his staff had no form of centralized communication, and relied on written calendars and Excel spreadsheets for scheduling. Brian often found himself using several different messaging applications, since each employee seemed to prefer or respond with different forms of communication (email, text, social media, etc.)

For Brian, text messaging and physical calendars often felt as slow as snail mail, and both he and his staff were eager to find a more efficient way to communicate at Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza. Brian was ultimately looking for a tool that would make correspondence and scheduling easier and faster for everyone at the business.

“I was looking for something to make our processes smoother, faster, and more time-efficient.”

Brian had enough on his plate as manager and owner of Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza, and needed an effective solution, pronto.

How Brian Formed Greater Communication & Organization with His Staff

Brian finally found relief from the headaches of poor communication and scrambled scheduling when he discovered Coast!

Right off the bat, adopting Coast was an easy adjustment for Brian’s staff, but it was the app’s clever features that kept Brew & Brew’s Drive Thru and Pizza using Coast for more than a year.

Brian’s favorite thing about Coast is its group messaging capabilities. Reducing the need for external messaging, the Coast messaging feature has allowed Brian to easily separate different aspects of his business, establishing easy communication between them. In his business, he has created three main chat groups: the Pizza Staff group (for those working the pizzeria), the Drive-Thru group (for those working the drive-thru), and All Teams, where he can make announcements to his entire staff. This grouping capability alone has changed the daily workflow for Brian and his workers.

“I can now communicate easily with my whole staff”

Messaging with Coast has proven to be more important than ever for Brian and his staff in the wake of COVID-19. Each day, every staff member on duty must confirm that they do not have any symptoms of the virus before coming in to work. Coast’s centralized communication has allowed Brian and his staff to stay as safe as possible — and to protect the safety of their customers — during these uncertain times.

Coast has also enhanced accountability for Brian’s staff through the “Seen” feature of the app. For every message that is sent, Brian is able to see exactly which staff members have read it, and is quickly informed of what’s happening. Coast’s “Seen” feature is especially helpful for posting staff schedules — now that they’re posted to a centralized location, staff cannot claim that they didn’t see the schedules, which had previously been an excuse for missing shifts or coming in at the wrong time.

“With Coast, they can no longer use the excuse that they didn’t see the calendar.”

Taking full advantage of Coast’s many features, Brian has also used “Links” to create an easily-accessible library of videos and training information for new or struggling staff members. This helpful feature takes one more task out of Brian’s already-busy day.

Brian views the Coast app as an all-in-one workplace database for Brew & Brew’s Drive Thru and Pizza, helping him eliminate wasted time and lost communication in an average workday.

“Coast keeps everything in one location for my staff and me.”

Brilliant Brews & Brilliant Results – Better Communication and Organization for Staff

Since adopting Coast, Brian has noticed significant changes in efficiency, communication, and management among staff, all of which have greatly improved with Coast’s centralized communication features. Confusion from overlapping announcements has been successfully reduced, as well, thanks to Coast’s specialized group chats.

Brian no longer spends unnecessary time each day trying to reach his staff through multiple communication channels, and can redirect that time and energy to his business. With Coast’s convenient accountability features, Brian can also have a clear head when making announcements and posting schedules, and can easily view which staff members have seen these developments.

Brian could not be happier with how Coast has helped his business’s productivity and connectivity, and is excited for what’s next for Brew & Brews Drive Thru and Pizza with the support of Coast!