Dallas,TX – February 7, 2012 - Black Box Intelligence™(BBI), the leading provider of financial and market data for the restaurant industry, tracking 73 distinct brands, over 12,000 units and reporting weekly in 107 DMAs, announced today the release of a ground breaking iteration of the weekly traffic dashboard, Transaction Compass. The comprehensive Sales Intelligence™ suite now includes a dashboard that allows the user to layer sales, traffic, and check averages (in both dollars and percent figures), within the same view, and compare the results to the benchmarks of a competitive segment.

Wally Doolin, Chairman and Founder of BBI, commented on the announcement saying, “There is a need among restaurant operators to be able to not only see how their own traffic counts and check averages are impacting total sales, but how those results correlate with what’s happening with their competitive peer group. As they keep a close eye on commodity expectations, this new tool will be able to help them in strategic planning, menu pricing, and marketing initiatives.”

This latest innovation to BBI Sales Intelligence™ tool , coupled with the power of the broad consumer and enterprise research of its’ partners, Consumer Edge Insights and Guest Metrics, allows BBI to provide its consortium of leading chain restaurants an unparalleled suite of relevant and timely business intelligence.

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1. Aligning people to business objectives. “If you manage your people really well and give them the chance to do something they are really good at and align them to the business objectives, it becomes a win-win,” says Kathy Kolbe, founder of Kolbe Corp. and creator of the Kolbe A Index, used in selection, leadership and team building.

2. Communicating to employees in a clear, concise manner. “It is very important to help employees understand the business reasons behind decisions. Many employers when expanding internationally view communication as an after-the-fact alternative for implementing an employee pay and benefits program. Smart employers start by considering the communication potential at the outset and then design the right tax-efficient reward program for the international franchise consultant or F&B executive,” says James Berkeley, an international consultant for full-service restaurants looking to expand overseas.

3. Being savvy about technology. “It is crucial that moving forward restaurant companies have to be very savvy about technology. The business demands it. Historically, human resources has been a very paper-driven department, but that’s not the case anymore. And that makes good business sense because the better job that companies can do to automate the paper side of things allows more time to be spent on the people side of the business, where it can really make a difference to the bottom line,” says Steven Wallace, executive vice president and chief people officer at Real Mex Restaurants Inc.

4. Ensuring employees remain engaged and productive. “Engaged not just satisfied. If you have not taken steps to measure engagement, now is the time. Then hold HR accountable for the results and strategies to improve the scores,” says Joleen Goronkin, president of People & Performance Strategies, an HR consultancy.

5. Driving culture change. “Entitlement or performance? What things do you need to do to move the needle? Put them in place and really understand what your culture is. It is like a culture in a Petri dish. You can let it grow on its own and take on its own shape and form, or you can modify it and grow it in a way that aligns with your expected results,” asserts People & Performance’s Goronkin.

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