Literaat: when choosing jobs, chefs look for EDI

Restaurant Literaat

Literaat is not only a restaurant, but also a bookstore with a wide selection of literature on its shelves. It is therefore a place to nourish both body and mind. The cozy atmosphere and delicious food have also brought the restaurant a nomination for the prestigious Silver Spoon award.

In addition to the flagship restaurant in the Tallinn Telliskivi quarter, also Literaat Café cafeterias in the Viru Shopping Mall and the Rahva Raamat Pärnu Street store belong to the same chain. Restaurant manager Katrily Purga, who has nearly 10 years of industry experience, thinks highly of making the work processes more efficient. That is why she has adopted Telema EDI solutions in her previous two workplaces.

Long term cooperation determined the automation partners

According to Purga, one of her goals is to create an innovative working environment where people can enjoy the working process, not do things for the sake of doing. “I am determined to create restaurant business jobs that would make the eyes of the younger generation sparkle.”

“I wish the chefs would rather communicate with each other in the kitchen, finding ways to further improve the dishes. Instead of staring at the screen, they should be experimenting with the raw materials. Send the chef to the farmers’ market to find new exciting ingredients, instead of making him deal with bureaucracy,” Purga elaborates on her decision.

Her first encounter with Telema services happened a few years ago at the Kampai restaurant. “Kampai was my pet project, where I wanted to find new approaches to restaurant management,” explains Purga. As a cash register we chose CompuCash, the solution provided by market leader Ektaco. Although there are other EDI operators on the market, Telema was chosen thanks to its long-term cooperation with Ektaco. Since the partnership worked very well with both of them in Kampai, the same service providers were also chosen in Literaat.

EDI saves you half a week

From its 21 suppliers, Literaat restaurants receive more than 500 invoices a month. The biggest concern before the introduction of EDI was the need to enter data manually into the warehouse software while the invoices contained often more than 10 product rows.

In Literaat, Purga’s focus has been on making work more efficient. In September 2022, Telema EDI Buyer service was introduced in order to reduce the time required for entering despatch advice’ data.

“Entering the despatch advice data in a hurry, I used to check the invoice number and other data four times, and often slipped by making a mistake,” Purga describes the situation before implementation of Telema services.

In 2022, Literaat received monthly nearly 500 invoices carrying about 2,500 lines. With a little help from Telema’s EDI calculator, it turns out that Telema EDI Buyer service saves Literaat more than 3 working days every month on entering invoice data.

Experience creates habits

Although some employees were not keen to use the new system at first, Purga sees this as a normal reaction. “People dislike change and the need to relearn. But in my opinion, manual data entry is not a task that a highly paid chef ought to do for 2 hours a day,” insists Purga.

Today, Purga is responsible for the operation of EDI in Literaat’s three locations, but other employees are also becoming more excited. “Our head pastry chef has welcomed the Telema system very passionately, because data entry is a most tedious activity for her,” Purga rejoices.

EDI accelerates payments and reduces stress

When the despatch advices piled up waiting to be entered manually to the warehouse system, it stalled the work of accountants. They had to remind the chefs of the need to enter the data, and when the invoice was finally approved, the accountants re-entered the data into the accounting program. A lot of double entry occurred, the process dragged, and payment delays were inevitable.

“I really see how big of a time saver EDI is. And, of course, the stress that used to accompany manual entry has now vanished,” praises Purga.

With Telema EDI Buyer, the invoice arrives electronically directly to CompuCash, there are less mistakes, which makes it easier to make timely payments to suppliers. Thanks to this, also supplier relations are smoother and stronger.

EDI is becoming a basic feature in the restaurant business

According to Purga, Telema has been very supportive throughout the entire automation process – this is a sign of good partnership. “As new opportunities are emerging, services must be constantly updated, otherwise they can become obsolete,” adds Purga and confirms that she will keep seeking for modern and out-of-the-box solutions.

She points out that while human relations in the ordering process are important and must be maintained, the introduction of EDI does not exclude communication. On the contrary, one has now more time for communication. Purga takes it a step further and claims that today, chefs are looking for jobs where EDI is already in use. They wish to avoid pointless paperwork and focus on their main work, which makes their eyes sparkle.