How Jimmy John's Added $7.5M in Extra Revenue & Saved $828,000 in a Single Year with Vivant
- The Customer
Dave's Hot Chicken, scaling fast on a digital-first model
Customer
Dave's Hot Chicken
Customer
Dave's Hot Chicken
Industry
Quick Service Restaurant (QSR)
Industry
Quick Service Restaurant (QSR)
Technology partner
GRUBBRR Self-Ordering Kiosks
Technology partner
GRUBBRR Self-Ordering Kiosks
Solutions
Backup Internet (SmartCONNECT), Managed Network, PCI Compliance, Business Phone
Solutions
Backup Internet (SmartCONNECT), Managed Network, PCI Compliance, Business Phone
- The Challenge
A kiosk rollout is only as reliable as the network under it
"Before Vivant, it was an absolute nightmare. Lost revenue, unhappy customers, delayed orders.And then multiply that across 35 locations every single day. Now, if our primary internet goes down, we usually don't even know about it. We get an email saying the backup connection was activated. We don't have to do anything."
— Brandt Bacus, Franchisee- Menu data goes stale, so guests can order items that are already out of stock
- Payments stall or fail mid-checkout
- Orders don't reach the kitchen, which defeats the speed and accuracy a kiosk is supposed to deliver
- The fallback is weak — some devices support a manual "store and forward" mode, but staff have to catch and reconcile it after the fact, which isn't a real substitute for a stable connection
- The Solution
A standardized network stack behind every kiosk
Jimmy John’s engaged Vivant’s services in 2018. We began by deploying our backup solution, SmartCONNECT, across their stores.
Reliable internet
Business-grade primary connectivity at every location, with SmartCONNECT backup that fails over automatically.
Business phone services
Phone lines that stay up during an outage, so orders keep coming in and no customer call goes unanswered.
Secure networking
Managed firewalls and segmented networks separating payments,
staff and guest Wi-Fi at each restaurant.
Managed PCI compliance.
Compliance handled for the franchisee, protecting every card transaction without added work for store teams.
"You can go with Comcast if you want to talk to their support team every day. If not, you can go with Vivant. If I could go back in time and choose a phone and internet provider when I was opening my first store, I would choose only Vivant. In fact, I recommend anyone launching their new business to let Vivant manage their network."
— Deborah Merrill, FranchiseeThe solution was designed to keep restaurants connected, protect customer transactions, and reduce the burden on restaurant staff. The impact was immediate.
- The Results
What changed across 1,300+ restaurants
Restaurant teams refocused on core operations.
01
Reliable Operations
Internet and phone outages were eliminated, helping restaurants stay open, process payments, receive online orders, and never miss a customer call.
02
Lower Costs
By consolidating communications and improving efficiency, Jimmy John's franchisees saved $828,000 per year in internet and phone expenses.
03
One Partner for Support
Instead of working with multiple providers, franchisees gained a single nationwide partner for internet, phone, and network support, making it faster and easier to resolve issues whenever they arose.
04
More Time Focused on Customers
Restaurant employees no longer had to spend valuable time dealing with communication issues. Instead, they could stay focused on preparing food, serving guests, and delivering the fast experience customers expect from Jimmy John's.
Customer Perspective
In the franchisees' words
"The biggest cost savings we’ve experienced with Vivant is the customer service. We have saved countless hours not waiting on hold, getting immediate live support, and receiving relentless follow-up until an issue is resolved. That’s priceless."
— Jeff Collier, Franchisee