Modern knowledge distribution for the franchise industry

It is impossible to imagine Germany's city centers without Kochlöffel, with its snack classics such as grilled chicken or currywurst serving happy diners in around 80 restaurants every day.

Kochlöffel GmbH is not only a successful franchise company with around 1000 employees, but also a family business in its second generation. With the mission statement "coming home - a good home", the aim is to give all guests the feeling of being at home.

As is usual for franchises, consistent quality and exact implementation of the concept are of paramount importance, because the business model is a tried-and-tested, holistic concept. In addition, information and specifications from the service center must be able to reach all stores at short notice.

As is typical for franchise businesses, standardized work processes and all other guidelines are made available to branches in the form of manuals. To digitize this system information and streamline communication, the company sought a suitable partner. SmartStashimpressed with its expertise in the franchise industry, laying the foundation for a successful partnership.

To implement a modernized communication system between the service center and its franchise partners, Kochlöffel chose an intranet with integrated knowledge management powered by SmartStash. SmartStash is a specially developed add-on for Microsoft 365 based on SharePoint. It can be tailored particularly well to the needs of the franchise industry by controlling access to information through a role- and permission-based system.

What does this look like in practice?

Due to the strictly regulated flow of information, it is important that not all information is accessible to all franchisees * because it is often proprietary or site-specific data. SmartStash offers the perfect solution for this. Assigned permissions allow only selected people or locations to access specific data.

So how do all employees receive the information?

On the one hand, current messages, such as new promotions, are published on the intranet. The print function converts the intranet article into a PDF at the push of a button and it can be printed out directly in the franchise store and distributed to the employees or displayed there. In addition, each store has the option of accessing the intranet via a tablet and thus also viewing older news, cash register functions, instructions for products, or guidelines.

Explanatory videos help break down language barriers, making everyone feel at home. Thanks to SmartStash’s intuitive interface, all employees were able to quickly get the hang of it and integrate SmartStash into their daily work routines. The SmartStash team was, of course, always available to answer questions, and the experts will continue to support Kochlöffel in the future.