Background:

Kronos Products, Inc. was founded in 1975 by Chris Tomaras, a Chicago businessman. The company developed two inventions, the Kronos GYROKONES (standardized gyros) and the KRONOMATIC Broiler (vertical meat broiler), becoming the foundation of Kronos Products, Inc. In 1980, Kronos expanded its operations by manufacturing its own Pita Bread and Tzatziki sauce. Today, Kronos is spreading the Mediterranean word beyond restaurants and fast-food operations by focusing on on-site foodservice operations such as college, hospital and business cafeterias. The incredible success of Kronos Products, Inc. is due in part to the company's unique philosophy. “They want their customers to succeed. They create customers for their customers.”

Challenge:

Three years ago Kronos realized they needed to bring their separate manufacturing and distribution businesses under a single system.  Previously, the distribution side utilized a heavily customized software system.  However, this system couldn’t handle order entry requirements for the manufacturing business.  Additionally, distribution was using laptops whereby they uploaded data once a day, on one modem, for ten salespeople.  It was a bottleneck.  Kronos needed one system that worked for all in their sales organization including a mobile option. 

Solution:

Kronos contacted Tailor Pro, a software integrator.  Tailor Pro was familiar with Jargon Software and brought it in to solve for their customer’s problem.  One system now provides information for the entire company.   Additionally, the mobile option gives Kronos’ customer service group the ability to back up their sales staff through the same order guide used by the mobile sales force.  The order guide supplies customer history, providing product and pricing information that was previously unavailable in the field.  Surprisingly, customer service finds the order guide simpler and more user friendly than the back office system itself.

Results:

Kronos now has one system that supports all aspects of their business.  The most important result is that the mobile solution allows the sales staff to manage their business in the field through information.  They are the “managers” determining their own margins based on constantly changing prices that are updated daily on their mobile order guide.  Information delays do not impact decisions for their customers and in turn they help their customers succeed, creating customers for their customers.

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