Biz_ACC_Lacas_Coffee
1
f you’ve ever had a cup of coffee at a diner in South Jersey, chances are you’ve had La- cas Coffee. A staple of the area since 1921, when it was started by brothers Constantine and George Lacas, Pennsauken-based Lacas Coffee’s niche for decades was diners. While many area diners still carry the coveted brew, Lacas Coffee’s core market has expanded over time to accommodate a changing market- place, says new majority owner Jonathan Del Re. Though the coffee remains as memorable as ever, these changes to its business strategy have brought new advances—and challenges— to the company. The Changes One of the major changes Lacas Coffee has faced in recent years is new ownership. Del Re took over majority ownership of the company two years ago from members of the third gen- eration of the Lacas family and an unrelated CEO. Since then, the company has acquired the Dallis Bros. brand of specialty coffee, a staple in New York City for more than a century, and more recently, the Philly Bean Coffee brand. The company has also invested in a variety of new capital equipment, including a third, higher capacity grinder and a new packaging machine to enhance throughput and efficien- cy, and a new small-batch, solid drum roaster for specialty coffee. The company has also re- freshed its branding and packaging and ex- panded from two locations to three. “We’ve also invested heavily to build a stronger online presence so we can sell direct- ly to home consumers,” Del Re adds. “The di- rect store delivery restaurant channel remains a core focus for us, and something we pride ourselves on doing very well, but it’s now a mi- nority of our business. The majority of our cof- fee volume goes through other channels.” The Challenges As a successful company with new leadership and an accelerated growth strategy, Lacas Cof- fee has faced a number of challenges in recent years. One particular challenge was the fact that its business management software, Sage, was not being used to its full potential. “Our enter- prise resource planning system (ERP) wasn’t re- ally being used properly,” Del Re says. “For ex- ample, one person would initiate production or- ders on their Outlook calendar, not within the robust ERP system we have. The result of work- ing outside of the ERP system was a number of redundant processes and lots and lots of pa- per, or said another way—inefficiency. We knew we needed help with IT training, along with ad- ditional software.” Such inefficiencies were hindering the La- cas team’s efforts and led the company to its next level of success. The Solution After working with several companies that were not able to fulfill their software needs, Del Re and Lacas Coffee turned to ACC Account- ing Solutions. Led by president and CEO Sean Atkins, ACC is a software consulting firm that partners with some of the most well-known busi- ness-related software names in the industry, and is a Sage-endorsed authorized partner. Del Re says the staff at ACC actually took the time to listen to what their needs were and spent time getting to know what the company does, so they could maximize the efficiency of their systems. “ACC remained agnostic through the eval- uation process and helped us get to the answer that was right for us,” Del Re says, noting that the evaluation process involved a hands-on ap- proach from ACC staff, who discussed Lacas Coffee Company’s needs with management in a conference room, and at the desks of employ- ees throughout the organization, to get a full understanding of how the company operates and what would work best for their business. ACC led Lacas Coffee through the success- ful implementation of a bill of materials process, which allows the company to better track product costing in real-time. Calculating the true cost of numerous coffee SKU’s using excel sheets was yet another inefficiency to stream- line. The new business process utilizes Lacas Coffee’s ERP system, providing the benefit of accurate, real-time information with less work. Though this implementation required a sig- nificant time commitment from both ACC and Lacas Coffee, Del Re says ACC was very ac- commodating to Lacas Coffee’s needs. With its initial challenges addressed, Del Re says Lacas Coffee will continue to lean on ACC for their software expertise and as a busi- ness partner. “We’re not done yet. There’s much more that we need to do over time,” he says, “and ACC is working with us through the process in a flexible way, instead of every- thing becoming an invoice with very little guidance.” w Promotion profile Freshly Brewed ACC Accounting Solutions helps Lacas Coffee usher in a new era of business success. By Amanda Hamm Hengel I VOLUME 4 ISSUE 11 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | 7 Cherry Tree Corporate Center 535 Route 38, Suite 320 | Cherry Hill (856) 335-1010 | 4ACC.com ACC Accounting Solutions, Inc.
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Transcript of Biz_ACC_Lacas_Coffee
f you’ve ever had a cup of coffee at a dinerin South Jersey, chances are you’ve had La-cas Coffee. A staple of the area since 1921,when it was started by brothers Constantine
and George Lacas, Pennsauken-based LacasCoffee’s niche for decades was diners. Whilemany area diners still carry the coveted brew,Lacas Coffee’s core market has expandedover time to accommodate a changing market-place, says new majority owner Jonathan DelRe. Though the coffee remains as memorableas ever, these changes to its business strategyhave brought new advances—and challenges—to the company.
The ChangesOne of the major changes Lacas Coffee hasfaced in recent years is new ownership. Del Retook over majority ownership of the companytwo years ago from members of the third gen-eration of the Lacas family and an unrelatedCEO. Since then, the company has acquired theDallis Bros. brand of specialty coffee, a staplein New York City for more than a century, andmore recently, the Philly Bean Coffee brand.
The company has also invested in a varietyof new capital equipment, including a third,higher capacity grinder and a new packaging
machine to enhance throughput and efficien-cy, and a new small-batch, solid drum roasterfor specialty coffee. The company has also re-freshed its branding and packaging and ex-panded from two locations to three.
“We’ve also invested heavily to build astronger online presence so we can sell direct-ly to home consumers,” Del Re adds. “The di-rect store delivery restaurant channel remainsa core focus for us, and something we prideourselves on doing very well, but it’s now a mi-nority of our business. The majority of our cof-fee volume goes through other channels.”
The ChallengesAs a successful company with new leadershipand an accelerated growth strategy, Lacas Cof-fee has faced a number of challenges in recentyears. One particular challenge was the fact thatits business management software, Sage, wasnot being used to its full potential. “Our enter-prise resource planning system (ERP) wasn’t re-ally being used properly,” Del Re says. “For ex-ample, one person would initiate production or-ders on their Outlook calendar, not within therobust ERP system we have. The result of work-ing outside of the ERP system was a number ofredundant processes and lots and lots of pa-
per, or said another way—inefficiency. We knewwe needed help with IT training, along with ad-ditional software.”
Such inefficiencies were hindering the La-cas team’s efforts and led the company to itsnext level of success.
The SolutionAfter working with several companies thatwere not able to fulfill their software needs, DelRe and Lacas Coffee turned to ACC Account-ing Solutions. Led by president and CEO SeanAtkins, ACC is a software consulting firm thatpartners with some of the most well-known busi-ness-related software names in the industry, andis a Sage-endorsed authorized partner.
Del Re says the staff at ACC actually tookthe time to listen to what their needs wereand spent time getting to know what thecompany does, so they could maximize theefficiency of their systems.
“ACC remained agnostic through the eval-uation process and helped us get to the answerthat was right for us,” Del Re says, noting thatthe evaluation process involved a hands-on ap-proach from ACC staff, who discussed LacasCoffee Company’s needs with management ina conference room, and at the desks of employ-ees throughout the organization, to get a fullunderstanding of how the company operatesand what would work best for their business.
ACC led Lacas Coffee through the success-ful implementation of a bill of materials process,which allows the company to better trackproduct costing in real-time. Calculating the truecost of numerous coffee SKU’s using excelsheets was yet another inefficiency to stream-line. The new business process utilizes LacasCoffee’s ERP system, providing the benefit ofaccurate, real-time information with less work.
Though this implementation required a sig-nificant time commitment from both ACCand Lacas Coffee, Del Re says ACC was very ac-commodating to Lacas Coffee’s needs.
With its initial challenges addressed, DelRe says Lacas Coffee will continue to lean onACC for their software expertise and as a busi-ness partner. “We’re not done yet. There’smuch more that we need to do over time,”he says, “and ACC is working with us throughthe process in a flexible way, instead of every-thing becoming an invoice with very littleguidance.” w
Promotion
profile
Freshly BrewedACC Accounting Solutions helps Lacas Coffee
usher in a new era of business success.By Amanda Hamm Hengel
I
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 11 | SOUTH JERSEY BIZ | 7
Cherry Tree Corporate Center535 Route 38, Suite 320 | Cherry Hill(856) 335-1010 | 4ACC.com
ACCAccountingSolutions, Inc.
