Coney Island Drive Inn
Client Business
Coney Island Drive Inn (CID) is an historic staple to the small town of Brooksville, known for it’s hot dogs, lose meat burgers, fries, wings, corn dogs and nostalgia. CID was originally opened in 1960 by a local family who converted the old boat manufacturing building into a drive inn restaurant. In 1961, CID was put “on the map” when Elvis Presley ventured down to Brooksville for one of their Famous Footlongs. He was filming a movie in Inverness, Florida just one county North.
In 1970, Walt Disney World was the only other institution that used more foot long hot dog buns in the state of Florida, than Coney Island Drive Inn. In 1972, CID was “mapped” by a third historic event, by having the movie Night Stalker filmed on location there for a day, which after editing, became the highlight of the movie.
CID continues to be a hot spot for locals as downtown Brooksville’s go-to place for fast food, friendly service and intimate nostalgic decor.
Business Challenge
CID was keeping track of inventory and costing needs all by manual labor using the “old school” method of pen and paper and relying heavily on Excel spreadsheets. The amount of time that CID was spending to determine what recipes were costing and selling well, in addition to what “rough” inventory they have, was becoming a time consuming process.
Solution Provided
Extensitech developed a small but extensible solution for CID to allow for them to receive inventory by inputting the items received and the quantity via a unit of measure (case, box, package, individual, etc.) and the price per unit of measure. The solution also tracks recipes accounting for what ingredients are used and would be removed from inventory based on how many units of each are sold.
Additionally, the solution provides a Trending Report for CID to track changes and trends in the food items ordered. The Reporting created also provided CID with a figure for costs of recipes as it changes and trends weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly. In addition to reviewing how much a specific recipe costs, CID can also view what each item and the various units of measure cost.
Though a very small project, the “Weenie Wizard” developed by Extensitech was beneficial in helping CID reduce their time spent in receiving inventory, costing recipes and determining trends.
**Update – as of June 2014, Coney Island was sold but remains in business. The new owners are no longer using the “Weenie Wizard”. The previous owner has another restaurant locally, The Florida Cracker Kitchen which is a preferred stop for lunch for it’s delicious hamburgers, sweet potato chips and seafood selections. Coney Island is still a popular night spot with penny beer nights, Elvis impersonators, and bike nights.**
