Techniques for analyzing operations of one or more restaurants

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide techniques for using operational data and/or video footage to identify and diagnose operational issues. In some embodiments, business metrics represented in data produced by a restaurant's operational systems are identified and stored, conditions which warrant attention are identified, and the metrics that may indicate potential causes for those conditions are identified. Video footage may be correlated with business metric data to assist in diagnosing and remediating issues.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus, comprising:
 at least one repository storing data relating to operations of a restaurant, the data representing information collected by one or more operational components deployed in the restaurant, the data relating to a plurality of events occurring in the restaurant;   at least one computer processor programmed to:
 determine that a first alert condition has occurred in the restaurant; 
 identify, using data stored in the at least one repository, at least one second alert condition which occurred previous to the first alert condition and which has at least one characteristic in common with the first alert condition; 
 identify, using data stored in the at least one repository, one or more events from the plurality of events, the one or more events having occurred contemporaneously with the at least one second alert condition; 
 analyze data stored in the at least one repository relating to the identified one or more events to identify a level of correlation between each of the one or more events and the at least one second alert condition, said level of correlation indicating a likelihood that a respective event represents a cause of the first alert condition; 
 cause information relating to one or more potential causes of the first alert condition to be displayed to a user via a graphical interface. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to identify the one or more events by evaluating metrics associated with the plurality of events to determine the one or more events which have correlated to the at least one second alert condition over time. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to cause to be displayed via the graphical interface the one or more events and the level of correlation corresponding to each of the one or more events. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to cause to be displayed via the graphical interface the one or more events in order according to level of correlation. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to cause to be displayed via the graphical interface a recommendation on one or more actions to remediate the first alert condition. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to automatically institute at least one action to remediate the first alert condition. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one repository stores data relating to operations of a plurality of restaurants. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to implement an event engine which accepts the information collected by the one or more operational components deployed in the restaurant and stores the data in the at least one repository, and wherein the at least one computer processor is programmed to configure the event engine to modify the types of data which are stored in the at least one repository over time.