Thinking outside the Box

Concept Eight and Redcat partner to streamline operations with a single management portal for virtual and physical brands

Concept Eight is the business behind some of Australia’s most loved QSR brands - high street brands Noodle Box, Pattysmiths Burgers and Wokinabox, and ‘virtual’ brands Alabama Chicken & Wings, Supreme Leader Korean Krispy Chicken and Double Dragon Dumplings.

Now, operating those multiple brands is a more streamlined and efficient process. Concept Eight has consolidated the management of all its brands - physical and virtual - onto a single portal, by partnering with hospitality IT platform provider Redcat.

The portal is Redcat’s newly launched Virtual Brands software solution. Virtual Brands helps virtual restaurant brand owners drive efficiency, control and customer service, including consolidating their virtual brand operation with any existing physical brand(s). 

Grant Lee, CEO of Concept Eight said ‘By consolidating all our brands onto the single system provided by Redcat, we’re able to save time, run our brands more efficiently and focus more on delivering great food and customer service’.

What are virtual brands?

Virtual brands are the growth phenomenon of the hospitality industry. They are restaurants that exist only online, with food delivered to the door. Virtual brands proliferated rapidly during the lockdown and are now here to stay. They are prepared in the kitchens of existing venues, or in purpose-built ‘dark kitchens’.

“Virtual brands offer operators rapid and relatively low-cost market entry with new cuisines, and the opportunity to transform your kitchen into a separate revenue generator, while spreading costs across multiple brands,” said Lawrence Pelletier, Redcat’s Director of Sales & Marketing. “As for customers, they get a wider choice of foods and restaurants without leaving home.”

Redcat’s Virtual Brands portal

Redcat’s Virtual Brands offers restaurant brand operators:

• Centralised menu management
• Multi-brand integration with delivery partners – Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Menulog, DoorDash, Google and white label delivery services.
• A single portal for managing multiple virtual (and physical) brands, including products and reporting
• Electronic ordering across all brands – one website supporting pick-up, delivery, and @table ordering
• Efficient kitchen management - integrating all orders directly into a single kitchen management system.
• Productivity - reducing delivery partner tablets, no rekeying of orders
• Flexible reporting - sales and inventory reporting across brands or by individual brands
• Customer service - full loyalty program with online orders
• Ease of management - single ordering app for Android and iOS across all brands

Lawrence Pelletier said “Redcat’s Virtual Brands is an exciting innovation for our customers, more and more of whom see the value and opportunity that virtual brands offer their business.

We are delighted to have been able to partner with Concept Eight to drive efficiencies by managing their range of virtual and physical brands from a single, integrated platform.”

About Redcat

The Redcat hospitality IT platform supports restaurant groups, QSRs and multi-site franchises. At the platform’s core is our POS, which includes kitchen management and reporting. However, our points of difference include Loyalty, Mobile Apps, Online Ordering, Virtual Brands, Delivery, Multi-site management and reporting, and award-winning direct integrations with Accounting, Rostering, Delivery Partners, and white label delivery services.

About Concept Eight

Concept Eight is one of Australia’s largest multi-brand franchisers, and a leader in the Asian segment of the Australian QSR market. Over 25 years, it has grown to 140 restaurants in Australia. Concept Eight operates the brands Noodle Box, Pattysmiths Burgers, Wokinabox, Alabama Chicken & Wings, Supreme Leader Korean Krispy Chicken and Double Dragon Dumplings.

 About the rise of virtual brands

Virtual brands existed before lockdown, but grew rapidly when delivery was the only option for many Australians. For many operators, virtual brands are a welcome addition to their portfolio, or an opportunity to rapidly enter the market.