The first Dos Toros taqueria location opened near Union Square in New York City in 2009 to introduce Mission-style burritos to the East Coast. The concept has been successful and now 16 locations dot New York City with four more openings in Chicago in the last year, and counting! Dos Toros focuses on scratch cooking in an updated and modern environment utilizing naturally raised and antibiotic-free meat, and tortillas made fresh each morning from a local tortilleria.
The original Dos Toros locations were outfitted with video surveillance when they opened but they weren’t all the same brand or model and there was no way to simultaneously connect to multiple locations remotely. To access and export video they had to rely on multiple different applications and didn’t have a standardized operating procedure to deal with security incidents. In addition, although the recorders were installed with TVI cameras, the HD analog cameras were limited to a max resolution of 2MP. As the company was rapidly expanding, it became clear that they needed a single platform for all 20 locations. It was costing them time and money to train staff to use divergent systems and for their IT staff to have to manage multiple user accounts at each location. Dos Toros selected NAVCO as their integrator to help them standardize on a single solution to meet their current and future needs. The new solution from NAVCO would upgrade the video surveillance systems at the existing locations and install new systems as locations opened.
When Dos Toros elected to update their video surveillance systems they decided they wanted more than just a video security system. As the best in the class taqueria, they wanted the best in class technology and they needed an enterprise system that could expand with them as they continued to open more locations in more cities. NAVCO retrofit existing locations that already had camera systems with new OpenEye hybrid recorders, this helped keep material and labor costs down by using the existing TVI cameras and coax cables that were already in place. New recorders and IP cameras were installed in all of the new locations that were opened in the last year. OpenEye Web Services (OWS) ease of setup made switching from the previous systems to OpenEye easy. All of the recorders can be accessed and managed remotely using the plug-in free browser-based client, mobile app or the Command Station software for more advanced features.
Now that Dos Toros has expanded outside the New York City area, it’s even more important that they can access their systems remotely to monitor activity at their stores in the Chicago area. OpenEye Web Services allows them to set up access for each of the store managers for the cameras at their individual stores using centralized user management and single sign-on. It is just as easy for the IT staff and the owners to access all of the stores in a single interface just using their email and password to log-in. Two-factor authentication offers cybersecurity protection to prevent unauthorized access while keeping it easy to use. Centralized user management through the cloud reduces their IT workload by allowing Dos Toros to add and remove users quickly without having to send someone to each individual site as well as manage password resets and system troubleshooting remotely.
The health monitoring features of OWS give Dos Toros peace of mind knowing that all of their systems are recording properly. With OWS set up to send instant alerts in the case of video loss or hardware failure, they don’t have to worry that they might be missing footage after an incident occurs. Reports, like the thumbnail report, are also helpful for management to use when checking in on multiple locations to make sure that each store is following company procedures.
In addition to security and safety, Dos Toros uses its video surveillance footage to monitor employee behavior to develop best practices. The general perception of surveillance video is negative, useful when something bad happens. But Dos Toros uses their video in a positive way for employee training, to improve operations, their systems and their product. By using video footage, managers can review customer service trends and identify improvements that help improve both customer experience and business efficiency. By saving clips of employee behavior in the OWS cloud, and including notes about improvements and successes, managers can share video with management at all of the locations to build consistency in employee training. “Our company’s success is built on our ability to delight our guests,” said Grant Lieberman, Dos Toros Director of Technology. “OWS lets our managers spend more time coaching each other, find out where the bottlenecks are in our operations and celebrate when someone is doing something right.”
The managers at each location have access to the cameras at their location and keep a screen in the back office that gives them a live view of the front of the house so if they’re doing paperwork and a line forms, they can see that they’re needed on the floor. They use video to improve safety at their locations and they can find the video that they want in seconds using the search options available in the web interface and the Command Station VMS. As part of their efforts to monitor operations, they use the cameras to monitor food safety and can confirm how long meat has been cooking or the freshness of their ingredients. When managers or other staff see something good happen at a location, they’ll save a video clip to OWS to share with employees at the other stores. They appreciate that the video clips are all stored in one location, time-stamped and available in the cloud so they are accessible from anywhere.
Dos Toros wanted more than security cameras, they wanted an enterprise system that could expand with their business and give them the tools to grow and succeed. OpenEye gives them a system to not only provide store security but also tools that they can use for training and visibility into their operations to improve their products and customer service. They find the OpenEye system easy to use so their managers don’t have to spend unnecessary time searching for video or saving and sending video. “That’s wasted talent,” said Lieberman. “We’d rather our employees spend their time giving great service, creating excellent food or training.” OpenEye Web Services lets Dos Toros focus on what’s most important to them, serving good food and building a strong team culture, while making it easy for them to expand and add to the system as they continue to open more locations and bringing the best of the Bay Area taqueria experience to their customers one burrito at a time.