Industry
Food & Beverage / Restaurant
Challenge
The finance team at PizzaExpress struggled with an unreliable OLAP system managing billions of rows of data through 90+ Excel pivot tables, causing system crashes and wasting valuable analysis time.
Results
We eliminated 8 hours of weekly maintenance, reduced system incidents to zero, and enabled customer-level data analysis while maintaining cost neutrality.
Key products
Qlik Large App
"Replacing the OLAP cubes with Large App Support has been a great success. We now have a much more reliable platform in terms of both availability and performance."
About PizzaExpress
PizzaExpress is one of the UK's leading restaurant chains, serving Italian cuisine since 1965. The company operates hundreds of restaurants across the UK and internationally, serving millions of customers annually. With its extensive network and diverse menu offerings, PizzaExpress relies heavily on data analytics to track restaurant performance, manage costs, and optimise operations.
The challenge
PizzaExpress's finance team relied on an OLAP cube processing billions of rows of historical data through 91 separate Excel pivot tables. The system required 8 hours of weekly maintenance and suffered two severe crashes monthly, disrupting critical operations.
"Every morning, we'd cross our fingers hoping the system hadn't crashed overnight. We needed this data to track everything from restaurant performance to ingredient costs. Without reliable access, we were essentially flying blind."
— Dan Williams, Head of Data & Business Intelligence
The solution
From January to December 2023, Ometis implemented a structured replacement of the OLAP system:
- Identified the opportunity to replace the OLAP cube
- Initiated a trial with the finance team using Large App Support
- Collaborated directly with Qlik's product team during development
- Successfully migrated from OLAP to the Large App solution
"This wasn't just about replacing OLAP cubes - we saw an opportunity to transform how Pizza Express handles billions of rows of data. Going from 90 pivot tables to a single robust and agile platform with zero incidents... that's what makes this project special."
— Chris Lofthouse, Commercial Director and Delivery Consultant, Ometis
The results
The new Qlik Large App solution delivered immediate improvements:
- Consolidated 91 pivot tables into 30 dynamic reports
- Enabled multiple daily data updates
- Added previously impossible customer-level analysis capabilities
- Eliminated all maintenance overhead
- Achieved these improvements while maintaining cost neutrality
The familiar Excel-like interface enabled quick adoption by the finance team, who now access instant insights instead of waiting days for data updates.
Next steps
If you're still struggling with Excel pivots or OLAP cubes, we can help.
We've proven that modern financial reporting doesn't have to mean system crashes, maintenance headaches, or delayed insights.
Book a call with our team to see how we can help.
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