Fast-casual pizza chain MOD Pizza has chosen managed service provider Interface Systems to implement a comprehensive upgrade of physical security infrastructure for more than 420 of its company-owned restaurants. By consolidating physical security operations with Interface, MOD Pizza has improved security while reducing false alarm costs by over 95 percent and monthly subscription costs by over 15 percent.

With a mission to hire people that have barriers to hiring, including those who were formerly incarcerated, individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), and those who have struggled with housing insecurity or are recovering from addiction, MOD Pizza is committed to creating a safe environment for its 10,000 employees and patrons. However, legacy camera and alarm systems required frequent manual intervention which was unnecessarily adding to their employees’ workload and disrupting their focus on customers.

The asset protection team at MOD Pizza evaluated different vendors to tackle the complex challenge of streamlining technology implementation while creating a foundation that would allow the addition of advanced security capabilities in the future.

MOD Pizza chose Interface to deploy hybrid network video recorders (NVRs) to leverage their legacy analog camera investments and installed the latest IP cameras at new locations. With NVRs in place, security footage from analog cameras can now be converted into digital format and stored on the cloud for easier access, review and analysis.

“By avoiding a complete rip-and-replace approach to camera installation, Interface was able to deliver significant cost savings without compromising MOD Pizza’s ability to implement advanced security solutions and analytics in the future,” said Jason Swanson, director of asset protection, MOD Pizza.

MOD Pizza’s legacy alarm systems resulted in frequent operational disruption and false alarm penalties, and employee confidence in the alarm solution was fast eroding. To solve this problem, Interface deployed a video-verified alarm solution that includes verification of every alarm event by trained intervention specialists. This has significantly reduced wasted effort by restaurant managers to physically check the location during non-business hours, and eliminated costly false alarm penalties.

“We have seen over 95 percent reduction in false alarms since we implemented Interface’s video-verified alarm solution. Our field teams love the fact that they have secure, browser-based access to configure our alarm system which significantly frees up their time to do other things,” Swanson said.

In addition, Interface deployed a centralized cloud-based video management system to easily find video recordings, across any location, for investigations and securely share the recordings with law enforcement or use video clips for internal training purposes.

“The integrated solution is now up and running across over 420 MOD Pizza locations delivering significant operational efficiencies, improved productivity, and cost savings. We reduced our subscription costs by over 15% by combining our alarm and video management services,” Swanson said.

By consolidating all business security operations with Interface, MOD Pizza is now in a position to offer a significantly improved work environment for its employees, along with discreet, always-on security coverage for customers. With an advanced security solution now in place across hundreds of its restaurants, MOD Pizza is piloting a next-generation video analytics solution to optimize restaurant layout, improve customer experience, and uncover real-time intelligence to streamline restaurant operations.