Even small business is bigger in Texas, where Jason Gordon, co-owner of Lone Star Doughnuts, Ltd. (Lone Star), manages seven Krispy Kreme and two Krystal hamburger franchises. A former corporate finance associate at Arthur Anderson, Gordon joined his brother, Kevin, in January 2000 recognizing the potential for the Krispy Kreme and Krystal brands in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. The Gordon brothers and a third partner, Dan Brinton, own all of the Krispy Kreme and Krystal franchises in Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana, employing over 300 workers in nine locations, and have just landed a contract with the Reliant Stadium and the Houston Texans to provide doughnuts to millions of fans.

All corporate activities are done at Lone Star's headquarters in Houston, including accounting, marketing and distribution of ingredients and finished goods. From the beginning, Gordon has utilized Intuit's QuickBooks® accounting software to manage his business. But with the rapid expansion of his franchises, Gordon knew that he would need to find an accounting solution that would grow with his franchises and easily track and manage not only his finances, but also the more complex business management needs that come with expansion.


The Challenge: Bigger and Better, But Just as Easy

"As my one store quickly grew to nine, Lone Star was putting out 80,000 invoices a year and I needed a system that would accommodate my accounts receivable. I hired additional employees to help run the businesses, and I also needed a system that would allow them to access critical data," Gordon said. "We were challenged by the ability to link the systems from individual stores to Lone Star's corporate headquarters."

Gordon was happy with QuickBooks' easy-to-use interface and did not want to go through the hassles of migrating to another software package. However, he began to investigate mid-size solutions that would handle his growing data file and allow multiple users to access Lone Star's information.

It was during his research that he discovered QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Business Management Software, Intuit's newer solution designed for growing businesses with 20-250 employees. Gordon was please to find that QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions offered more than twice the capacity of other QuickBooks products, as well as 10-user simultaneous access and more sophisticated reporting options.

Because of his positive experience with QuickBooks products and his trust in the Intuit brand, Gordon decided to try QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. "I was definitely relieved that we would not have to transfer our data to another system," he said. "The migration was pretty much seamless, and we were quickly equipped to scale even further, all at an affordable price."


The Solution: QuickBooks® Enterprise Solutions

Gordon is pleased with the results he has seen from QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. It offers existing QuickBooks customers an easy way to upgrade their business management solution as they grow, while keeping the same look and feel, lessening the learning curve for users. Lone Star is benefiting from:

Increased Capacity, Performance "The size of Lone Star's data file had reached about 1.5 GB, and we anticipate further growth. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions' capacity will support us even as we continue to expand," said Gordon. QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions' increased performance offers additional timesavings for Lone Star. Automating accounting allows Gordon to focus on other aspects of his business, and the ability to link the various franchises to Lone Star Corporate and have more than one user in the system at the same time makes business management even easier and more streamlined. "We're able to accomplish more in the same amount of time," commented Gordon.

Enhanced Reporting The advanced reporting options in QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions gives Gordon greater insight into his business. The new system allows Gordon to automatically combine financial reports from multiple company files to get a complete snapshot of Lone Star's performance, without any cutting, pasting or manual data entry. "There's really nothing that we specifically were going to add capability-wise with a $75,000.00 solution that we can't do with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions," said Gordon.

Superior Service To effectively manage his businesses, it is crucial that Gordon's system provide timely and accurate updates and that any technical issues are rapidly resolved. Gordon has been regularly updating his software since 1998, and has always been impressed with the level of service he receives from Intuit. "Whether we have general questions about QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions, or require more in-depth assistance, we have always been able to find answers online or via phone, with a real, live service representative," Gordon said. "Intuit truly cares about its customers and is invested in their success."

This case study represents the individual experience of one customer. Intuit does not guarantee that results will apply to all customers.

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