Data-Driven Architecture to Facilitate Fast Food Restaurant Merger

Restaurant Acquisition

In March 2022, Jack in the Box completed the acquisition of Del Taco, a Mexican fast food restaurant chain. The forging of the two brands under one umbrella required a modern, data-driven approach to Enterprise Architecture (EA).

Key decisions about the acquisition needed to be made, such as what capabilities to keep separate for each brand and what to combine.

Understanding Brand Capabilities

Building up an accurate picture of each brands’ capabilities required comprehensive analysis of both brands' customer, digital, and technological capabilities and the consideration of different approaches to integration. 

Jack in the Box overhauled their mobile app, so they needed to understand what digital capabilities Del Taco could bring to the table.

“I needed to provide the linkage between the technology under the hood and the way the business operated to make smart decisions about where to pull things together and where to keep them separate.”

- Fred Hennige, Director of Enterprise Architecture at Jack in the Box

Bridging the Gap Between Business and IT

Jack in the Box worked with Ardoq's partner Slalom Consulting. They helped them to:

• Optimize their Business Capability Model.
• Build low-friction methods for sourcing important information.
• Identify organizational and technical opportunity spaces for improvement.

As the EA team was sourcing business capabilities, they realized that each brand had a different way of thinking about and operating their sales departments. They needed to normalize the language and provide a common understanding.

“Words matter, language is hard” became a saying in business to emphasize the importance of standardizing terminology and the time this can save in decision-making.

Stakeholders were uncertain about what business capabilities were until it was explained that they were essentially the functions they performed to get their jobs done. They could also be uncomfortable with surveys and thinking of themselves as owners. The team learned they had to be very clear in their survey language about exactly what was needed and not to scare responders off.

“Be very targeted in the outcomes you want to achieve—it’s very easy as an architect to get pulled off in a direction that isn’t outcomes-based. Being outcome aligned makes it much easier to get engagement and understand the value that is there.”

- Fred Hennige

How Ardoq Helped

By leveraging Ardoq, Jack in the Box was able to identify both quick wins for both brands as well as strategic actions that take far more time and planning to execute. The EA team could create both high-level business visualizations for executives and detailed pictures for the IT team, minimizing the time spent between creating a story and telling it. 

They used Ardoq’s Surveys to engage with business owners and source key information to build up their understanding of the organization. Once this information had been gathered, Ardoq’s pre-made best practice Solutions provided a quick way to kick off key initiatives such as Application Rationalization and Application Lifecycle Management.

If a key staff member left the organization, Jack in the Box was able to see and visualize the business impact this would have on their digital capabilities and realize what gaps this would leave in the business—in both technology and skills.

Key Outcomes With Ardoq

• Identified $600,000 in savings potential by rationalizing applications across brands' digital strategies.

• Evaluated and integrated business capabilities of acquisitions.

• Clearer storytelling leading to faster and more accurate decision-making.

• Better understanding of the scope of staff members’ impact.

• Greater embrace of EA from the business.

Looking Forward

Jack in the Box’s roadmap stretches over three years to fill in EA practice gaps in business capabilities, technologies, and strategic execution. The team’s ultimate goal is for the executives to feel comfortable using EA initiatives and tools to make strategic decisions to achieve their business visions.

About Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box Inc. was founded and headquartered in San Diego, California in 1951. The restaurant company operates and franchises Jack in the Box, one of the nation's largest hamburger chains with approximately 2,200 restaurants across 23 states, and Del Taco, the second largest Mexican-American quick service chain by units in the U.S. with approximately 597 restaurants across 17 states.