For Granbury Solutions, fast growth comes with challenges

Granbury systems

The Beginning of Granbury Solutions

Granbury Solutions began in 2010 when Tom Bronson, who was president of restaurant technology company DiamondTouch at the time, combined his company with five other similar companies: FireFly Technologies, Vital Link, LetsGet Nova POS Solutions and Pizzeria Sales Builder. The new company became known as Granbury Solutions, named after one of the company’s investors, Granbury Technologies.

www.granburyrs.com

Behind the little touch screen that many restaurants use to take orders and check out customers is Granbury Solutions, a Grapevine-based restaurant technology company listed at No. 2070 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America.

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“It’s been a really fantastic year for us,” director of marketing Ashley Jernigan said.

While Granbury specializes in point-of-sale systems, the company also offers technology for online ordering and mobile apps, as well as software for kiosks at shopping malls. Granbury primarily services restaurants but also works with coffee shops, wineries and retail stores. Among those customers are Nothing Bundt Cakes, Palio’s Pizza Cafe and the West Coast pizza chain Pizza Guys.

Granbury has grown revenues 190 percent in the past three years, according to the Inc. 5000 website. Last year, the company added 119 jobs, bringing total employees to 202 and earned $16.4 million in revenue.

But a spot on the Inc. 5000 list wasn’t Granbury’s only honor in 2015. In May, President and CEO Tom Bronson was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist for the southwest region. Later in the year, Granbury was ranked No. 10 among Tech Titans’ fastest growing technology companies in North Texas.

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But being a fast-growing company has its challenges, Bronson said.

One of those challenges is communication, he said. With about 250 employees nationwide and offices in Grapevine, Napa Valley and Miami, keeping everyone informed with what’s happening in the company is difficult.

To help resolve this issue, Bronson said, he holds a monthly video conference call with all the employees, an event called GS360. After doing a presentation, he opens the floor for any employee to ask “any question that they want.”

“I have not yet, in about six months of doing this, had a question that I couldn’t answer,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I have the answer at my fingertips. Many times, the answer will be, ‘You know what, I don’t know the answer to that question. I’m going to go find out.’”

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Bronson said Granbury has an efficient system of taking questions, so meetings only last 30 minutes.

“It’s kind of a fun thing,” he said.

Another challenge occurs during acquisitions, as Granbury acquires other companies in the restaurant business.

Bronson said finding companies that share Granbury’s “customer-centric” philosophy is difficult. So far this year, Granbury has not yet made any acquisitions but is continuing to look at companies to acquire.

Despite the inevitable challenges, Bronson said, he’s happy with his company’s growth and hopes it will expand even more in the future.

“It is our intent to continue to grow, both organically by having a well-trained, well-oiled selling machine that is out there reaching out to new customers and our existing customers, having great support and great services behind it,” he said. “And we certainly intend to continue to grow by acquisition as well.”