Built for Enterprise: How CI Dining Standardized Growth with Volanté Systems

About CI Dining

Corporate Image Dining Services (CI Dining) is a premier corporate dining and food service management provider, dedicated to delivering high-quality, flexible, and innovative culinary experiences across diverse business environments. Today, CI Dining manages a rapidly growing portfolio of corporate cafes, micro-markets, and executive dining facilities across multiple regions.

• Industry: Corporate Food Service Management / Contract Catering
• Locations Powered by Volanté: 10 separate enterprise facilities across Connecticut and New York
• Footprint: 26+ Terminals (Flip & Self-Checkout Kiosks)
• Key Integrations: Bluefin (P2PE Payments), Restaurant365 (Accounting)

The Challenge

As CI Dining began securing larger, more complex corporate contracts, their prior standard point-of-sale (POS) system began hitting a wall. While the prior system served well as a standard restaurant POS, it lacked the architectural depth required for true, multi-site enterprise management. To maximize foot traffic within their corporate cafes, CI Dining wanted to offer advanced benefits like house accounts, departmental charges, and customized vouchers. They required a platform that could seamlessly handle employer subsidies and localized employee discounts to transform their cafeterias into buzzing corporate hubs. 

As CI Dining expanded its footprint, the company encountered critical POS technology roadblocks that had to be addressed to sustain its strategic growth: 

• No House Accounts or Enterprise Control: Their prior system could not effectively manage house accounts, employee meal plans, vouchers, or department charging structures essential for corporate dining environments.
• Hardware Limitations: The previous hardware struggled to withstand the high-volume rush hours of corporate lunch crowds and lacked versatile self-checkout configurations.
• Support Shortfalls: When complex, multi-site technical issues arose, standard customer support channels fell short of providing the immediate and thorough responses needed to keep operations seamless.

To win and sustain new business, CI Dining needed an enterprise-scale POS technology partner that could handle complex corporate catering logic, offer premium hardware, and back it up with unparalleled support, both over the phone and in-person

“We quickly realized that what works for a standalone restaurant doesn’t work for an enterprise foodservice operation. Our previous POS simply couldn’t handle the complex house accounts and employee meal plans our clients demanded, and we found ourselves outgrowing the platform’s capabilities.” 

— Pinki Dey, Technology Head, CI Dining 

The Solution

In early 2022, CI Dining partnered with Volanté Systems to undergo a complete digital transformation. Recognizing that enterprise value extends far beyond the price tag of a software subscription, CI Dining invested in Volanté’s robust, data-driven platform.

Volanté deployed a tailored suite of hardware and software solutions across 10 separate CI Dining facilities, standardizing operations on the Volanté ecosystem:

• Self-Checkouts & Flip Terminals: Volanté deployed over 26 + terminals across the sites. The vast majority were configured as self-checkout kiosks, allowing some facilities to operate entirely as self-serve stations with no cashier POS required.
• Digital Ordering with Volanté Eats: To accommodate corporate workforces, CI Dining launched digital ordering through the Volanté Eats app, giving guests the flexibility to order ahead from their desks or phones.
• Kitchen Workflow & Packing Stations: To manage the influx of digital orders alongside walk-ins, Volanté implemented a mix of traditional kitchen printers and specialized printer configurations for designated “packing stations” to streamline order pickup.
• Built-in CRM & Meal Plans: The built-in CRM unlocked the ability to support an array of employee meal plans, localized corporate discounts, vouchers, and direct department charges.
• Secure & Connected Ecosystem: The solution seamlessly integrated with Bluefin for secure, P2PE payment processing, and tied directly into CI Dining’s back-of-house accounting platform, Restaurant365, automating financial reporting.

Volanté’s value became clear almost immediately. From their built-in CRM that allows us to manage employee meal plans effortlessly, to the durability of the hardware, Volanté gave us the enterprise-grade foundation we actually needed.” 

— Pinki Dey, Technology Head, CI Dining 

The Results

Since kicking off the partnership in early 2022, the collaboration between CI Dining and Volanté Systems has yielded massive operational accomplishments. By prioritizing value, durability, and deep functionality, CI Dining achieved the following milestones:

• Enterprise Administration: CI Dining now manages all 10 current locations from a single, unified enterprise dashboard. House accounts and department billing are handled automatically, eliminating manual invoicing errors.
• Labor Optimization: By leveraging self-serve kiosks and Volanté Eats digital ordering, CI Dining successfully optimized their labor model. 
• Reliability & Support: Volanté’s rugged hardware has drastically reduced hardware downtime, while dedicated, enterprise-level support ensures that CI Dining’s technical infrastructure scales smoothly.

 “Volanté has transformed how we pitch to new business. We can now walk into any major corporate enterprise and confidently offer intuitive self-serve kiosks, seamless online ordering, and robust on-account integrations. They aren’t just a POS vendor; they are a key driver of our expansion.” 

— Pinki Dey, Technology Head, CI Dining 

As CI Dining continues to win prestigious new contracts, Volanté remains their trusted POS technology foundation, steadily scaling alongside them to power the future of corporate hospitality.

Get in touch with our sales team for more information.