Moving to the cloud: Grill’d’s recipe for sustainable growth and healthier food

Healthier fast-food options for more Australians

Established in 2004 in Hawthorn, Victoria, Grill’d has transformed the Australian fast-food landscape with its focus on healthy, delicious burgers, including a range of plant-based options. Operating across 170 locations nationwide, Grill’d is supported by a dedicated team of over 4,000 staff, with 400 office personnel ensuring seamless operations. Committed to making a difference in all areas of the community, Grill’d launched its ‘Local Matters’ initiative in 2011, donating over USD 7,000,000 to community projects across the country. This programme not only involves customers in its philanthropic efforts but also reinforces Grill’d’s dedication to contributing positively to the communities it serves.

Tackling the limitations of on-premises

As Grill’d embarked on ambitious expansion, planning to open 100 new restaurants and introduce innovative drive-through restaurants in Queensland and Victoria, the company faced significant IT challenges. The rapid growth increasingly outstripped the capacity of its on-premises servers, revealing a pressing need for a scalable, cloud-based solution. This need was compounded by the financial strain of existing legacy contracts and the vulnerabilities of its current system, which not only increased security risks but also limited operational flexibility.

An initial move to the cloud with another provider had failed to meet expectations, prompting a re-evaluation of strategy for how to move forward. Recognising the critical need for a reliable, scalable, and secure IT infrastructure to support its growth and maintain its commitment to quality and innovation, Grill’d turned to SoftwareOne.

From the offset, the approach was different. Grill’d established clear objectives: to transition all servers to the cloud efficiently and securely, move away from costly legacy contracts to realise significant savings, and enhance IT infrastructure flexibility. Through a collaboration, rather than supplier relationship, the team aimed to address past challenges and lay a solid foundation for sustainable future growth, ensuring their operations remained efficient, secure, and prepared for the expansion ahead.

Grill’d initially engaged us for a single project, but our ability to deliver quality solutions quickly turned that into a broader partnership. Our first task was a cloud migration, where we proved our value not just with our high-quality work but also by securing AUD 40,000 in Microsoft funding for Grill’d. Since then, our reliability and financial savvy have made us a trusted partner for Grill’d’s IT needs, showcasing our commitment to excellence and efficiency right from the word go.

– David Mapstone, Account Manager, SoftwareOne Australia

 

Improved flexibility and security through a streamlined cloud migration

In response to its rapid growth and corresponding IT infrastructure challenges, Grill’d partnered with SoftwareOne, valuing its exceptional expertise and high-quality service, particularly when it came to leveraging Microsoft’s Azure cloud technologies. With Grill’d’s prior experience in the Azure public cloud, transitioning to Azure was a logical step forward.

Having previously worked with one of its sister companies, Grill’d was aware of SoftwareOne’s ability to secure crucial Microsoft funding. And with SoftwareOne’s deeper understanding of the intricacies of Microsoft Azure to guide a tailored strategic approach to migration, Grill’d was on the right path towards meeting its ambitious cloud migration goal.

The collaboration kicked off with SoftwareOne by conducting an Azure Well-Architected Review of its Azure environment. This involved identifying key areas for improvement, such as addressing security risks and enhancing the design of the Azure Enterprise Scale Landing Zone (ESLZ) platform to align with Grill’d’s long-term strategic roadmap.

SoftwareOne then assisted in adapting the Azure cloud governance strategy, completing servers’ discovery and assessments using the Azure Migrate Tool, leveraging Power BI for server role analysis and identification of third-party provider applications, and designing the infrastructure for each application before migration.

The collaboration continued with a focused migration of Grill’d's on-premises servers to the cloud, where SoftwareOne’s expertise addressed critical security gaps by integrating advanced firewall solutions as well as Microsoft Defender for Cloud to protect the Azure servers against security threats. This initial step not only safeguarded Grill’d’s data but also expanded the project’s scope to enhance overall security.

On top of this expanded infrastructure and security scope, SoftwareOne also optimised Grill’d’s Microsoft licence management, consolidating critical assets to ensure a seamless transition to Azure. This move simplified Grill’d’s administrative workload while significantly improving operational efficiency and security – something that hadn’t been possible before the partnership with SoftwareOne.

The impact of SoftwareOne’s intervention was quickly evident, yielding substantial cost savings and operational improvements across Grill’d’s backend infrastructure. The leadership team’s satisfaction led to the decision to replicate this successful strategy with another venture, highlighting the trust and value placed in SoftwareOne’s partnership.

SoftwareOne’s strategic and solution implementation expertise has been simply outstanding across the board, and they never fail to deliver. They streamline our licensing, data management and cyber security making everything simpler and leveraging their strong Microsoft relationship to our advantage, especially with the Azure move. Their deep understanding of Microsoft products and direct line to support have been beyond Invaluable.

– Keith Bui, Infrastructure & Service Desk Manager, Grill’d Healthy Burgers

A strong foundation for sustainable future growth and innovation

Grill’d’s collaboration with SoftwareOne has led to significant improvements in their IT infrastructure, delivering robust results that span efficiency, security, and cost savings.

Here are the key outcomes and benefits from this trusted partnership:
 

Streamlined operations and enhanced security

• Unified IT infrastructure: migrating all on-premises servers to Azure simplified Grill’d's operations, creating a cohesive, user-friendly platform.
• Boosted security: enhanced security measures significantly reduced vulnerabilities, resulting in a more secure network.
• Optimised workloads: Eliminated on-premises maintenance and refresh ensuring use of appropriately sized virtual machines for cost efficiency.

Operational efficiency and better customer experience

• Productivity gains: the IT overhaul led to increased staff productivity and smoother operations.
• Improved services: SoftwareOne’s development work accelerated business processes and expanded Grill’d's service offerings, improving the overall customer experience.
  
  

Significant cost savings

• Cost-efficient migration: strategic workload assessment and cost analysis by SoftwareOne ensured a financially viable migration to the cloud.
• Leveraged Microsoft funding: utilising Microsoft funding effectively reduced migration costs.
• Overall savings: the transition not only streamlined server management but also significantly reduced operational costs, demonstrating an effective cloud migration strategy.