Case Study: Denny’s achieves $1.2M annual savings and faster franchise invoicing with Workday Adaptive Planning

Denny’s saves $1.2M annually with a finance and HR system from Workday

Denny’s, the 60‑year‑old hospitality chain with more than 1,600 locations and 3,000 employees, needed to modernize fragmented finance and HR systems to increase agility and support a vigorous refranchising strategy. The company launched a phased digital transformation to replace its convoluted application landscape and improve reporting, billing transparency, and people processes.

By consolidating onto Workday’s unified cloud suite and a redesigned data model, Denny’s automated controls and reporting, shortened franchise invoicing by four days, enabled faster forecasting and scenario planning (60% more planning versions), and improved SOX automation by 135%. The rollout delivered strategic HR improvements and captured roughly $1.2M in gross annual benefits (including $500K from tax‑credit capture).

Denny’s