So you think its time to grow your restaurant business? Here's our advice on how to do it!
Taking that step from concept to bricks-and-mortar is a big one…but deciding on scaling up your restaurant business to multiple sites is an even bigger one, and can be a daunting (albeit very exciting!) process.
We’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to business growth in hospitality, and so we wanted to share some fundamental advice to those in the privileged position of looking to make the jump from one site to many!
When will you know that your business is ready to grow?
So there are a few schools of thought here although typically its just based on how much money you have in the bank! We see a lot of single-site owners or founders looking to set up their first bricks-and-mortar restaurant, that are bankrolled by friends and family…which of course can add to the pressure of delivering on growth.
Something to note, is that it’s actually not all that common to see single site restaurants get outside investment (unless through kickstarter/crowdfunding money), but there are occasions where if they’ve got very good branding and a good social/cult following this can have a positive effect on an ability to raise money.
Another good sign is when you can see strong repeat custom. Whilst this may not be tracked in detail by technology yet, you should be able to get a feel for people coming back over and over again.
“It’s all about scalable and repeatable processes”
What steps should you take to ensure you scale at a manageable rate?
Its all about repeatable and scalable process. Do you have things documented? Do you have a process that works, that’s stress tested?
Another tip is to try and keep each sites design and kitchen layout as similar as possible to ensure the same service workflow and other general processes are able to be applied as easily as possible across each location…surprisingly this does not happen as much as you might think!
Using technology is of course something we would always advise as much as possible. If you are running a single location restaurant then you can typically get by on written documents and manual processes, but estate growth should always be an indicator to review your tech stack.
“When you grow to three sites or more, it’s absolutely critical to invest in an operations manager”
What are the key hires to make?
It’s a pretty obvious one but the first hire should be the person managing the new site, ideally a couple of months ahead of the opening so they can be involved with certain decision making and get quickly up to speed. If they’re able to be part of the build then they will invariably feel much more connected to the business and new site. Secondly you need to get the team/shift leader(s) hired, again ideally at least a couple of weeks ahead of go-live.
When you grow to three sites or more, it’s absolutely critical to invest in an operations manager. In our experience Founders often find it hard to have certain ‘difficult’ conversations when it comes to operational and people challenges, but still like to be quite hands on…so this hire is essential to ensuring they can step away from the day-to-day and focus on the bigger picture.
“In the run up to opening a new location, you almost want to ‘over-plan’ for the launch and following few weeks”
What are some common challenges or blockers seen in first 3-6 months of opening a new site?
Very often you might see a spike in sales for the first 2 weeks or so, followed by a pretty scary drop off, which can sometimes result in ill-advised knee-jerk reactions. If you’ve got the right people and processes in place though, this should level out, however it’s still always worth investing in continued marketing rather than just stopping following the launch.
There are always physical build issues - electricity, water, machinery etc. If possible, we would always advise that someone senior in the business is on hand at all times during those early days of a new site to help troubleshoot, but again this is where good process documentation really comes in handy!
Invariably costs will sky rocket for a new site, whilst the site manager is getting their head around labour and inventory costs. It will take some time to understand shift patterns, and you are typically giving away a lot of un-tracked free food…yet another reason to invest in technology to help manage this.
In the run up to opening a new location, you almost want to ‘over-plan’ for the launch and following few weeks. Make sure you’ve double and triple-checked ever consideration around external factors that could impact sales, whilst ensuring you’ve got the right team in place for a smooth launch.
And finally…
Always aim to have a 6 month debriefing session with the entire team, to talk through everything that’s gone well and not so well! Keep in mind that there will always be hurdles along the way that you will learn from, but just remember to keep things well documented, scalable and repeatable…
If growing your restaurant business (or just building your first location!) is on the cards this year, the team here at Twice Baked are here to help! Whether it be a P&L review to check for readiness, help with site identification or something more wholesale, we have the experience and knowledge to help guide you through the process. We look forward to hearing from you!