About the author💡Stephen Burns is an accomplished Operations Manager with extensive experience in the hospitality sector. He has a proven track record of scaling businesses, revenue growth, managing complex operations, and leading cross-functional teams. Stephen currently works with NolaClan, streamlining their stock management functions across the group including venues such as House, 37 Dawson St and 9Below, and has previously worked with Rocksalt and was the Head of Stock Management and Procurement at Press Up Entertainment.
With over 20 years experience in hospitality, I have spent the last 10 years working with many of Dublin’s top venues ranging from hotels, cafes, restaurant and bars, to building and setting up central production kitchens and bakeries while optimising operations and increasing bottom line profits along the way.
Scaling a hospitality business is no small feat. It’s not just about opening new sites; it’s about ensuring quality, consistency, and profitability across every location. So, let’s get to it. Here are five key lessons and tips to help you scale your operations effectively.
1. Manage people effectively
We all know that people are the backbone of hospitality. When it comes to scaling your operations, building the right team and preparing them for expansion is essential. Once you get the people right, you can really push on with growth.
📚 Here are the books I recommend for effective people management:
- Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erickson
- Leading by Alex Ferguson with Micheal Moritz
- Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
But how exactly do you manage people effectively — especially when you’re adding new people and processes to the mix?
Step 1: Define roles and responsibilities
The first step is to clearly define roles and responsibilities across all levels of the business.
Defining roles and responsibilities in the hospitality industry is critical for operational efficiency, employee performance, and delivering exceptional guest experiences. Clear definition of duties ensures seamless coordination across departments, reduces confusion, and fosters accountability. When staff know exactly what’s expected of them and how they contribute to the bigger picture, you create a cohesive and efficient team.
Hire for specific roles and give people the tools, training and the trust they need to excel in their positions.
For me, as an example, a chef’s main focus should be in the kitchen, streamlining operations in the kitchen, maintaining quality and driving consistency. A manager should be on the ground, meeting the customer, building relationships and guaranteeing the best possible customer experiences possible. Using systems like Nory gives managers time back, to be focusing on what’s happening on the ground in the business and get them out of the office.
Step 2: Build relationships
The second step is to focus on building relationships.
I’ve always emphasised the importance of relationships in building a strong team. Taking the time to connect with your staff, even in brief moments, makes a big difference. It’s about building trust and showing that you value your team.
When employees feel valued, they’re more dedicated and motivated to help your restaurant succeed.
Step 3: Prioritise internal promotions
The third step is promoting from within.
Employees who understand your systems and processes are better equipped to take on management roles, ensuring consistency as you grow. Prioritise career paths and internal progression to build a skilled and dedicated team as you expand.
And another tip: If you want a better understanding of whether employees are happy at work, use employee happiness surveys. Previously these have helped give critical insights into the business from an employee’s perspective that we have missed.
Step 4: Develop trust
The final step is building trust and empowerment.
You need to trust that managers know what they’re doing and empower them to make their own decisions. Sometimes a wrong decision is better than no decision! When things go well, it’s important they are rewarded for this, sometimes a simple well done is all it takes and it can go a long way. It’s a good morale booster, and it reassures managers that they’re making the right moves.
You can’t control everything. Mistakes will happen, and it’s important not to berate managers when the situation arises. Understanding where and why the mistake was made and what can be learned from it is always the best course of action.
Your role is to provide continuous feedback and support to ensure they have the resources they need to make smart choices. A manager will never succeed unless you give them the tools to allow them to.
2. Set and track key metrics across all locations
When you’re scaling, numbers are your best friend. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like sales, labour costs, gross profit (GP) margins, cost of goods sold (COGS), and employee turnover give you a clear picture of how your operations are performing.
For instance, if labour costs are climbing but sales aren’t keeping up, it’s a sign you need to adjust staffing levels or schedules. Using tools like Nory is helpful here, as it pinpoints the root of the problem in real-time. This means you can get back on track as quickly as possible and minimise losses.
Ideally, you want to be hitting similar numbers across all your sites. If you find that one of your sites isn’t hitting your KPIs, that’s where you have a problem. But as soon as you spot it, you can dig a little deeper to find the cause and put things right.
However, it’s also worth thinking about how location influences performance.
For example, if there’s a local event near one of your venues, figures could rise. If the weather is terrible at another venue, numbers may drop. It’s important to look at the bigger picture when analysing performance instead of taking it at face value.
What do you do if you notice a performance drop in one location?
I’d recommend getting into the venue and observing the operations to see what’s happening on the ground and make sure that teams are following your standard operating procedures (SOPs — more on this later)
However, I know it’s not always possible to get to a venue on short notice — especially if locations are on the other side of the country. If it’s not possible for you to spend time at the venue, a simple phone call can provide an insight.
How do you know which metrics and KPIs to track?
It varies from restaurant to restaurant. The key is to identify which metrics matter most to your business, track them regularly, and make sure they’re non-negotiable. You need absolute clarity on what your KPIs are so that you can enforce them effectively in every location.
As mentioned, I’ve found that technology makes this process easier, providing real-time data that helps you make informed decisions and track KPI performance. Technology improves your accuracy in tracking these metrics.
I’ve no doubt there are still some huge operations out there that are pulling data from systems into a pivot table on Excel and calculating the cost of labour and so on.
But what happens if some of these figures are wrong? And how can you make quick improvements if you’re analyzing data from the past?
This is where real-time tech shines. It does the heavy lifting for you, and it’s up-to-date. You can react quickly when underperforming to boost your bottom line.
Pro tip: Scaling successfully isn’t just about cost control, though. Metrics also help you monitor employee satisfaction and retention. High employee turnover can disrupt growth, so it’s crucial to address issues before they escalate.
3. Standardise and optimise processes with technology
Consistency is critical when scaling operations. Whether you’re managing six sites or 60, standardised processes ensure every location delivers the same high-quality experience.
Generally speaking, your first venue works perfectly. Why? Because that’s where you put all your time and effort in the beginning. It’s a single operation, so the processes are easy to implement.
The challenge comes when duplicating these processes into different premises. Not only are you rolling them into a new venue, but you’re also hiring new people to take charge. People come in with their own ideas and habits, which makes it tricky to standardise operating procedures across multiple restaurant sites.
Technology is a game-changer here. It’s come a long way since I started working in hospitality, and the benefits are only getting better as time goes on. Tools like Nory, for example, streamline everything from inventory management to staff scheduling, freeing up time for you to focus on the bigger picture — successful growth.
You can also use technology to create and share menus for each location, service standards, and so on. It provides a central place to create, share, and distribute processes for all your locations.
Here are a couple of other benefits to using technology:
- Technology supports consistency in the customer experience. When you align your systems, diners know what to expect — no matter which of your venues they visit. This enhances the dining experience and helps you build a brand reputation, which encourages more diners to visit your restaurant.
- If something’s not right at one or more of your locations, technology can instantly spot it. This means you can nip things in the bud before causing too much damage to your bottom line. As a result, you’re more likely to ensure success as you expand.
- Using technology frees up time. You spend less time manually handling processes and more time on the ground, building relationships with staff and customers. In a competitive industry, those personal connections can set you apart and drive loyalty.
Pro tip: If employees are struggling to adapt to your processes, don’t worry. Successful change management doesn’t happen overnight. Have meetings to explain why change is happening, the benefits of implementing new systems, and include them in the process.
4. Use AI-powered automation
Overordering is one of the biggest culprits of waste — both in ingredients and money. In fact, I’d say stock is one of the biggest profit leaks when scaling. But if you can automate this process, you prevent people from ordering ingredients on a whim.
With technology like Nory, for example, you can predict customer demand based on past restaurant sales and other factors like weather, local events, seasonality, and so on.
With this information, you know exactly how much stock you need to meet demand without overspending on items you’ll never use (or that will spoil before you have a chance to use them). As a result, you boost your profit margins and reduce waste across locations.
Pro tip: Again, if employees are weary of using technology, reassure them that it’s not a process that’s trying to take their job. Show them how automation will make their job easier, freeing up time to do other things and make the restaurant more successful.
5. Optimise labour planning and scheduling
Labour costs can really trip you up when opening new sites. With more staff to schedule, it can be pretty overwhelming. But the results of overscheduling can be detrimental to your bottom line.
So what’s the solution? How do you ensure optimal schedules to keep profit margins healthy across locations?
The simple answer is technology.
With the right workforce management technology, you can create demand-based schedules for all of your locations — from restaurant venues to CPU kitchens. This means you prevent overscheduling to reduce labour costs, but still ensure you have enough staff working to cover busy periods.
I know first-hand the challenges of optimising labour without a centralised system. At Rocksalt, we had multiple sites and no real-time labour management system. It was incredibly hard to track schedules and optimise shifts to meet demand.
We saw a lot of benefits with rostering at Rocksalt when Nory came in. The real-time insights allowed us to accurately predict demand across venues. This meant we could maintain optimal staffing levels at each location, which helped us reduce labour costs by 7%.
Rocksalt reduces labour costs by 7% and grows business with Nory
You can read the full story here. And, if you need help optimising your business, feel free to follow or reach out to Stephen directly.
Ready to scale?
Scaling hospitality operations isn’t easy, but it’s incredibly rewarding when done right. By focusing on people, tracking key metrics, and leveraging technology, you can set your business up for sustainable growth.
