by Abby Henson | 3 Sep, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
At S4Labour we are often approached by operators who ask for help controlling costs in their venues. While we can certainly oblige in this, an often overlooked yet equally significant factor in promoting the overall health of a hospitality business is driving increased sales. Here are our top tips.
Forecast Sales to Deploy Efficiently
Avoiding understaffing is critical to growing sales in any business. It’s far easier for team members of upsell to customers and deliver the memorable experiences that will earn repeat custom if they aren’t stretched too thin. Spending time trying to hone in on an accurate sales forecast for each area of your business will allow you to write a rota to maximise sales without compromising on cost controls.
Right-Size your Team
Happy, motivated staff are the best at selling. Staff are much more likely to feel content at work if they are working the number of hours they want, and this can really show in their approach to serving customers. Before recruiting any new team members, it’s a good idea to make sure their expectations for shift length and frequency match the needs of the business. There’s little point hiring somebody looking for a full time position if you just need Saturday night cover. A misalignment between the number of hours a venue needs to spend and the number its staff expect to work can lead to high staff turnover, poor service, and reduced sales.
Balance Front of House and Kitchen
Striking the right balance between front of house and kitchen staffing is key to maximising overall revenues in many venues. We often speak to general managers who are very FOH-focused and see running the kitchen as something of a dark art that they are happy to leave to the head chef. But spending some time getting to really understand the challenges, capabilities, and limitations of your kitchen set-up will allow you to optimise staffing levels in it. This leads to more efficient processes, better relationships between kitchen and customer-facing staff, and increased sales.
S4Labour provides insight to empower managers to take control of all aspects of their business, making tough conversations easy.
Properly Plan for Ancillary Tasks
Especially at busy times, it’s a good idea to plan enough labour to cover all the extra tasks that go into running a shift in a busy venue. You may know that you need four employees on the bar to deliver the sales you’re expecting on a weekend evening, but if one of them has to spend half the night collecting glasses and another is constantly restocking fridges and fetching ice, service speed and standards soon start to suffer. This caps sales both in the short term, with customers unwilling to brave a long queue, and longer term, as they may not ever return.
Embrace the Tripadvisor Generation
Like it or loathe it, we live in a time when online reviews from the public can have a huge impact on a venue’s reputation and future revenues. Engage with people who leave feedback on Tripadvisor, Facebook, and Google Reviews to encourage those who enjoyed their visit to return and to repair relationships with less satisfied visitors. It can also be beneficial to gently nudge your most complimentary customers towards these platforms, but beware of laying it on too thickly, which can easily have the opposite to intended effect.
S4Labour users benefit from unrivalled insight into the sales patterns in their venues, leading to optimised staffing and a typical 6% increase in revenues. Sounds good? Why not book a demo?
by Abby Henson | 3 Sep, 2018 | Blog, Sales Figures
August was another excellent month for S4Labour customers, and the wider UK hospitality industry, our latest research has found. Like for like sales were up on average 3.9% compared to 2017’s revenues, as businesses across all sectors and trading styles enjoyed an increase in both wet and dry takings.
Drink sales were the main driver behind the strong results, with food-focused operators seeing a 5.6% rise on 2017’s level and wet-led venues not far behind with a 5.2% increase. Food revenues were also very healthy – up on average 1.8%. Again dry-led sites were the biggest winners, enjoying a 1.8% boost compared to last year. Drink-led operators were again not far behind, with on average a 1.4% rise.
This rounds off an extremely good summer for revenues across British hospitality. May and June both saw like for like revenues up in excess of 5%, although July brought a slight dip in sales. Much of the strong summer trading has been ascribed to fine weather and the World Cup, but as August’s weather was variable and England’s exploits are now just a memory, operators will be cheered by the continued positive trend.
by Abby Henson | 8 Aug, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
Recent months have been hugely positive for the UK hospitality industry.
Our own analysis revealed that, bolstered by fine weather and the World Cup, average June revenues were up 5.4% on 2017. This followed equally impressive May trading and will mean many operators are heading into August feeling flush. As pleasant as it would be to revel in this good news, summer must turn to autumn and indeed July was a quieter month for most. The best-run businesses will already be turning their attention to how to maximise profits when sales inevitably do drop significantly. Here’s our best advice.
Forecast Effectively for September
Good sales forecasting is always a cornerstone of efficient labour deployment and increased profitability, but is especially important in the fickle month of September. At its best it can feel like an extension of summer. At its worst it’s a dreary harbinger of winter. The difference in sales can have dramatic impact on a venue’s overall fortunes, an effect magnified by poor labour planning. Studying weather forecasts and historic sales patterns closely before making sales predictions will best position you to staff your site effectively to boost profits however September turns out.
Holiday Planning
Late summer is the perfect time to get your house in order regarding your employees’ holiday time. Your team will have worked hard recently and be due a well-earned break. With sales soon likely to fall and the testing festive season still to come, it’s the perfect time to encourage staff to take time off, reducing your commitment to giving them hours without leaving them out of pocket.
Flexible Budgeting
S4Labour allows its clients to benefit from flexible budgeting. This is a valuable tool at times when sales can vary greatly and in sites where there are significant economies of scale in the level of sales staff are capable of processing or physical restrictions on the number of employees who can be scheduled. It works by setting a base weekly labour spend, the minimum required to run the site regardless of sales, to which labour is proportionally added in response to rising sales. This means that whatever your sales forecast your target labour percentage will be suitable and means those tricky conversations between operations managers and GMs about appropriate budgeting are avoided.
Base Rotas
The challenge with the flexible approach to labour budgeting is understanding what a realistic base rota is to dictate the minimum weekly labour spend. Once you have the base the flex tends to be quite simple. We suggest looking at past quiet times and assessing what it would take to run the business. Early November and late January are typically good points of reference. Don’t go too extreme; attempting to run the business with one waiter and one chef seven days a week is not realistic.
Set Targets
Autumn doesn’t have to be all about tightening your belts and waiting for the festive season. Setting targets for venues or even individual members of staff can energise the business and turn a dreary period into a time to build. In our own pubs, we love getting innovative at this time of year. It’s the perfect opportunity to look for exciting ways to drive sales and improve service with the best ideas carried into a busy December.
S4Labour is the perfect tool to help hospitality businesses thrive all year round. Call 01295 267400 or Book a Demo today.
by Abby Henson | 2 Aug, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
The full results
Following a superb early summer, July was a quieter month for UK hospitality.
May and June both saw like for like sales up in excess of 5%, but this rising trend has been arrested, according to our latest research. Analysis of over 100 organisations using our S4Labour software across all industry sectors found on average a 0.3% reduction in revenues compared to July 2017.
The slight decline was driven by lower food sales, as venues saw on average a 2.5% decrease. With hot weather likely impacting appetites, wet-led sites were most impacted, typically seeing a 5.2% fall. This reduction was to an extent mitigated by an increase in drink sales of on average 1.0%, although with this figure less impressive than in preceding months, it seems likely that the period of high consumer spending that characterised the early summer has come to an end.
by Abby Henson | 17 Jul, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
We were privileged to sponsor the Propel Multi Club Summer Conference that took place a couple of weeks ago. The day presented a range of insightful talks from industry leaders and entrepreneurial talent, whilst the evening offered a chance for networking with peers, new and old.
Exploring untapped markets, expanding at carefully considered rates, and the importance of brand flexibility were a few of the reoccurring themes.
What does it take to be named ‘Innovator of the Year’?
Martin Morales – Innovator of the Year
Being the first to offer Peruvian cuisine in the UK was a big risk, but when you can deliver a concept as passionately as Martin Morales does his Peruvian heritage I think he was only ever destined to succeed. Martin compliments his two unique restaurant concepts, Ceviche and Andina, with cookbooks, self-produced music, art galleries and even a play – prompting a fellow audience member to turn to me and ask, ‘does this guy ever sleep?’.
When asked what advice he would give to a larger operator, he quoted his Peruvian grandmother from who he inherited his love of cooking, ‘here we cook with love’. No matter how many projects he takes on, it is always the quality and freshness of his food that will be his priority. Martin openly admitted that he prefers to eat in his own restaurants over any others, and that love and passion for his own product is what I believe makes Martin so successful!
The importance of brand culture was a key focus from HGEM, as they delivered interesting statistics around outsourcing delivery, and whether this could help or harm your business. Concluding that, wherever possible, you should form relationships with delivery teams, teaching them your brand culture so they deliver your brand as well as your food.
‘Working fast, with a great deal of patience’
Expansion was a common theme throughout many of the talks, all accompanied by the caveat that growth must be considered, not rushed. Andreas Karlsson perfectly summarised this as he talked us through how Sticks ‘n’ Sushi prepared for their move to the UK by ‘working fast, with a great deal of patience’. Choosing the perfect site for their debut restaurant took time and deliberation as they sought out a similar audience to their successful Danish sites. Wimbledon appeared as the perfect choice, combining a neighbourhood feel with the flurry of tennis tourists, and so was born ‘Fish on Grass’.
Andreas spoke about the importance of adapting and adjusting a site to fit its unique audience, paying tribute to where you are. Each Sticks ‘n’ Sushi location is bespoke designed to complement its surroundings and suit its customer base.
Matthew Kirby agreed that flexibility of a brand can be the key to success as he spoke of the various opportunities and difficulties of trading in motorway service stations, Chozen Noodle has been designed to be just as successful out of 80sqm unit as a 12sqm. Realising that ‘no-one wants to eat noodles before 11am’ also played a big role in Chozen Noodle’s success. To optimise sales, Matthew recognised they would have to adapt the brand to suit this audience. The motorway station units now serve coffee and croissants in the morning, before switching to the traditional Chozen Noodle menu for lunch.
Ted Robinson admitted to the audience that they had never intended for Grind to serve cocktails, continuing the theme of adapting a brand to suit the market. It was the high London rent that initially inspired this idea, as they realised the financial benefits of staying open later. Ted enlightened us of their trial and error process as they first offered a separate day and night experience, before realising they were alienating both audiences simultaneously. Realising the potential of Grind was to deliver a hybridised offer has been the key to their success and awarded them their ‘genre busting’ title. Had they not realised this was not just an additional revenue stream, but in fact Grind’s USP, Ted is confident it would have never become the ever-growing successful brand it is today.
Gavin George took us on a journey through history as he introduced us to the ‘unknown knowns’ of the classic British Pub. By understanding and amplifying the obvious, and yet often undervalued joys of a pub, the Laine Pub Company has created an enhanced experience.
Laine Pub Company sites intensify the escape from reality by introducing immersive games, giant car racing tracks, and virtual reality headsets. Gavin also touched on the importance of choosing an appropriate location. His enhanced offerings are often suited to locations further out from town, as they require more costly space and their uniqueness will draw customers out to them.
A memorable analogy from Andreas’ talk put healthy business growth into perspective as he spoke of the importance of not aspiring to grow like a sumo wrestler. Yes, the sumo wrestlers grow faster and bigger than the rest of us, but they also die 20-30 years before us. So, if you want sustainable growth, you must ‘work fast, but with a great deal of patience’.
For the many, not the few
James Baer, of Amber Taverns, gave fascinating insight into the sustainability of the wet-led pub model. The strengths of the Amber Taverns’ management model lie in the mutual relationships with their operators.
Managers can focus on their customers, offering that personal touch punters crave from a community pub, as Amber Taverns take care of compliance and other timely admin duties. Offering value for money beer and full Sky/BT Sport packages are a couple of other ways James suggests the larger pub companies should be doing to help ensure a sustainable future for the tenanted wet-led pub.
Are we moving from Gen X-cess to Gen Y-bother?
Matt Coles, of Morar HPI, led us on a journey as he discussed fascinating trends in the next generation’s alcohol consumption. He introduced us to the different alcohol-free alternatives currently available, and predicted what it will take to become a market leader in this relatively untapped market.
Despite the majority of ‘lifestyle abstainers’ stating their teetotalism was to maintain a healthy lifestyle, sugary soda and fruit juices still ranked as the most popular alternative. This appeared not to be a pro-active choice, but the result of a lack of awareness of the various substitutes.
Matt concluded this thought-provoking session by predicting a rise in popularity of aromatic tonics with this new ‘just say no’ generation. By striking a balance of sweet and savoury tonics can equally be enjoyed with a meal or throughout an evening. The presentation of a tonic also plays to the adult soft drink market, as they are often served with herbs or fruit peel twists, giving the same impressive flair as an alcoholic cocktail equivalent.
Table bookings – an operational tool or the start of a relationship?
A common mistake made by some operators, according to Zonal’s Peter Edwards, is to oversimplify the online booking process. Despite GDPR regulations, there is still a lot of data you can and should use to improve your customer’s experience just from their booking. We should make it easy for the customers, remember their patterns and speak their language.
A brief sales pitch amongst some fascinating insight, Peter spoke of the importance of having a back up system for phone reservations such as Zonal’s voice recognition software. On average, a site misses 10 phone calls a day resulting in not only lost sales but tarnished relationships with those potential customers.
James Hacon solidified this idea as he relayed his learnings from the Propel/ALMR Study Tour to New York, many brands have home-based freelance booking coordinators to ensure 100% of calls are taken and efficiently processed.
Table reservations should be synchronously used as a tool and a first impression, Peter concluded. A booking platform, online or by phone, can form the crucial first impression of your brand for a new customer, so it should provide the same experience as you would expect of your maître d’.
Mayor of London’s new London Food Strategy
The last few years have seen an increased reliance on food banks, Angela Malik shared how the mayor of London is looking to tackle this as food becomes part of his social fairness and equality agenda. The new London Food Strategy will focus on improving the availability of quality food for all, at all stages of life. Impoverished areas see higher levels of obesity as individuals opt for cheap junk food options, the #AdEnough campaign is the mayor’s first step of many to tackle this.
It was a privilege to spend the day in the company of so many inspiring hospitality professionals. The talent and diversity within our industry was clear to see, and we look forward to seeing what is next on the horizon.
At S4Labour we’re dedicated to helping the best get even better by helping them control costs, maximise efficiency, drive sales, and save time.
Call 01295 267400 for more information or book a demo today.
by Abby Henson | 9 Jul, 2018 | Blog, Press & News
No fewer than eight venues using S4Labour have been nominated as finalists across six categories for the Great British Pub Awards 2018.
The latest round of judging has now been completed, and representatives from the eight venues will now take their place at the prestigious awards night in September, hoping to scoop category wins ranging from Best Inn to Best Wine Bar and Best Sports Pub.
This follows on from the successes of S4Labour clients at the 2017 edition, where City Pub Group’s Temple Brew House site won the Best Beer Pub category and Rumba in Macclesfield, part of Life & Soul Ltd., earned the accolade of Best Turnaround site. Both companies have since spoken warmly of their relationship with S4Labour; City CEO Rupert Clark believes that “Our business is stronger as a result [of using the system]”, and Chris Carsons, CEO of Life & Soul simply said, “We couldn’t have won without S4Labour.” A full case study of how Life & Soul use S4Labour to better manage their business can be read here.
The breadth of the award categories for which S4Labour customers are competing highlights the system’s effectiveness for operators across all trading styles and sectors of the hospitality industry. Notable amongst them are two venues in the Best in Pub Company Categories. Champs Bar & Grill in Urmston, Greater Manchester, is one of five finalists selected out of Punch Taverns’ 1,300-strong estate, while the Queen’s Head in Pinner, North London, has been nominated from Greene King’s 1,200 tenancies. S4Labour is perfect for the Leased & Tenanted pub market, helping proprietors reduce labour spend and increase sales, as well as giving a new depth of insight into business performance.
We offer all the finalists our warmest congratulations on reaching this stage and wish them the very best of luck on the night.
