Flashforward to today, and I am really happy to say that all these problems are now completely solved. There are two significant reasons to adopt iPad tills if you haven’t already. The first is efficiency. Our measurements show a 15% increase in front-of-house efficiency from not having to take the order twice (once from the customer and once into the till) and from reducing unnecessary walking. This efficiency alone will save us a team member on busy shifts and allow for many more slack tasks to be undertaken during quieter shifts.  

The other big benefit of iPad tills is the positive impact on shift planning. This move allows our best team members to stay focused on serving guests, manage larger sections, and be supported by food runners and bussers who can also take orders. Our old shift planning methods need to be revamped entirely. Investing in new technology like this offers a fantastic opportunity to place the right people in the right roles, ensuring our top team members are front and centre, smiling and delivering the best possible experience for our customers. 

Our team members who are less adept at smiling or engaging with guests are being moved to supporting roles. This ensures that those in direct contact with our customers are the most engaging and personable. I like this hierarchy, as it creates an incentive for those who don’t naturally smile or engage to improve these skills if they aspire to the top front-of-house positions. We encourage all team members to elevate their customer service abilities. Those who may initially find themselves in supporting roles now have a clear pathway for growth and development within the business.  

The implementation of iPad tills has completely changed our service capabilities, especially in previously challenging areas like the garden, which were too far away. Drinks can keep flowing all day, and the adage that people should only get up to go to the toilet or to leave, can really happen. We have been given the opportunity to be more on it than we have ever been. 

It is too early for us to know the exact uplift in second drinks and upsells, but initial evidence suggests that this might be in the order of 10%. If so, this is massive. Even 5% on our turnover would be amazing. £70k of extra sales will be another £45k of profit – hardly a number to be sneezed at.  

It wasn’t long ago that I attended a conference where I spoke about my biggest mistakes as an operator. Ironically, I emphasised how my regrets often stemmed from opportunities I didn’t seize, rather than the actions I took. Now, I would certainly add iPad tills to that list. Having tried and failed twenty years ago, I now realise I should not have given up for this long. The implementation and adoption were so much easier than we all expected, and I really believe the results will flow through much faster too.  

The journey to modernise our operations has been a learning experience, but the rewards have proven to be well worth the effort. The transition to iPad tills is a testament to how embracing new technology can address long-standing issues and propel us towards a more efficient future. I am excited to see the continued positive impact on our business and am confident that we are now better equipped than ever to provide an outstanding service for our guests. 

We started with discussions on working with private equity and ended up pondering how many more pizza concepts the UK could handle. The debate was fascinating, sometimes argumentative, but always informative. We all walked away feeling more energised and clearer on certain issues than we had been before. 

This experience reminded me of the importance of spending time with industry peers to debate both pressing and not-so-pressing issues. It’s crucial to find ways to improve our future together, and I feel very lucky that my job allows me to talk to people frequently. I find that I am given the opportunity to listen more often than most, which really is invaluable in an industry like ours. I get to hear and better understand different experiences of those around me. And, as someone who is both a supplier and an operator, I also hope that I can relate to challenges more easily than others.  

One of my reflections after the dinner was why the pub and restaurant industries seem so far apart. I don’t see them as fundamentally different. I often argue that my own village pub has a higher percentage of food sales (70%, for those interested) than the average restaurant. We serve less alcohol because someone is always driving. 

I concluded, perhaps incorrectly, that the biggest difference between the two industries is scale and finance. The restaurant sector seems more focused on rapid scaling and has a higher level of ambition than the pub sector. Consequently, it needs more financing, with private equity often backing these businesses. One might conclude that private equity has also fuelled this need for growth. To achieve a threefold return in five years, you have to grow quickly. As a result, the types of people and the necessities of the business model create very different landscapes. 

I recently attended a business leaders forum for high-growth companies. Richard Harpin, who chaired the session, asked an intriguing question: who was an accidental business founder and who was a purposeful one? Who had wanted to do it since they were young, and who just stumbled into it? I was fascinated to learn that about two-thirds had always wanted to do it. I was one of those who stumbled into it. There must be a different personality type at play here, but I’m not sure what it is, especially since he mentioned that the best leaders have low ego (not sure where I stand on that either!) 

This leads to the question of how we define success. Oijon Rogers, founder of the Devonshire Arms, defines success as having one amazing business. One of the worst questions people ask at conferences is how many sites you have. I hate that question, but I still ask it myself. Should we be asking how many sites you have and how many you want? Should we be asking how much money you make, or is that too personal? Should we be asking what success looks like for you and how you will get there? Or should we simply be asking how much you enjoy it? 

One of the five attendees was an operations manager for a chain of restaurants. We spent a lot of time debating whether he wanted to go out on his own and what was stopping him. Friends of his had done well, and he really wanted to, but wasn’t quite brave enough. Yet. Maybe he will be like me and become an accidental business founder. And like his friends, he might start in pubs, not restaurants. 

By the way, the consensus on private equity was clear: avoid it if you can. Sure, it presents incredible opportunities, but the relentless pursuit of growth isn’t for everyone. Many of us simply aren’t wired that way. As for our thoughts on pizza, we agreed it has lasting appeal. It’s a versatile vehicle for a variety of flavours and has the distinct benefit of being challenging to replicate perfectly at home. 

So, gather your group of five, enjoy a hearty meal, and, like me, emerge with renewed energy and passion. 

In my view, the future of hospitality hinges on how we evolve our kitchens. As ready meals get better, and delivery from dark kitchens improves, we need to make sure the food from our kitchen team is up to scratch.  

For me, there is a risk that over time some kitchens, maybe many of them, are seen as the modern version of a coal mine; hot, dark, and a bit frantic. Of course, a great kitchen is none of those things, but the perception remains.  

In order to avoid this becoming our reality, we need to establish a strong competitive advantage, which I believe resides in several crucial areas. The first and most obvious advantage is great cooking. The skills of a talented chef are unparalleled, and no one can match the artistry and precision that a master in the kitchen brings to the table. The value of a great chef goes beyond just the taste of the food. Like a fine wine, the expertise and creativity of a skilled chef command a premium, and people are increasingly willing to pay for this experience. We are able to deliver high-quality meals which set us apart in a crowded market. 

The second advantage comes down to our equipment. Our kitchens are equipped with sous vide machines, deep fat fryers, chargrills, and rationales, among other advanced tools. These sophisticated pieces of kit enable us to produce food of a better quality, far beyond what can be achieved with standard home cooking appliances. Even if the operator’s skill isn’t at a first-class level, the capabilities of this equipment ensure consistently excellent results. 

And then there’s the crucial advantage of the freshness of our ingredients. I couldn’t count how many times I have been at home and have failed to add dill, yoghurt, or an ingredient I have never heard of in the latest Ottolenghi cookbook, simply because I do not have them to hand. For me, this kind of situation highlights the big difference between home cooking and a professional kitchen. In our kitchens, we have a wide array of fresh ingredients readily available every day. This constant access to fresh, high-quality ingredients makes a huge difference in the dishes we produce. 

So, what are the challenges, and how can we improve the future of our kitchens? Several things need to evolve in the next few years to achieve this. First of all, I think the supply chain needs to take on more responsibility for preparing dishes that hold well over time. For example, making a Boeuf Bourguignon doesn’t necessarily need to be done in a central kitchen or on-site; much of it can be efficiently handled by machines. The real challenge lies in how manufacturers can adapt to small-scale, bespoke production, but fortunately, some are already starting to do it. 

The dishes we serve must be better than the store-bought M&S version! Our goal should be to add the finishing touches. We add the parsley, make it look good on the plate, and then serve it with a smile and a lovely glass of red. 

Ticket management has typically been one of the most challenging skills in the industry. Managing three tickets simultaneously is common, but handling more than five is rare and exceptional. While ticket management systems are evolving, they are typically used by operators with multiple sites or very large spaces. What we need is a simpler form of ticket management that everyone can use, regardless of their operation’s size. Will we ever see the end of the tab grab? Only time will tell. 

Ordering should be simple, but it often requires a level of technology that many of us still lack. Achieving a system where the correct amount of fish is ordered based on actual usage, and where we process larger fish to meet a standard specification, is still a work in progress. But, if we could receive the right food at the right time, with the system advising us on what to cook, life in the kitchen would certainly be a lot easier. 

Working on these three areas would undoubtedly transform our kitchens for the better. There would be less work to do, lower stress levels, and lower numbers. Efficiency would be optimised by shifting more responsibilities vertically to tech suppliers and food manufacturers, allowing us to streamline our operations and enhance overall productivity. 

All of this is not to say that there wouldn’t still be some challenges in running our kitchens. However, I think that these changes would allow us to focus on our key advantages and deskill the less important areas of our kitchen, which seems to be the most important next push for the industry. 

One of the most frustrating elements of management in hospitality is the drift in labour cost. After a huge amount of effort working with the team to get to the right cost for a week, including NI and holiday, holding to the same labour cost in subsequent weeks seems to undo itself at a more rapid rate than we are happy with. 

We all hope that we can leave labour management alone to run itself for a few weeks (or maybe months), before revisiting the site and resetting the numbers. Having to go back to it early and rework it, undermines the focus and energy we put into streamlining the process in the first place. And ultimately, it leaves us with a sinking feeling and a bit of resentment for the team running the site, because we feel they could have done a better job managing it all.  

Our hospitality bones want to focus on service and sales growth, leaving labour management to run itself and not require too much of our time. This is possible, but the process needs to become more routine and more consistent first. How? One way I have found works well is using rota templates.  

If we put a load of effort into getting the rota right, we then want it to be repeated. Writing a rota is hard: deciding when people start, and how many you need is vital. But we also have to take a different approach to the ‘who’ and ‘when’ for each day of the week.  

The person who is best at line cleaning might always need to come in early on a Wednesday; the manager might always need to work on a Monday because there is a head office meeting, and then there’s the kitchen. Someone might work on a Thursday because they prepare the desserts for the weekend, and another might be the best at carving the Sunday meat. These intricacies all play a part in gross profit – in fact, there are more to consider before we even get to the simpler ones, like how many hours and on which days. 

Once you have considered all of the people and their particular skills and foibles, you can decide where an hour can be removed here and there. And, just as importantly, you have planned a rota that is economic for your business. 

Typically, a rota can flex up by 15% without needing any more people if the sales spread relatively evenly across the week. So, a rota for a £20k week will be pretty solid, up to say, £23k. 

In reality, not many rotas need to be written to optimise your business. If I take my own restaurant, there has been a £10k spread in sales across all the weeks of the year. The only exceptions are the very highest weeks, like Christmas, or whenever there’s special events and bank holiday weeks. But, generally, 5 templated rotas will run most of the year for the business. 

When I look at our customers, I find them gravitating towards starting from scratch, even when we have spent time writing the rota with them. Inevitably, these rotas cost more and have a negative impact on sales because they don’t consider all of the nuances that are required.  

This process doesn’t just apply to the rota – the same goes for your shift planner. A well-written shift planner will include all the detail needed to run your specific business really well: the right people in the right places and the critical float roles utilised effectively and with the right purpose. Having no shift planner equals a poorly run shift, as the team are not clear on what they are doing. Shift planning remains the key to a great team, great retention, great service and great productivity. 

Too often, I find that businesses treat the shift plan as an afterthought. Writing a plan for, say, 6-on shift is the best approach, as you can then add the 6 team members to that plan, rather than the other way round. The same goes for using templates – they will massively reduce the drift in cost because the basic principles are agreed first. Together, the two create a first-class business! 

A recent topic that seems to come up often when I talk to industry colleagues is the appalling damage covid has done to Gen Z. For a while there has been much talk of the academic damage done, but less energy is focused on the social damage, particularly when it comes to the implications it has had upon them entering the workforce.  

If you are currently employing 16–20-year-olds, you are dealing with a generation that were between 12-16 when the pandemic began. School closures, remote learning, and social distancing measures completely rid them of face-to-face interactions for a long time. Of course, this led to an increase in social anxiety and discomfort in real-world settings. For many Gen Z workers, the prospect of engaging with customers, colleagues, and supervisors in person is really daunting. And, of course, within our industry, the need for social skills when entering the workforce is essential! 

As an industry, we see it in the people we recruit. Our teams struggle with some basic engagement skills; eye contact, initiating conversation and smiling, among others. As operators, we are having to work much harder than we did pre-covid to help young people through this journey. And we must – our industry survives on young people and improves the lives and capability of so many. It also helps people to develop essential life skills. 

This is unprecedented territory for us all – how do we help? From talking to others in the industry, I know there has been a focus on teaching conflict resolution and better customer service etiquette, whether that is through mentoring, or role-playing different scenarios. The other big one is opening up communication, to create an environment where employees feel comfortable asking for advice or discussing challenges, whether it be job-specific or general social competencies.  

We rely on young people in our businesses, so we want to encourage and support them so we can retain them. Gen Z are tech-savvy, quick learners, and often more open to change and innovation than older generations. I find that these traits can be really undervalued by leaders, but in our post-pandemic world, they need more recognition – particularly now we are increasingly relying on digital solutions and service models everywhere! 

In our pubs, I always enjoy it when I see the younger members of the team getting dropped off in a nice Range Rover. Their parents could easily afford to give their children the money they are earning. But instead, they recognise that working, particularly in hospitality, gives them much more. For starters: a work ethic, an ability to understand the value of money, an ability to talk to other people and engage with different generations in a meaningful way. These skills are invaluable and cannot be taught by staying at home or by asking mum and dad to fund your life every weekend!  

And beyond this, I think that our industry is now more important to UK plc than it has ever been. It would be great if, at some point, the government stopped taxing us to the hilt, and instead helped drive an industry that prepares people for the working world in a way that school, or even university, cannot. It is real work, with real customers and real expectations. 

I heard recently that hospitality employs over three million people. But given the high staff turnover, the percentage of young people that are in some way involved and moulded by hospitality is immense. An incredible number of the people I meet have, at one point in their journey, worked in hospitality, even if it was only for a summer.  

We need more recognition for the job we do, and more support for helping people through this journey. One-to-ones and coffee chats are all part of the training journey, but I think that one of the most important things is praising people when they do a good job. This is the reinforcement people need to try harder, be braver and challenge their fears. 

I do not think I am alone in believing that our standards have dropped since covid. We are all working hard to build back and get to the levels we want, and even to go beyond that. Of course, many things have changed due to covid, but with change also comes a real opportunity for hospitality leaders to shape a more resilient and capable workforce. So, get to it!