Everards
Tom Flynn, Operations Manager
Cut back-of-house staffing waste by 14% — without slashing hours.
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Customer story
Driving guest experience with
operational excellence
Butcombe Pubs & Inns run pubs with rooms, juggling housekeeping, breakfast rushes and guest experience across their sites. Maddy Sinclair, GM of The Northey in Wiltshire, wanted to balance cost and coverage without spending more on labour.
“It’s definitely improved our guest experience.”
The challenge
Teams were stretched in some areas and under-used in others. Housekeepers started at 7am, cleaned, then waited for check-outs — plenty of slack — while breakfast service was a front-of-house crunch.
What they did
The Operational Excellence Programme began with a walk-round involving the head chef, head housekeeper, ops manager and S4labour, then built base and high-sales-week rotas. Housekeepers were cross-trained to help at breakfast, and chef start times were staggered rather than everyone in at ten.
The results
Guest experience improved, especially in quieter periods, with the Goldilocks numbers and deployment graph showing where labour could be saved and where hours needed protecting. It doubles as a training tool for team leaders and junior managers.
