I have been reading all the company results that say turnover has held up, but profits over the last year have not. I am reminded that the run from September to Christmas is a key trading period, and it also amounts to nearly one-third of the year. Like January, September is a pivotal trading period and is the time to make sure the key business targets are set to achieve the level of profitability we require.
Food and drink GP, and what we call ops costs, all need to be well-managed through this period. As of course, does labour, which I am going to talk a bit more about. My first piece of advice is to spend a decent amount of time getting a good base rota for this time of year, with a cost against it that meets the needs of the business.
For us, 10 of the 12 weeks were all within a 15% range, so if we pick the lowest number in that range, we can set a rota that works for each week. This means we can work hard on creating the perfect rota, which focuses on the following areas:
1 – Minimum staffing levels
It is too easy to decide that you need three people front of house, when two will work better. The same applies in the kitchen. Setting minimum staffing levels for quiet days or quiet times of busier days is one of the most important activities.
2 – Manager hours
It is critical that we move away from someone having an admin day. It is much better if we have admin afternoons, where the manager can work lunch, do admin in the afternoon, and then step back to the floor for the early evening until the end of the shift.
3 – Slack tasks
We need to determine which tasks can be done within normal working hours and do not need specific hours against them. Kitchen prep is the toughest one, but it is also important to focus on how the staff can do all the closing tasks before the customers leave, saving valuable hours after the business closes.
4 – Staffing for peaks
While we might want to focus on costs, it is still essential to ensure we have enough staff on when we are busy. Cutting staff at the wrong times just damages service levels, and thus in the end, sales, which is counterproductive. I am a massive believer that we all need to make sure the peaks of the weeks are well-staffed, as this is fundamental to growing our business.
If we do all these things we can create an amazing service led by a cost-effective rota. As I have written elsewhere, overstaffing is the enemy of good service, and we all need to ensure we do not creep into overstaffing as sales drop in September. But the great thing about this process is that you can agree a rota, and a cost, with the relevant people for a whole series of weeks, and it should be easy to manage. But what are the management risks?
1 – Ground up rotas
It still surprises me how often people write rotas from a blank sheet of paper rather than using a well-thought-through template. A template rota delivers a lower cost, better service, and takes less time to write. The only adjustments then need to be for any events or unusual trading patterns.
2 – Managing the costs before the week starts
It is essential that as management teams, we stay on top of this during this period and catch anything early and well before the week starts. The perennial problem with labour is drift, with teams tending to want more to drift back to the old, easier, ways. Pressure from teams as to when they want to work is normally the biggest factor, and we need to stay strong and help embed new habits.
3 – Adding one on
Many managers can look at the rota for the day they are running and think they are short, either through a misguided belief that service will be better or because they want an easier shift. We must train these people not to do it and really look at how the costs move in the week.
Making our business processes work in the long periods of average sales and engineering our businesses to deliver the desired level of profitability at these stages is the way we will improve our profitability as an industry. In the long run, we need an appropriate level of profit to pay down debt, re-invest, and to grow.