Case Study – Operational Excellence

Grosvenor Pubs & Inns

Grosvenor Pubs Overview

In 2024, we partnered with Grosvenor Pubs and Inns, rolling out the S4labour system and Operational Excellence Programme across the business.

We spoke to Sam King, Business Director at the founder-led pub group, which consists of 11 individually designed sites, a year on to see what they have achieved.

Company Name: Grosvenor Pubs & Inns Business Type: Multi Site

“We found, as a business, we were taking more money and our labour cost was actually staying the same”

Sam King

Business Director, Grosvenor Pubs & Inns

Challenge

What were your frustrations and challenges that led to the decision to work with S4labour? “We approached S4labour because we were frustrated with the amount of time and productivity we were getting out of the GMs and Head Chefs in their rota writing.”

“We were finding that a lot of team were on at points in the business where they weren’t needed for our guests.”

Opportunity

What opportunity did the Operational Excellence Programme offer the Grosvenor business? “S4 gave us that opportunity to really dig deep into the business at when is most productive and when is not. It just highlighted a focus onto some of the finer aspects of writing a rota and how we plan our week.”

The Process

Part of the programme involved consultants visiting each site in your business, how did this process help when it came to growing sales? “The goldilocks visits involved the S4 consultants visiting the individual sites to bespoke the system and establish the perfect rota for each individual rota build on that basis. We then worked out the rhythm and routine of the week of when we needed people in and when we didn’t.”

“With some incremental changes to each business, it meant that, as a whole, Grosvenor became more productive, more efficient and certainly on site it gave a lot of control and knowledge to the fingertips of our general managers.”

“We can start expanding out on bigger sales and it gave us a good platform and a confident platform to grow the business from.”

“Partnering up with S4 means you are getting almost like an extra business partner in delivering more sales”

Sam King

Business Director, Grosvenor Pubs & Inns

Team Response

How did the teams at Grosvenor engage with the S4 system and Operational Excellence Programme? “The programme with S4 from start to finish was incredibly useful. Anybody would be a bit apprehensive about changing such a huge system as the payroll system and the rota-writing system. But, the guys at S4, with their knowledge, and their passion for what they do, gave us a lot of confidence. And the change was right.”

“The team, from head chefs, general managers to the senior team are looking at the business in a very different way to what we were a year and a half ago. They’re looking at a more sales driven way rather than a cost cutting way.”

Results

How has this new approach supported the continuous growth of the Grosvenor business? “We found, as a business, we were taking more money and the cost, our labour cost, was actually staying the same. So, the 3% swing in labour cost was actually down to more sales rather than that horrible word of ‘cutting’ and ‘chopping’ hours.”

“I would recommend S4 and the S4 team to any business which is feeling that they’ve got more to get out of their properties, their business and their wage line.”

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