Bad to the Bone: Managing Growth for Increased Profits
Challenge
The restaurant had experienced tremendous success and profitability when it was smaller in size, had a limited menu and the service model was primarily counter pick-up. As sales increased the owner decided to acquire additional space adjacent to his original location. As the business continued to grow and prosper the menu became larger, he needed more kitchen staff, servers and additional management oversight was required. His rapid growth exceeded his sales projections. Labor, consistency, standards, controls, management turnover and marketing became a serious challenge and he was no longer profitable.
Solution
The Synergy Operations, Branding and Catering Team was retained to assess the restaurant and identify meaningful ways to simplify operations, create better systems and standards for consistency and put new controls in place. As part of our assessment we thoroughly evaluated all aspects of the menu including a thorough food and beverage review and made specific recommendations that allowed the owner to streamline the menu to reduce operational complexity, labor and food costs. The Branding Team conducted a thorough review of how the brand was positioned, marketing initiatives, social media, menu design, food photography, and packaging. The Synergy Catering Team was also engaged to identify new ways to drive off premise sales including developing a more compelling menu, sales strategy and updated all the food photography for the website and carry out menus.
Outcome & Benefits
The assessment provided the owner with a specific set of recommendations that allowed him to streamline the menu, improve consistency, create better controls on food cost, fine tune recipes and gave the management team systems, standards, tools, checklists and forms to operate the business in a more efficient manner. The Catering Team updated his entire catering program including all collateral material including food photography and gave him tools to drive additional revenue streams through pickup and catering. Through our combined efforts we were able to lower food cost by 4%, increase sales by 3%, and reduce hourly labor by 2% for significant improvement to bottom line figures.