Right team, right time
We are all at our best when we are neither too stressed, nor hanging around not knowing what to do. So our aim with our people must be to keep them busy but not overworked. Sounds easy, but we all know it isn’t.
Labour is your biggest cost. We traditionally focus our energy on GP, and rightly so. But now most have the gap between theoretical and actual at a maximum of 3%. The same gap for labour, between what you can do and what you actually do, is around 6%.
That’s 6% of sales potentially wasted. If your business takes £5,000 a week, then 6% translates to £300 per week, or £15,000 a year if you prefer. And this is a number many licensees can’t afford to give away. Yet we do it week in and week out.
How to tackle it
But how do we get better, I hear everyone cry. We don’t know each day whether it is going to be busy or quiet, sunny or wet.
These are challenges and, of course, the difficulties of our business. But we still have to give it our best shot. We have to order food and drink, we have to prep the right amount, and we have to schedule staff to the best of our ability.
I was in a pub recently that was doing well, and had almost doubled sales. I asked them how their staffing patterns had changed as the sales grew. “Well now you mention it, there is bit of a queue on a Saturday,” they said. We seem to like queues — it makes us feel good and reinforces how busy we are — but the customers don’t. They hate queues.
I worked in another pub that had a six-strong team on a Friday, and six again on Saturday. However, sales on a Saturday were almost double that of a Friday. Why?
In most cases they do it because that is what they have always done. So what is the solution? How do we do this better? Unusually, this is an area where we can have our cake and eat it. There is the opportunity to both save money and re-invest in sales growth at the same time.
Yes, it requires some time, effort and change, but doesn’t everything that improves your business?
Alastair Scott runs Catton Consulting, a specialist consultancy in retail operations and service improvement, and has recently launched an industry-leading productivity tool. Email nynfgnve@pnggbapbafhygvat.pbz
Smile tips
- Smile yourself — its infectious
- Show you care — about your team and your customers
- Have some fun with your team — make them smile
- Catch your team smiling — and say well done
- Be Disney like in reminding your team to wear a smile as part of their uniform
- Focus on tips, both cash and credit card
Reap the rewards
Labour is a dry, dull subject to many people. That said, I was in a very busy pub-restaurant the other week and the licensee proudly told me he had got labour costs down to 35%. I congratulated him.
But he then asked me what a good figure looked like. I told him, and so he realised that his opportunity was around £500 a week, or £25,000 a year.
A nice holiday, a new fryer, new garden furniture and a new (well, second-hand) car. Think of all the things you could do with that sort of money. And consider the happy customers, and the increased staff satisfaction.Labour management isn’t just about cutting costs, as that can be a downward spiral.
The right team on at the right times really will drive sales, and in turn increase profit. Right people, right place, right time — and everyone is happy.
Top tips for rostering
1. Challenge what you do. Do I need more, do I need less?
2. Work out whether you can shorten shift lengths — you may need a full team in the peak of the session, but do you
need them all to set up?
3. Don’t start everyone at the same time — employing some staggered start and finish times is a much better idea.
4. Don’t have the same roster from Monday to Thursday. Trade builds, so build your roster likewise.
5. Know what is right for the kitchen, and don’t let the kitchen tell you what it needs.l
- Alastair Scott runs Catton Consulting, a specialist consultancy in retail operations and service improvement, and has recently launched an industry-leading productivity tool
