Offering guests the same experience at every location, every visit, is important when scaling any business, but in growing a restaurant, consistency in food, service, sanitation, and hospitality is the No. 1 indicator of success or failure. Minding this factor is probably what got the mom-and-pop operator to the next level, and it’s critical to stay focused when scaling up. Those who fail to do so not only risk stunting the growth of their restaurant but may even doom the existing locations.
In today’s unforgiving environment, a restaurant might have two chances to win a frequent guest. A new visitor will try the place once and come back if they like it or will check out a new location. If the quality remains, they’ll become a frequent guest. If their favorite dish isn’t always available or service is uneven from one day to the next, the frequent guest will become an occasional guest and, eventually, a guest of the competition. Simply put, inconsistency causes declining guest counts, and declining guest counts are the death of a restaurant.
The key to consistency is infrastructure: the hourly employees, restaurant management, training department, supervisors, accounting, payroll and other team members who deliver the guest experience. When control of each department is stretched beyond its limit, quality and consistency usually go out the window.
When a restaurant is part of a franchise model, such as Cannoli Kitchen Pizza, consistency also comes from the processes put in place not only for training the staff but for ongoing support and resources available 24/7. These processes are instrumental when converting existing pizzerias and building new restaurants from the ground up and sustaining a successful business for years to come.
Baking in Consistency
Training and Recruitment: There are different skill sets for running one locale and many, so it’s essential to have a pipeline bringing in great people who can be “plugged in” at any location. A training program that teaches multi-unit operation is also crucial. Make sure everyone is trained to be familiar with all locations; even the most uniform operation will have unique local aspects—at least as long as humans run it. Our Business Advisors are also part of the training process through the opening of any new franchisee’s location.
Appropriate supervision: Like everything else, management becomes more complex with a multi-unit operation. Managers must ensure all employees are performing to the same standards. Make sure they have a uniform system and communicate expectations clearly, so everyone understands procedures and policies.
Tech Tools: An array of software tools are available for the restaurant owner or manager seeking to offer reliable, uniform experiences at all locations. From guest and table management systems for the front of the house to kitchen management applications – and many more – tech tools help restaurants stay responsive to guests as they grow.
Menu quality: It’s a deal-breaker for many guests; if the food is disappointing, it doesn’t matter how friendly the wait staff is or how affordable the prices are. Be sure the menu is up to the desired quality everywhere in the operation. When Cannoli Kitchen Pizza decided to scale up, we brought in a team of culinary experts who spent several months analyzing operations. They helped us create policies, procedures, systems and tools that gave us a measuring stick while refining our menu and building our master recipe book.
Menu variety: Small restaurants that scale up must balance keeping their guests’ favorite menu items and freshening the menu to keep diners from losing interest. The culinary team should be tasked with regularly updating the restaurant’s offerings without compromising the qualities that made the restaurant successful enough to scale. There is always a possibility of some flavor profile inconsistency while changing processes, but technology often improves consistency. Taking advantage of new equipment and new packaging and distribution techniques can also enhance the ease of operation, flavor profile and profitability.
Service: Besides food quality and price, guests return because they felt welcome by the wait staff and others they interacted with. Restaurants must prioritize service as they grow, especially those known for their ambiance. Promotions, menu campaigns and discounts add to guest engagement and lessen the chance of reading online comments like “They’re just not the same since they went all corporate.”
In my experience, when restaurants fail as they’re trying to grow, it’s often because they’ve been chasing a bottom-line number and not focusing on quality dining experiences. Don’t become so obsessed with uniformity that people—both guests and employees—are forgotten. Great people produce great results. Restaurants that hire, train, retain and reward great people will have better consistency on every level. The results will be shown at the cash register.
Rick Case is Vice President of Operations at Cannoli Kitchen Pizza, a restaurant franchise transforming Italian takeout and delivery with premium ingredients and quick, friendly service. Case has over 30 years of industry experience and oversees new restaurant openings and conversions for the growing brand.
