Summer has come to an end — and productivity is on the agenda

As summer draws to a close, and things slow down in the hospitality industry, it’s time to reflect on your operations and identify areas for improvement.
Amanda Poetker
 • 
May 2022
4 min read
Waiter setting tables

Welcome back!

After spending a bit of time away from your operations, and with the hot weather behind us, autumn brings the perfect opportunity to review your business’ ‘Big Picture’ — identifying areas for improvement. Now is the time to ease back into the swing of things (and make some much-needed changes) so you can see out the last of 2018 with excellent operations and the sales to match.

A moment of reflection

In the everyday running of a hospitality business lies the persistent challenge of finding time to tackle difficulties you’ve identified — after all, you’re often in the thick of it, and priorities turn towards the front of house and customer management.

Don’t let yourself surrender to the status quo.

With operational challenges and areas that aren’t working glossed over for the sake of getting through the day, in time, the operational shortcomings resulting from these neglected areas grow in size, and will eventually affect what you’ve been trying to focus on all along: providing the best service to customers. Investing the time at this stage will help you to be more productive in the long-run.

One step at a time

So, you’re well-rested, you know you’ve got some operational shortcomings to address, and you’re feeling pumped, ready to dive into the fray.

But, before you do that and end up needing another holiday, let’s hold up a second and opt for easing our way back into things.

To achieve that, you’ll need to break things down into steps first:

1. Acknowledge the weaknesses in your current systems

This requires brutal honesty and objectivity to be effective — feedback from your team both back and front of house will give your a much clearer picture of the changes that need to happen. Don’t rush this step: the more thorough you are, the more prepared and successful you’ll be.

If you’re stuck for ideas on where there could be weaknesses, consider:

  • Compliance standards and processes
  • Food safety processes
  • How kitchen data is logged
  • Team engagement
  • Staff training
  • Incident reporting
  • Customer experience
  • Financial management
  • Promotional management

2. Put together a plan for how to overcome these weaknesses

Once you’ve identified weaknesses in your current operations, you can begin to put an action plan in place. At this stage, it pays to make a strategy and explore the tools on hand (such as digital checklists and consistent workflow management systems) to help you achieve your goals.

3. Getting your team onboard

With a finished plan, it’s time to invite your teams on board. Give your team clear tasks and guidelines that will help everyone reach towards the same goals. Introducing your ideas and strategy is key to effective teamwork, ensuring that everybody is moving in the same direction.

A productive solution

Recharged by the summer sun, and with a plan in place, you’ll be able to objectively deal with longstanding operational issues and help your employees to be more productive across all sites. From here, you can build upon the madness of the summer months to reinforce your autumnal activity with confidence.

For Trail users, keeping track of changes and proving consistency across multiple sites is as straightforward as accessing the app’s features — such as reporting, digital checklists, and logs. For our users, coming back from holiday isn’t so daunting because the app allows for year-round productivity — it doesn’t need a holiday, after all.

In short, summer may be over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a sunny outlook; with the right planning, a fresh pair of eyes, and Trail at your fingertips, your operations can thrive no matter the season.

If you’re not a Trail user, and you’re looking to combat the post-holiday blues by improving your operations, get in touch.

What customers are saying

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Owner
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Operations
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Operations Director

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