Pro Tip: Operating Multiple Restaurant Units

If you operate multiple restaurant units, don’t manage them in isolation. By comparing location-specific performance metrics—like table turn time, food cost percentage, labor spend, and average ticket size—you can spot where one store excels (and why) and apply that winning formula across all units. Here’s how:

1. Standardize KPIs: Identify a core set of metrics (e.g., weekly labor cost as a percentage of sales, average revenue per transaction) that every location must track.
2. Benchmark & Share Best Practices: Regularly review and compare these KPIs to uncover top-performing units. Investigate the operational strategies behind their success and replicate them in underperforming locations.
3. Align Incentives: Tie management and staff incentives to location-specific improvements in these standardized KPIs. Reward both individual unit gains and overall company-wide performance to encourage collaboration.
4. Refine Operations & Menu Offerings: Use the insights gleaned from the data to optimize labor scheduling, streamline supplier negotiations, and fine-tune menu pricing and promotions.

By continuously gathering and sharing location-level metrics—and treating success stories as replicable playbooks—you’ll not only improve operational efficiency but also activate sustainable sales growth across your entire restaurant portfolio.

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