Running your UK local business day to day: POS and ordering systems, inventory, staffing, workflows, and the systems that keep service running smoothly.
33 articles
You spent three hours perfecting your new lamb shank recipe. The flavour is spot on. Your team loves it. But when someone asks what you'll charge, you freeze. Pick a number that feels right? Check wha...
You just signed off on another delivery invoice. The lamb costs more than it did six months ago. So does the butter, the oil, and seemingly everything else. Yet when someone asks what your actual food...
UK food prices have risen 27% over the past three years. Energy costs doubled. National Minimum Wage increases hit every April. Yet you are staring at the same menu prices you set two years ago, and t...
You've spent hours perfecting your signature dish. The flavours are spot-on, customers love it, and you're proud to serve it. Then you run the numbers and realise you're barely breaking even. Every pl...
You've done the maths three times now. The dish costs £4.50 to make. You're charging £14. That should leave decent margin, right? Then you check your bank balance at month end and wonder where all the...
You've done the maths on your menu prices. The numbers looked good on paper. Yet somehow, at the end of each month, your profit margins tell a different story. If you're thinking "I know my costs well...
You've done the sums three times. The dish costs £4.80 to make. You're charging £12. That should leave plenty of margin, right? Then you check your bank balance at month end and wonder where all the m...
You're tracking sales. Maybe you're checking the till every night, comparing this week to last week. But sales alone won't tell you if your restaurant is actually profitable, or if you're quietly blee...
What You'll Learn About Restaurant Efficiency Metrics You're tracking sales. Revenue looks decent on paper. But your bank balance doesn't match the till receipts, and you can't figure out where the mo...
The rota app knows how many hours you paid for last week. The till knows what came through the door. The stock sheet, if anybody filled it in, knows what left the walk in. Three systems, three logins,...
Monday morning, and the bar still smells of sanitiser. Fanned across the counter sits the weekend's paperwork: two curling till reports, a rota export, one supplier invoice with the turbot price circl...
A full room is a fact about tonight. Restaurant performance metrics tell you whether it is also a fact about March's rent: prime cost, spend per head, covers, cash days and repeat visits. This guide c...
You're tracking sales. That's a start. But when Thursday's takings look decent until you check Friday's wage bill, or when food costs eat half your margin before you even notice, it becomes clear: rev...
There is no single best online ordering system for a restaurant, because they do not charge in the same shape. Square publishes a rate per online transaction, storekit a rolling plan with no monthly f...
You're watching orders roll in through Just Eat and Deliveroo. The phone hasn't stopped. But when you check the numbers at the end of the month, 30% of every order has vanished into platform commissio...
You're watching 30% of every delivery order disappear before it reaches your till. Delivery apps promised more customers, but the maths stopped adding up months ago. Meanwhile, some restaurants seem t...
The right OpenTable alternative is the one whose fee rules match where your bookings actually come from. Most vendors quote rather than publish a price, which leaves your own booking mix as the only s...
You have three browser tabs open, one spreadsheet half-filled with numbers, and you still can not figure out whether OpenTable or Resy makes sense for your restaurant. Your feet hurt after a 12-hour s...
You check your delivery app dashboard after a busy Saturday night. Hundreds of orders, the kitchen ran smoothly, customers seemed happy. Then you see the commission deductions: 25% here, 30% there. On...
You're running between the kitchen and the front counter while three tablets from different delivery apps ping simultaneously. Your phone buzzes with a customer asking why their order is late while di...
You just finished a 12-hour shift. Your phone keeps pinging with third-party orders, but when you check the monthly statements, 30% of every sale went straight to the platform. That is money you could...
You are paying 30% commission to third-party apps on every order. That adds up to hundreds each month, maybe thousands. Meanwhile, you have heard about "free" ordering systems, but you suspect there i...
Related: Restaurant Online Ordering Hub - complete guide to online ordering systems. Your phone buzzes constantly during a Saturday rush. Not customers messaging to book tables. It's orders piling up...
Restaurant ordering systems are software platforms that let customers place orders directly with your venue, cutting out third-party delivery apps and their steep commission fees. With UK restaurants...