Gastronomy management with a high happiness factor

Real-time key figures for corporate goals

Ernst and his controlling staff use this tool to obtain all the key figures from the operations in real time: net sales for the current month (or other time periods as required), the number of guests and invoices, the average receipt and the current cost of goods sold are all included in the dashboard. A particularly important key figure is productivity, which is derived from the data determined via sell & pick, i.e. turnover per employee. The key productivity figures are available for the kitchen, service and the entire team - allowing the actual and target values to be precisely compared.

For example, a target productivity of 75 euros per employee per hour is set for a particular day. This is derived from the underlying empirical values. If the target is exceeded or fallen short of by a certain amount or percentage at the end of the day, it can be deduced, for example, that there is an oversupply or undersupply of staff. Martin Ernst:

"Our aim is to keep stabilizing the figures in our planning and not to be surprised by them."

Transparency in every business

Not only the head office benefits from data transparency, but also every single Gastro & Soul business. Thanks to sell & pick, the management there also has access to all the information that is important to them. This means that there are no surprises - good or not so good - at the coordination meetings between the operator from Controlling and the operations manager; instead, both sides can prepare for the feedback meeting and suggest solutions for any need for adjustments. This ensures a swift response and a joint decision.

"After all, our operations managers should spend time with the guests and employees and not so much time in the office," says Martin Ernst.

Keyword guest: How has their behavior changed against the backdrop of the general increase in costs? And how is Gastro & Soul reacting to this? "Consumer restraint is definitely an issue," explains the Managing Director. Based on the available figures and information, the company is constantly checking whether the offer still fits, whether there are declines in higher-priced products, for example - and how to counteract this.

Specifically, the company has responded to the changes in the "Cafe Del Sol" and "Bavaria Alm" establishments by adding smaller, cheaper dishes to the menu and increasing the proportion of drinks in sales. The company is turning the challenge of a slight decline in average receipts due to the economic situation into an opportunity: the aim is to welcome even more guests and increase throughput. Martin Ernst reports that there is currently a good increase in the number of guests. With sell & pick, the company is also planning to make even better use of location-specific sales potential and - keyword upselling - to increase sales per guest again.

The integration of the sell & pick solutions into the gastronomy company took some time. Especially as the "Vapiano" restaurants, which Gastro & Soul took over in 2020 as the German master licensee, were external businesses with their own tools and systems. Thanks to the "super project support" from the sell & pick team, the path was successfully taken. Incidentally, more overview and transparency in the figures was also created by removing data. Martin Ernst:

"We were often asked: What are you actually doing with this figure? What do you need it for?"

If it had no real use, it was removed. This makes the difference between data and information and ensures efficient, number-based decision-making processes. We have now reached the point where working with clear figures is fun, even for the companies.