Get Your Growth Plans Down, Then Make Them Real

Many successful restaurant owners dream of expanding their business but struggle to transform their growth plans from ideas into actionable strategies. In this episode, restaurant consultant Matthew Mabel addresses the common challenge of analysis paralysis that prevents profitable restaurant entrepreneurs from taking the next step in their business growth journey. Drawing from recent client experiences, Matthew outlines four essential areas every restaurant owner must focus on when planning expansion: defining scope and timeline, building leadership teams, evaluating current staff, and securing financing. This episode provides restaurant owners with a practical framework for turning ambitious growth dreams into realistic, executable business plans that drive sustainable profit growth and operational success.

Key Topics Covered

• Four essential issues for restaurant growth planning
• Expansion scope and timeline determination
• Leadership team development for multi-unit operations
• Current team evaluation and development strategies
• Financing options for restaurant expansion
• The Road Map process for systematic growth planning
• Avoiding trial-and-error approaches to business expansion
• Building systems that don't depend entirely on ownership

Articles Mentioned

• Restaurateur's Guide to Overcoming Fear of Growth: https://surrender.biz/restaurateurs-guide-to-overcoming-fear-of-growth/
• The Senior Management Hiring Rule Smart Owners Never Break: https://surrender.biz/the-senior-management-hiring-rule-smart-owners-never-break/

Resources Mentioned

• Website: www.surrender.biz
• Free initial consultation available
• Restaurant Success Podcast website: RestaurantSuccessPodcast.com

Connect with Matthew Mabel

Matthew works with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to improve:

• Profit growth
• Sales optimization
• Guest count increase
• Unit expansion
• Employee engagement
• Brand loyalty

How to Support the Show

• Subscribe to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter
• Rate and review the show
• Visit www.surrender.biz for additional resources

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the Restaurant Success Podcast. I'm Matthew Mabel, veteran restaurant advisor, coach, consultant, and speaker devoted to multi-unit independent restaurant unit, profit and revenue growth, internal harmony and ownership freedom and flexibility.

This is your weekly entree of the advice, strategy and tactics that I currently provide to my best clients.

Today we're going to talk about something I've been seeing a lot lately - successful restaurant owners who have big dreams for growth but can't figure out where to start.

Just in the past couple of weeks, I've had two different successful operators with exciting brands contact me because their growth plans only existed in their head. Neither one could figure out where to begin to take action. So we figured it out together, and that's exactly what I want to share with you today.

We're going to walk through the four essential issues you need to focus on when planning growth - these are the fundamental questions that separate operators who grow successfully from those who get stuck in analysis paralysis. I'll share why doing the planning work upfront makes all the difference between smooth expansion and the costly trial-and-error approach that can derail your growth dreams. We'll also talk about how you can tackle this planning process yourself if you want to go it alone, and I'll explain the choice you face between making growth feel like pushing a boulder uphill or taking the smarter route that anticipates challenges before they hit you.

Now, if this story sounds familiar - if you've got growth plans swirling around in your head but you're not sure how to make them real - I want you to focus on these four essential issues as you plan growth.

My Road Map process goes step by step through everything that must happen in each aspect of a business to create smart and successful growth.

My most successful clients work through these following questions to plan their growth.

The first thing they figure out is their expansion scope and timeline. How many units are we talking about? Where are those units going to be located? And what's a realistic timeframe to make this happen? Their brands perform exceptionally well, and they want to capitalize on their popularity quickly, committing to what looks both aggressive and realistic.

Then they tackle the leadership question. Who would be added to the multi-unit team to make expected results happen in a way where everything would not be dependent on ownership? To go to the next phase, you need more than the homegrown people. Since they only have one life, my clients do not want to give it up for their business.

The third area they examine is their current team. What about the people on the team now? How do they perform? How could they be utilized and developed in a bigger company? This is where you really start to see who's ready to grow with you and who might need to be developed or replaced.

And finally, they address the financial reality. How will expansion be financed? My clients continue to own and control their brands without leveraging themselves beyond their comfort level. One of them told me, "If we are going to be a real business, we ought to be able to attract capital."

Now, maybe you're thinking, "Matthew, this sounds great, but I want to tackle this myself." If you want to do this yourself, start by making lists of the steps you plan to take in every category of your business.

I often find one hundred necessary line items during Road Map creation. That's a lot to keep track of. Smart operators anticipate a period of hyperactivity and they drive that rather than allow the growth learning curve to control them. You don't need to write a novel - just list the steps. As one of my clients tells me: "Just give me the bullet points."

People who skip the planning stage grow randomly, at best. They proceed by trial and error, and the cost of that and their lack of organization is higher than they can afford - and makes growth much more risky and challenging. I like to show you how to do things in the easiest way possible. Carefree restaurant growth is a fantasy. But you have a choice when growing your brands: Either make it so it feels like you're pushing a boulder uphill - and sometimes it might fall off the hill - or take the superior route: Anticipate all the contingencies and execute your growth plan.

Now, this topic connects to a couple of articles I've written that really expand on these ideas. I wrote a Restaurateur's Guide to Overcoming Fear of Growth and it talks about why some successful operators hesitate to grow even when they have the opportunity. It's fascinating - sometimes the very success that should give you confidence actually creates fear about taking the next step.

I also wrote about the Senior Management Hiring Rule that Smart Owners Never Break. This article connects directly to that leadership question about who you'd add to your multi-unit team. There's a critical mistake I see owners make when they're ready to grow but don't know how to build the right leadership team. That article can save you from some serious heartbreak down the road. You can find links to both of these articles in the show notes.

Let me tell you about how we might work together. I work with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to grow their profit, sales, guest count, and unit count. My unique approach bonds employees and guests to restaurant brands and allows owners to enjoy the freedom and flexibility they have earned.

To schedule a call with me to discuss how to achieve your biggest goals, follow the link in the show notes. The initial consultation is complimentary, and we can discuss which big moves might be right for your operation.

Thanks for listening. If you haven't already subscribed to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter podcast, please do so, and rate and review the show. Find more information in the show notes at Restaurant Success Podcast dot com.

Also find tons of information you can use in print, audio and video form at my website, www dot surrender dot biz. Thanks again and see you next time.