When Your Growth Plan Is Way Ahead of Your Restaurant’s Operating Capability

Episode Summary

In this essential episode of the Restaurant Success Podcast, veteran restaurant advisor Matthew Mabel tackles a critical entrepreneurship challenge that many multi-unit restaurant owners face: having expansion dreams that outpace operational reality. Matthew explores why aggressive growth plans can actually damage restaurant businesses and shares his Big Five Growth Concerns that every restaurant entrepreneur must address before considering expansion. This business-focused discussion provides practical strategies for restaurant owners who want to scale successfully while maintaining operational excellence. Whether you're a seasoned restaurateur or new to the restaurant industry, this episode delivers actionable insights on sustainable business growth, management development, and creating scalable restaurant operations that support long-term entrepreneurship success.

Key Topics Covered

• Why aggressive growth plans can hurt restaurant businesses
• The disconnect between expansion dreams and operational reality
• Matthew's Big Five Growth Concerns for restaurant expansion
• Management capability and reducing owner dependency
• Financial consistency across all restaurant locations
• Owner focus and delegation strategies for restaurant entrepreneurs
• Culture development and how to "bottle" your restaurant's secret sauce
• Brand definition and controlling your restaurant's narrative
• The costly mistake of growing first and fixing operations later
• Honest assessment of organizational capability versus growth goals

Links Mentioned

• Restaurateur's Essential Guide to Developing Powerful General Managers
• How Restaurants Truly Activate Culture

Resources Mentioned

• Website: www.surrender.biz
• Free initial consultation available

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 tackle something that might sound counterintuitive at first - why having an aggressive growth plan can actually hurt your restaurant business. We'll explore the disconnect between expansion dreams and operational reality, and I'll walk you through my Big Five Growth Concerns that every restaurant owner needs to address before they even think about opening that second location.

If you've got expansion fever but your current operation isn't firing on all cylinders, this episode could save you from making a very costly mistake.

Let me tell you, my brother once asked me something that really stuck with me.

He said "Has anyone ever opened a restaurant in Dallas they didn't intend to be a prototype for expansion?"

Well, yes, but he made his point perfectly. For many restaurateurs, growth is pure inspiration. Most would view having just one restaurant - no matter how notable and successful - as a failure.

And I get it. It's incredibly exciting when real estate brokers are calling you every day, landlords are jumping at the chance to work with you, investors are waving financing offers in your face, and guests are literally pleading with you in your dining room: "I'm begging for you to open nearer to where I live!"

But here's what you need to understand - and this is critical - you've got to make sure that excitement doesn't lead to your growth plan exceeding your ability to actually operate those restaurants. I've been advising independent restaurateurs for a long time, and I know that when a growth plan is moving along faster than your operating capability, you absolutely must take action before you screw the whole thing up.

Because here's the harsh reality: if it's not going great now, why would you want more of not-great?

Let me share with you what I call Matthew's Big Five Growth Concerns. I ensure that my clients who are planning for expansion address these five critical areas - and doing so substantially reduces the risks associated with growth.

First up is management capability. This is huge. When management runs the whole business inside those four walls without being reliant on ownership, surprises or calls for backup become rare. You want to reach a point where your managers can handle whatever comes up without you having to rush over there every time something goes sideways.

Second, we've got the financial piece. Consistent financial results should be evident on every single P and L - making both owners and investors happy. If your numbers are all over the place right now, adding more locations is just going to multiply that chaos.

Third is owner focus. This is where a lot of restaurant owners struggle. You need to learn to work on only the things that you absolutely must handle, with someone else doing everything else. This allows you to focus on growth or take that much-needed vacation you've been putting off for years.

Fourth, and this one's really important, is culture. Culture is the secret sauce that makes a restaurant company go. When your culture is what I like to call "bottled" - meaning it can be used as a guide to behavior every day on every shift - it enrolls both your guests and your employees. Without this, you can't scale effectively.

And finally, fifth is your brand. You need to define your brand with an optimal message. This ensures that guests don't define you in a way that creates a dangerous vulnerability to competition. If you don't control your brand narrative, someone else will.

And by the way, I've got two articles from my blog, that I'll mention later which explain more about the importance of great management and how to activate great culture.

Now, here's where a lot of people who are struggling make a critical mistake. They think they can grow first and handle these issues later. Sure, from a cash flow perspective, that may seem smart - but it's a complete mirage.

It costs much more to tighten up your restaurant company's operations after you grow, because money leaks out of that safe where you can't even see it happening. Every single accounting period, you're losing money in ways you don't even realize.

So I want you to ask yourself some tough questions. 

First, what are your growth goals? If they are highly defined, congratulations! I applaud your desire to have five, ten, twenty, or thirty units or more.

But what is the level of capability in your organization? Are you being optimistic, are you fooling yourself, or are you certain you're ready?

Either way, smart people check back in detail on these big five issues and really measure their capability honestly.

Now before we end today's show, I want to mention a couple of articles I've written that connect directly to what we've been talking about today. When I mentioned management capability earlier, that ties directly into something I wrote call the "Restaurateur's Guide to Developing Powerful General Managers."

In that piece, I talk about how general managers are the most important people in your successful multi-unit independent restaurant company - they control what happens within those four walls, including both the guest experience and the strength of your bottom line. If you're thinking about expansion but your GM development isn't where it needs to be, that article will give you the four key ways to develop your management team properly.

The other article that's really relevant to today's discussion is about how Restaurants Truly Activate Culture.

Do you remember when I talked about culture being that secret sauce? Well, that article breaks down exactly how to move beyond those beautiful framed mission statements on the wall that nobody feels, and actually activate your culture in a way that impacts every guest and every employee every day.

Because without activated culture, you can't scale successfully.

You can find links to both of those articles, in Today's 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.