I sit down with a young restaurateur. Three years in business, turnover has grown, but the numbers never quite add up at the end of the month. We go through the P&L together.
In the last twelve months: £2,100 for a video shoot. 340 views on YouTube. £1,600 for new uniforms with the logo embroidered. Looked great in the photos. And the operations manager? That is his mate from university. Net salary: £2,300.
When I ask about the 5p garnish on the main course — "Is that necessary? Can't we save on that?" — he looks at me as though I have insulted him.
"If you're arguing over 5p garnish while burning £2,100 on a video, you haven't understood your business — you've made yourself the product."
Ego as a line item on the P&L
There is visible spending and guest-facing spending. The video shoot? Visible. The uniforms? Visible. The mate as ops manager? Very visible.
The question you have to ask: does this serve the guest, or does it serve your image?
The garnish is guest-facing. It signals care. It signals that someone here actually thinks about the plate. The video shoot is a signal to yourself — and to 340 people who watched it twice and forgot it.
Your best mate as operations manager
In 30 years in this industry I have seen this pattern countless times. Not once — not one single time — did it end well.
Your mate likes you. He wants you to succeed. But he will not tell you that the kitchen is a disaster at 7 pm on a Friday. He will not confront the chef when the food cost goes through the roof. He will not make decisions that might cause friction between you.
Operations management is a professional role. It requires distance and courage. Friendship rules both out.
The friend-zone advisory board
Same dynamic with the advisory circle: your mate who knows about marketing, your cousin who designed the menu, your brother-in-law who does the accounts on weekends. Every one of them means well. None of them will tell you the truth when it costs you something.
The people who move forward hire people who are better than them. They seek out advisers who will push back. They pay for expertise rather than for loyalty.
What the operators who get it right actually do
They stop seeing themselves as the product. The restaurant is the product. They are the engineer.
They measure every pound against one question: does this serve the guest and the operation? If yes — spend it without hesitation. If it primarily serves their ego — they don't.
That is the difference between someone who builds a business and someone who builds a stage set.
And the video shoot?
Product first, then communication. If the food is right, the service is right, the margins are right — then a video can make sense. But not as step one. Not while you're still arguing about 5p garnish.
"You don't need to be flashy as a restaurateur. You need to be good."
The bottom line
- Ask of every expenditure: guest-facing or ego-facing?
- Hiring mates for key roles is always a bad idea — no exceptions
- Advisers who tell you what you want to hear are not advisers
- Whoever argues over pennies and burns through pounds has lost the plot
- The restaurant is the product. You are the engineer.
Does this sound familiar? Then drop me a line. I work directly with operators — no training events, no group sessions, just honest conversation about what actually has to change.
