How to create long-lasting change in a hospitality business

It might sound like a contradiction, but constant change is the normal state for hospitality.

One moment, customer demands change, and then a new law affects your business. You’ll have just finished dealing with the intricacies of introducing a new order channel, and then suddenly, it will be the chaotic holiday period.

It means operators are constantly—and often frantically—problem-solving, making changes across their businesses to stay one step ahead of the shifting landscape.

Long term, if you’re dedicating all your time to problem-solving, when can you focus on growing your business? You can’t think about the future when juggling a hundred changes at any one time.

We as an industry need to embrace a change in mindset, one that is closer to how change is approached in the world of tech.

It’s a two-pronged approach:

One: With any change you make, you should be learning and iterating. This is central to making a long-term impact on your operation.

When the need for change feels constant, seeing any fix as a simple solution can be tempting. But in reality, the solution isn’t this binary. You can’t flick a switch, check the box, and move immediately onto the next focus. You want any change to be long-lasting and robust, and you don’t want it to lead to unexpected complications down the line. So, you need to view any fix you make as the first step - not as the end goal.

Whether you’re launching a new order channel, a new menu, or integrating a new partner, ask yourself, what are the goals? What are the metrics of success for the change? How will you measure this?

And once launched: analyse, test, and iterate on the changes you make, and you’ll find that instead of quick fixes that have no lasting effect on your operation, you’ll be making impactful, measurably successful changes that reduce how much problem-solving you’ll have to do in the long term.

Two: View change more holistically. Meaning we need to look at the big picture.

Changing X to solve Y is fine, but how will this affect A, B, C, and D? This approach towards using isolated solutions for isolated problems will only get your operation so far. Without understanding how the different parts of your business work together, a change in one process can unintentionally impact others.

The fact that the industry around you is constantly in flux should be a clue as to how you should approach your operation. External changes will continue, so your operating model needs to be robust enough to adapt to these changes as and when they happen.

When your operation is as streamlined and efficient as possible, you can react to the ever-changing hospitality industry with agility without worrying that you’ll be causing problems in the future for different parts of the business.

Take a look at Wenzel’s The Bakers’ journey. Initially, the team set out to update the operation’s stock and waste management side. However, after some research and consideration, they concluded that updating their whole tech stack together—and streamlining in places—was the better option for long-lasting change rather than updating pieces in isolation. Wenzel’s was able to roll out its new solution across 103 sites in just 30 days, confident that the changes would be long-lasting for its business.

Change is part of our industry’s DNA. It will always be challenging, but it shouldn’t stop us from thriving. We need to refocus our mindset to absorb these changes, act on them confidently, and ultimately reduce the time we spend on quick fixes.

So, to make a change last, remember to test, iterate, and think of the big picture.

• This content is provided by Vita Mojo. For hospitality operators who need to grow, Vita Mojo is the industry expert that uncovers challenges and supports ambitions through its unique blend of service excellence, flexible solutions and tailored consultancy. Its approach is rooted in real-world restaurant experience and refined at leading hospitality brands, including Subway, YO!, LEON and GAIL’s.