In the middle of last year, at the height of the pandemic, like many hospitality businesses our team at I am Doner, where I am an investor and non-executive chairman, were grappling with the challenge of continuing to trade with physical distancing in place. Being a predominantly takeaway and delivery-based business, we were able to navigate the constant changes in policy with far less challenge than many other hospitality businesses but, with tiny footprint stores, physical distancing was a massive challenge, both in the kitchen and in our small waiting areas. Demand far outstripped our throttled capacity. 

We had to rethink the operation and focus on increasing productivity while minimising the amount of business being given away to aggregators via commissions. There were four main areas of analysis:

1. Leveraging customer technology

2. Improving kitchen ergonomics

3. Reviewing opening hours

4. Gaining the buy-in of the team of doing more with less

In respect of technology, we were already relatively well prepared going into the pandemic, having started working with Vita Mojo more than a year earlier, installing kiosks into our store and driving customers to transact directly with us through digital ordering. Within our three stores, two had seen digital ordering account for most transactions and one had been opened with no option but to order digitally. Through the early months of the pandemic, we fine-tuned the kitchen display set-up to optimise how easy it was to manage in the kitchen, spent time focusing on driving average spend by having a better order flow, optimised numbers of orders by 15-minute intervals and also opened pre-orders, with some weekend nights being fully subscribed by midday, really helping us with operational efficiencies.

In the kitchen, the challenge was on to further fine-tune the model, ensuring equipment was best positioned to avoid unnecessary steps, maximising on the spot storage and reducing prep during service, all with the consideration of having 20% to 30% less team members on shift. This wasn’t easy given we thought we’d already nailed the perfect format but Paul [Baron] and Bridie [Fox], who operate the business, trialled, trialled and trialled until we fine-tuned this and significantly enhanced the through-put from a single station.

There were significant changes in demand during the pandemic – as most people still operating felt. Customers ate earlier, with the peak moving from 8pm to nearer 6pm, there was limited lunch trade with offices shut and the late-night business was all but non-existent, with no nightlife and late bars. We were quick to minimise service times and made a re-commitment to straight shifts only, ensuring we focused on core trading hours and the team members were not being overstretched in terms of their working hours. This approach became more important as we progressed through various lockdowns and people were brought back from furlough; it became clear very quickly that our teams wanted a good work-life balance.

As with many businesses, regrettably, we did have to make job cuts at one point when things became too tough, particularly as it became clear our newly opened flagship store in Leeds city centre was not going to reopen for some time – having previously being fuelled by the city centre workers and then nightlife in the city, both of which were non-existent. This was eased slightly by understanding that a lot of our team were students who had already returned home and were unlikely to return to the area in the future. Coming out of this situation, we had to try to maintain a positive narrative and really engage the remaining team, particularly given we were fundamentally asking them to do more with less, which, let’s face it, is never an easy ask. We were very lucky that, for the most part, our team was up for the challenge and wanted to come back to work after being furloughed. With a strong understanding of how tough it was for many businesses out there, we were quick to recommunicate our plans post-pandemic to help the team feel like there was still hope and to regain some vibrancy. We didn’t feel it was right to simply put more pressure on the team without rewarding them for this, so we made the tough – but right – call that, in the middle of the pandemic, we would increase our global pay rates significantly. We also wanted to start rewarding the team based on the right attitudes and behaviours that supported our business during this time. We devised a plan to launch micro-bonuses.

It was a real turning point for the business in terms of team happiness, as well as top-line growth and reducing negative feedback. The challenges we were trying to overcome were two-fold. Firstly, we had regular issues with order accuracy, resulting in regular refunds and “hangry” customers. The second was that when the going gets tough, it was too easy for the teams to increase the wait time for delivery orders or frustratingly turn the terminal off, which results in a poor service to customers. We felt that with better incentivisation, the team might find that extra gear to push a little harder and keep those order flowing. Our approach was quite simple, we would pay a weekly bonus to all employees of 5% more per hour for every hour worked if they hit the realistic sales target for the site – and 5% if we have no controllable complaints, with both being directly linked back to overcoming our significant challenges. The result being that, in addition to their already enhanced pay package, the teams can earn 10% more directly linked to the performance of their store. 

The results have been fantastic, productivity is up, we’ve had far less turnover [of staff members], even with the current pressures of the market, and complaints dropped by more than 90%. We are paying the micro-bonuses out almost every week across our sites and are very pleased to do so. As we return to some sense of normality, there will still be many challenges to face and I’m not saying we have all the answers, but I know my colleagues on the ground feel that it is a little bit easier knowing that their teams are committed and well-rewarded. We continue to review how we can add value to our teams, consider their well-being and drive towards a better work-life balance, which isn’t always easy with all the pressures of running a small business but we will keep learning and adapting.