Case study
Improving kitchen operations
Loungers
With over 150 sites nationwide, Loungers has grown at a pace since it was founded in 2002.
An operational review
The initial project objectives were to work with the business leaders to look at how they could standardise kitchen layouts and processes with an aim of improving staff retention whilst also improving consistency and quality of their food offer along with improving speed of service. These foundations would help underpin the business's ambitions growth plans.
We visited 15 sites across the country, spending time in each of their kitchens to get a full understand the business across the estate. We learnt as much as we could about the business – from operations to people to equipment, kitchen layouts, supply chain, dishes and more. Armed with all of our insights and learnings, we produced a report for Loungers head office where we detailed our findings and summarised our improvement recommendations into a strategic plan and planned a gold standard kitchen operation.
Trialling a new vision
Following on from our report and presentation to the Loungers board, they agreed to trial our vision in three of their sites. This meant shutting the sites for a number days for a full kitchen refurb before the sites 're-launched' with new kitchen layouts, different equipment, new training and new operating processes.
The three sites were monitored closely for a number of months, feedback was gained from staff and data points reviewed. The improvements and effects were clear – this was a winner. We finalized a future rollout plan which is now being driven through the business. All new sites are built based on our gold standard layout design, smart equipment improves food consistency and quality and the operating systems allow team members to learn the ways of working quickly. Loungers are a great business to work with and they are setting a new standard in the casual dining and pub sectors.
An operational review
The initial project objectives were to work with the business leaders to look at how they could standardise kitchen layouts and processes with an aim of improving staff retention whilst also improving consistency and quality of their food offer along with improving speed of service. These foundations would help underpin the business's ambitions growth plans.
We visited 15 sites across the country, spending time in each of their kitchens to get a full understand the business across the estate. We learnt as much as we could about the business – from operations to people to equipment, kitchen layouts, supply chain, dishes and more. Armed with all of our insights and learnings, we produced a report for Loungers head office where we detailed our findings and summarised our improvement recommendations into a strategic plan and planned a gold standard kitchen operation.
Trialling a new vision
Following on from our report and presentation to the Loungers board, they agreed to trial our vision in three of their sites. This meant shutting the sites for a number days for a full kitchen refurb before the sites 're-launched' with new kitchen layouts, different equipment, new training and new operating processes.
The three sites were monitored closely for a number of months, feedback was gained from staff and data points reviewed. The improvements and effects were clear – this was a winner. We finalized a future rollout plan which is now being driven through the business. All new sites are built based on our gold standard layout design, smart equipment improves food consistency and quality and the operating systems allow team members to learn the ways of working quickly. Loungers are a great business to work with and they are setting a new standard in the casual dining and pub sectors.
Client Feedback
- Jake Bishop, Co-Founder"Loungers undertook one of its largest and most ambitious projects ever and called on Stefan to help. The 'resetting' of our kitchens in terms of process, kit and standards was a mammoth task and challenged a lot of our existing ways of working. The guidance, teaching and implementation was carefully curated and delivered; the results were game changing.
"Loungers simply wouldn't be the business it is today without the huge Back of House transformational project, that Stefan was integral to. Also, a top chap to work with."
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