Multi-branch restaurants: choosing a branch manager who fits the team

Restaurants that expand run into the same problem again and again. A manager who ran the first branch brilliantly moves to open or run another, and suddenly there is trouble: staff quit, the kitchen and the floor stop talking. The manager has not changed. The team around them has.

Look at the team before the manager

Before deciding who to send, answer a few questions about the branch:

1. What is the existing team missing: structure, speed, or someone who looks after morale?
2. Who is already the anchor, such as a head chef everyone listens to, or a long-serving staff member who knows everything?
3. Who are the customers: office workers on a quick lunch, families at weekends, or mostly takeaway?

A busy branch without systems may need a manager who builds processes. A branch with good systems but a tired team may need a manager who listens and looks after people.

Manager and head chef are the pair that matters most

In a restaurant, the seam between the floor and the kitchen is where problems start most often. If the branch manager and head chef grind against each other, the whole restaurant feels it. A pair that gets on but gets stuck is just as risky, because nothing looks wrong until orders slow down on the busiest night.

Try several options with trial teams

Team fit includes trial teams. Copy the real branch team, put in a new manager, move seats, take someone out or bring someone in from another branch, then compare the overview with the real team straight away: overall fit, people in the right seats, pairs that lift each other and pairs that get on but get stuck. The real team does not change, nobody is told, and you can keep up to 3 versions per team.

A practical way to use it:

• Version one: send manager A to the new branch.
• Version two: send manager B and move the sous chef with them.
• Version three: keep the current manager and add an assistant who covers the gap.

Use it to inform, not to judge

The team overview is one more layer of information. Use it alongside real performance, what staff tell you and what you see on the floor. Once you choose, talk with the new manager about what this branch needs, and set a review after one month.

Try it free with a team of 3 at team fit.