Meet Laura Morris, co-founder of Yard & Coop, which specialises in serving up buttermilk fried chicken with tasty sides, classic cocktails and craft beer. She will be taking part in our ‘Next Big Thing panel’ (on 25 March), alongside Mark Wogan from Homeslice and Andrew Macleod from Emilia’s Crafted Pasta.
Founded in 2015, in Manchester, by Laura and her business partner Carl (both former Revolution Bars employees), Yard & Coop now boasts sites in Liverpool and Leeds, with more ‘new restaurants in new cities’ on the horizon.
What restaurant & pub operators do you particularly admire and why?
I love what Dishoom are doing for our industry, really raising the bar and creating a higher end option for casual diners that wasn’t there before. They build beautiful restaurants, the tastiest food (breakfast Naans!) and a great customer experience but it’s all accessible, which is what I really love about them.
I admire chef Gary Usher and enjoy watching his journey, owning and operating small restaurants. He wears his heart on his sleeve and mirrors so many of our own struggles in business. I like the fact he owns what he does, whether good or bad – he didn’t hide his recent poor EHO audit but confronted it head on — shared the fact that he didn’t want to get out of bed the next day. We’ve all been there.
What do you think is the key for operators to successfully compete against their competitors?
The customer wants to love your brand and feel part of it – successful operators, like Brewdog and Gary Usher, have shown us with their kickstarters and unique ways of growing that the customer wants to be so involved that they will even help you pay for it.
Allowing your brand to have a voice that is true to yourself and be inclusive of customers is the key, and that flows out through hiring and encouraging great people who embrace that voice.
I believe that’s the down fall of many huge casual dining chains. The customer is savvy and you can’t put a neon sign up saying ‘laugh, love, live’ in your shopping centre restaurant in Milton Keynes and expect people to buy in. It’s hollow and the customer sees straight through that.
What do you see as the key casual dining trends for 2020?
A bit off piste but I think we will see a move towards technology for ordering and service. The customer’s focus on value in our marketplace, which doesn’t marry with rising labour costs. Something has to give somewhere and the big volume operators are already knees deep – I expect to see restaurant-based operators dabble this year.
The rise of food delivery: What do you think are the pros and cons for 1) your business and 2) the casual dining sector as a whole?
Food delivery is a contentious issue in our business. Having fully embraced Deliveroo, and even becoming a partner in a dark kitchen with them for a period, we are used to the revenue and it’s really hard to step away from that cash flow wise. Even when it starts making bad business sense. Take your product, add sustainable packaging, the extra labour and then a huge 30%+ service charge and you are not left with much. The customer is also not getting the other great part of our food, which is the experience of eating with us, on a plate and with a smile. It feels lose-lose to me and our customers mean too much to us to not be irritated. We are combating this by downsizing our delivery menu and working to add customer value and experience into a bag.
What’s your bestselling dish / drink at the moment?
We revived salt & pepper a couple of years ago. Now it’s everywhere but still adding salt and pepper anything is a golden ticket on the menu.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job?
Making a positive difference to a person’s day, whether it’s the delivery driver, the cleaner, the guy on the street, one of our managers or a customer — I work hard towards bringing a little light. I love being on service and if you look hard enough you can find all the information you need to go out of your way to make a customers day. That’s the true essence of hospitality for me and my purpose at work.
And the most challenging?
Finding, keeping and inspiring great people. There’s a well documented talent black hole. Our industry needs to work together to make hospitality a sector that people want to join rather than fall into. Work life balance is a corner stone of our company but we interview so many burnt out Managers still pulling 60 hour weeks and topping their pay up with tips. The industry is slowly moving on but there’s so much work to do to encourage people to start training out of school and stay in the industry whilst growing families.
I’m loving the emergence of ‘women in hospitality’ groups, where women are being supported and encouraged to step up. Having started my own family whilst building a hospitality business I know how torn women are about whether they need to move on or if they can make a career and kids work. Same goes with understanding mental health within our industry and what can be done to support those who are struggling, if we all work towards addressing these issues then that back hole gets significantly smaller.
What does the next 12 months have in store for your business?
Growth – new restaurants in new cities. Development of our on site training programmes and honing our skills to be masters at opening.
Can you tell us a bit about your much-anticipated session at Casual Dining 2020?
I want people to take home a real insight into small business and the highs and lows. I’ll talk candidly about the reality of small business and the risk of growth but also about the beautiful moments that make being an owner worth it.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Be kind, be fair, be consistent.
See Laura at Casual Dining 2020
The Next Big Thing Panel: 2.15pm in Keynote Theatre 1 on Wednesday 25 March
Featuring:
- Andrew Macleod, Founder, Emilia’s Crafted Pasta
- Laura Morris, Co-Founder, Yard & Coop
- Mark Wogan, Creative Director/Co-Founder, Homeslice
