Survey: Restaurants focused on growth despite challenges
Restaurant operators are moving forward with expansion plans even as they face operational and labor challenges.
On average, operators plan to open 20% more new locations in the next two years than the last two, despite 73% being concerned about economic uncertainty, according to a new report from operations management solutions provider Crunchtime Information Systems, despite 73% being concerned about economic uncertainty. While their expansion plans are still in motion, three-quarters (75%) of multi-unit restaurant operators surveyed said that growth is now harder to achieve.
The majority (86%) of operators agree their growth strategy is driven by a strong focus on operations, while 80% are aiming to ensure the right tech is in place before pursuing unit growth. Operators also agreed that growth depends on strong vendor support, with 83% of operators aiming to partner with vendors who can support their expansion.
Almost eight-in-10 (79%) operators who added at least two new locations within the last two years either replaced or added new vendors to better support evolving needs, citing challenges with tech vendors during growth, including cost increases, poor support and lack of integration.
When it comes to the most challenging operational areas to manage during growth periods, 37% of respondents identified attracting and retaining staff as the most challenging operational area during growth. This was followed by managing labor costs and scheduling (31%), managing inventory, suppliers and costs (29%) and employee training and development (29%).
Only 35% of operators are extremely confident in the effectiveness of their labor and scheduling strategy, according to Crunchtime’s survey, and only 31% are extremely confident in their managers’ ability to create efficient schedules without over- or understaffing. Roughly six-in-10 (59%) operators agree that staffing and labor challenges impact their ability to expand operations, particularly in hiring and retaining qualified staff, managing labor costs/scheduling and training.
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A large majority (85%) added that they consider real-time visibility into labor costs relative to sales as extremely or somewhat important, while 80% rank the visibility into forecasted vs. actual labor with the same levels of importance.
When it comes to reducing labor costs, operators told Crunchtime they are dealing with a range of everyday challenges, with 33% ranking unpredictable demand fluctuations as the top challenge for reducing labor costs. Right behind that are employee schedule preferences and time-off requests (28%), followed by labor regulations compliance and slow responses to low-productivity shifts (both at 28%).
"Restaurant operators are focused not only on opening new locations, but also on ensuring their systems, teams, and partners are built to scale,” said John Raguin, CEO of Crunchtime. “This research gives them the benchmarks they need to make those calls. At the same time, there's a significant opportunity to improve forecasting accuracy and real-time visibility into operational data – capabilities that are critical to getting growth right.”
For its 2025 Restaurant Growth Insights Report, Crunchtime Information Systems conducted a nationwide survey of more than 300 multi-unit restaurant operators. The full report can be found here.
