“On average we open one restaurant a week.” Brödernas has a black belt in scaling. How do they do it? From 7 stores in August 2020 to 90 nearing 100 today. The pace is mind-boggling. I asked Henrik Mattsson.
Vice VD, Henrik Mattsson, explains:
💪 Courage – “First of all, the ambition has to be there. The founders, Joakim Wiklander and Jonas Wiklander, are true entrepreneurs. They had the courage to take the risk.”
🔧 Process – “Everything was in place before we started to expand. And I mean everything. From the equipment, the kitchen layout, the design of the interiors, the brand, and the services… every little detail was thought-out, tested and documented.
This was our platform, the proof of concept everyone has confidence in and is committed to 100%. It’s essential to have that because once you start to scale, there is no looking back.”
👍 Trust – “We keep the team small, and we trust that whoever is responsible will make the right decisions. If you want to grow at this pace, you have to trust that every key person is doing the right thing.
You can’t go and second guess an expert’s expertise or challenge every decision they make. That is a recipe for meetings that go nowhere. It would slow us down.”
📲 Digital – “Our whole operation is digitised, and the data is available to everyone. That way we can make sure all routines on the floor are executed properly. We can keep the number of meetings limited and the team lean.”
👩💻 Monitoring – “Aside from the digitalisation which makes follow-up easy and straightforward, we organise regular checks by mystery shoppers, and health and safety inspections. It helps to ensure consistency in the group.”
📈 Career path – “Also crucial for consistency is that we train our own people and open a career path for them. Our regional managers have all started their careers at Brödernas. We don’t look for people with experience, but they soon become experts of the Brödernas system.”
⚪️ Keep it simple – “Don’t overcomplicate. The restaurants are accessible to everyone. We cater to the whole family. Production isn’t complicated, and the brand is easy to understand.”
🤝 Partners – “Lastly, but definitely not least. We only work with premium brands and suppliers. When the first locations proved to be a success, we invited them to be part of the success and invest in the business.
Again trust is essential. We can trust the quality of the products, and we can trust our partners because they are part of Brödernas’ success.”
Many thanks to Henrik Mattsson for the interview.
Brödernas more than deserves its spot in our article:
’47 Scaling Restaurants In Scandinavia To Keep An Eye On (Because They Are Awesome)’ https://get.apicbase.com/scaling-restaurants-scandinavia/
See what other concepts & brands made the list:
🇩🇰 Denmark,
🇳🇴 Norway,
🇸🇪 Sweden and
🇫🇮 Finland.
