Four phases, one page and a steady rhythm. The shape is always the same; what goes inside it is yours.
Month 1
Diagnose
I find out how the business really works.
- Interviews with your exec team and the people below them
- Three years of accounts, read closely
- A two-week diary of your time
Month 2
Plan
Two days off site, and one page everyone signs up to.
- A three-year picture and this year's targets
- Three priorities, each with an owner and a date
- Your own role, written down
Months 3 to 6
Build the team
The right people, clear roles and decisions made below you.
- One name against every function
- A clear list of who decides what
- The first quarterly reset
Months 6 to 12
Keep the rhythm
The plan runs on four meetings, not on you.
- Weekly huddles and monthly numbers
- Quarterly resets your team chairs
- Next year's plan, written by your team
Harrow & Pike's first-year plan, shared with Tom's permission. Tap any part to see why it's there.
Harrow & Pike · One-page plan
Apr 2024 to Mar 2025
Why we exist
Neighbourhood restaurants and pubs people come back to every week, each run by a general manager who owns it.
One sentence the team can repeat
It isn't a slogan. It's the test for which sites to open, and it put the general managers at the centre of the promise.
Three years from now · 2027
- 50 sites and £70m revenue at 11% EBITDA
- Every opening run from one playbook, on time
- Tom with investors and new sites, not on the pass
Specific enough to picture
Three or four lines you'd recognise when you arrived. It includes the CEO's week on purpose.
This year's targets · to Mar 2025
EBITDA margin
9% 6.1%
Openings on time
5 of 5 2 of 5
Tom's week
50 hrs 68
Numbers, with where you started
No more than four, each readable from the accounts or a timesheet. We look at them every month.
This quarter · Apr to Jun 2024
- An operations board owning openings, menus and GM hiringTom31 May
- One 16-week opening playbook, lease to launchLeah28 Jun
- A weekly P&L for every site, by Tuesday noonSam14 Jun
Three priorities, one owner each
Each is a piece of work that finishes, with one named owner and a date. At the quarterly reset each is scored out of ten.
Tom's role this year
KeepsInvestors and the bank, new sites, the exec team
StopsApproving menus, hiring GMs, running openings
What the CEO stops doing
The line most plans leave out. Tom's stops list is what took his week from 68 hours to 46.
How we run it
- Tuesday 9:00, 45 min
- Site P&Ls, first Thursday
- Quarterly reset
When the plan gets read
A plan that's only read once a year is a document. This says when it's looked at, and by whom.
Six parts, one sheet
Short enough to read every Monday. Choose a part to see my note on it.
Monday huddle
45 minutes, weekly
Numbers, priorities and stuck decisions.
Monthly numbers
2 hours, monthly
The accounts against this year's targets.
Quarterly reset
A day, every quarter
Each priority scored out of ten, by its owner and by me.
Annual plan
Two days, once a year
The one page, rewritten for next year.
On a first call I'll tell you honestly which part of the year you'd need most.