The green sauce that built 8 sites - Matthew Ashley, Assenheims

95% of Assenheims customers order the green sauce. Up to 70% of kiosk users take an upsell. Matthew Ashley on 20 years building a profitable 8-site QSR brand in central London, biggest lessons learned scaling from 1 to 8 restaurants and the plans how to now scale to 20+ locations. Matthew took over his late father's coffee shop near Liverpool Street in 2006, aged 22, and started with five portions a day of chicken and green sauce off a panini press. His rule is product first: QSR brands built on a trend last five to ten years, and Assenheims has done twenty. In this episode: Product and menu: the green sauce 95% of customers order, and a hot honey side that became 200 retail bottles a week. Costs: what he does every time a Budget is announced, and why price rises come last. Kiosks and tech: kiosks in for six or seven months with up to 70% of people taking an upsell, and one tech stack with Embargo so every franchisee starts on the same loyalty, data and POS system. Equipment: two 120 kilo marinating tumblers that save five hours of labour a day. Exit: what a buyer pays for in a business like this. Recorded at Assenheims in London. 00:00 Open at Assenheims 01:20 Taking over his father's coffee shop at 22 04:00 Five portions a day on a panini press 06:01 Five years to open site two 07:58 The biggest mistake: a different logo on every site 11:31 Product before trends 13:13 Why he hasn't gone to Manchester 17:54 The one thing he wishes he'd known 21:12 The secret, and the sauce 95% of customers order 25:20 Costs, budgets and price rises as a last resort 31:17 Protein, calories and 12 vegan options 35:27 Hot honey: 200 bottles a week 36:47 The next three years: franchising 39:22 One tech stack for every franchisee 40:45 120 kilo tumblers, five hours a day saved 42:27 Kiosks: 65 to 70% take the upsell 45:41 What a buyer pays for 48:07 Close The Hospitality Builders is hosted by John Richardson (The Cafe Experts) and Freddie Szydlowski (Embargo). The Cafe Experts: https://thecafeexpert.com Embargo: https://embargoapp.com Assenheims: https://assenheims.co.uk Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast... Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033XkwB... #hospitality #QSR #franchise #kiosk #restaurantbusiness