As restaurants prepare for fall, a season often marked by increased indoor dining, catering, and holiday prep—growth-oriented operators face a critical question: are your systems ready to scale? Expansion isn’t just about opening new locations; it’s about replicating quality, service, and operational consistency without burning out your team or eroding your brand.
For multi-unit operators, new restaurateurs, or those coming off a successful summer season, the fall expansion window presents both opportunity and risk. The difference between success and struggle lies in how well you’ve built your Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to support growth.
At The Gilkey Restaurant Consulting Group, we specialize in building SOP frameworks that empower restaurants to scale with confidence, precision, and brand alignment. This guide walks you through setting up SOPs that support seamless expansion across multiple units—whether you’re launching your second location or your fifteenth.
Why SOPs Are the Backbone of Scalable Restaurant Growth
Standard Operating Procedures are step-by-step instructions that guide your team in executing every task, from prep and plating to inventory and customer service. They remove ambiguity, enforce brand standards, and make training repeatable.
Benefits of SOPs for Expansion:
- Ensure consistency across locations, teams, and shifts
- Accelerate training and reduce onboarding time
- Reduce errors and waste through clearly defined methods
- Support quality control without constant owner oversight
- Enable delegation and improve manager efficiency
Fact: A 2024 Restaurant Operations Study by Technomic found that restaurants with documented SOPs experience 32% fewer service errors during the first three months after launching a new location.
Without SOPs, each new location becomes a reinvention of your concept. With them, each new unit is a reproduction of a proven model.
Identify Core Operational Areas for SOP Development
To build scalable SOPs, start by identifying the critical functions that drive daily operations and guest experience. Focus on the systems that have the most impact on consistency, safety, and profitability.
Core SOP Categories to Develop:
- Front-of-House (FOH): Greeting guests, taking orders, table service, and guest recovery
- Back-of-House (BOH): Line setup, prep lists, cleaning schedules, temperature checks
- Opening & Closing Procedures: By role and by area
- Inventory Management: Ordering, receiving, and storage protocols
- Cash Handling & Reporting: Register counts, tip pooling, deposit protocols
- Health & Safety Compliance: Sanitation, allergen handling, food safety checklists
- Onboarding & Training: Day-by-day orientation and skills checklists
- Technology Systems: POS procedures, delivery platform integration, loyalty programs
Tailor SOPs to your concept type—QSRs may emphasize speed and order routing, while full-service concepts may require more detail in table management and service flow.
Document in Detail and Format for Ease of Use
For SOPs to be useful, they must be clear, actionable, and easy to access. A document-heavy binder in a manager’s office won’t help during a lunch rush. Instead, aim for SOPs that are visually engaging, role-specific, and mobile-accessible.
Best Practices for SOP Documentation:
- Use visuals: Diagrams, photos, and short videos to illustrate steps
- Step-by-step clarity: No assumptions; every action is described
- Break by role and shift: Server vs. line cook vs. dishwasher
- Use cloud platforms: Google Drive, Notion, or LMS systems for live access
- Print critical SOPs: Laminate and post in BOH and service stations
Pro Tip: At Gilkey, we use color-coded SOP playbooks organized by department and include QR codes for video walkthroughs that staff can access on the floor.
Train Managers and Leads as SOP Champions
Scaling successfully means empowering your location leaders to implement SOPs with precision and accountability. Train your GMs, kitchen leads, and FOH supervisors to become SOP champions who enforce, update, and reinforce your operational standards daily.
SOP Training Strategy:
- Train-the-trainer model: Teach managers how to teach SOPs
- Checklists for every position: Tie SOPs to onboarding and performance metrics
- Weekly manager audits: Use SOP adherence as part of evaluations
- Incentivize compliance: Reward teams that maintain strong SOP execution
Managers must understand not just what to do, but why the SOP exists—linking procedure to profit, guest satisfaction, and safety builds long-term buy-in.
Conduct a Pre-Expansion SOP Audit
Before opening a new location, conduct a thorough audit of your current systems to ensure they’re expansion-ready. This is especially important if your existing SOPs were built around a single location.
Audit Questions to Ask:
- Are current SOPs standardized or customized by manager preference?
- Can training materials be reused at other locations?
- Are your SOPs documented digitally and accessible remotely?
- Are there any known gaps or inconsistencies that need to be resolved?
Correcting weak spots now prevents larger issues once multiple locations are operating independently.
Data Insight: Restaurants that audit and update SOPs before expansion experience 22% fewer staffing and service issues in the first 90 days, according to a 2023 Foodservice Consulting Alliance report.
Scale Systems Without Diluting Culture
One of the biggest fears in expansion is losing the personal touch or team culture that made the original location successful. SOPs should reinforce—not replace—your brand values.
How to Keep Culture Intact:
- Embed your mission and values into SOP introductions
- Include hospitality philosophy in FOH and management SOPs
- Create a brand tone guide for how to speak with guests
- Train leaders to model behavior, not just enforce tasks
When SOPs align with your culture, they support a consistent experience that reflects your restaurant’s personality, not just its product.
Set Up Feedback Loops and Iteration Protocols
SOPs are not static—they must evolve. Create systems to capture feedback from frontline employees and managers about what’s working and what needs refinement.
Methods to Collect and Apply Feedback:
- Monthly feedback surveys by department
- Manager debriefs after new location launches
- Field audits with SOP-specific scoring
- Update logs with version control for all SOPs
Regular updates show staff that SOPs are living documents—not corporate rules carved in stone. This increases engagement and accuracy over time.
Gilkey Strategy: We recommend an SOP review every quarter and a mandatory revision session six weeks before any planned expansion.