Smart rotas and happy teams with industry stalwart Sam Harrison
Something of a hospitality legend, Sam Harrison’s career has taken him all over the world. He’s now back where it all began in West London, where his six restaurants and cafes have been delighting diners since 2019. We caught up with Sam at his flagship brasserie Sam’s Riverside to find out why he and his team rely on Planday to help run his busy operation.
Meet the team
- Who: Sam Harrison
- Role: Co-founder and Owner
- Business: Sam's Riverside
- Where: London, UK
That serves up
- Classic hospitality in beautiful settings
- Six sites across West London
- A positive, supportive work environment
- Elegant menus and fresh ingredients
Who is Sam Harrison?
A restaurateur through and through, Sam Harrison has been working in hospitality since he was 16. Starting out in his Godmother’s catering business, he went on to study Hotel and Restaurant Management at uni, before throwing himself into a career that’s taken him all over the world.
From Australia to Canada, from Cornwall to right back where he began in West London, Sam has gone from waiting tables, to running restaurants, to operating six establishments across Hammersmith, Chiswick and Brentford.
Having sold his previous business in 2015, Sam embarked on a new venture in 2017 with his business partner and friend Fanny Stocker. The pair set up The Genuine Restaurant Group and opened their first restaurant two years later – the high-end brasserie Sam’s Riverside.
With its elegant menu, warm welcome and stunning Hammersmith location on the banks of the Thames, Sam’s Riverside was an instant hit. More locations inevitably followed, with two cafes, a deli shop and a second restaurant – Sam’s Waterside in Brentford – all opening in what’s been a whirlwind five years. But despite the rapid expansion, Sam’s central ethos has remained the same.
“A lot of restaurants are cuisine-focused, or chef-focused, or concept-focused. And people often ask me, what's your concept? And I don't really like the word concept because as far as I'm concerned, we're an old fashioned restaurant and we look after people. We put the customer first,” he told us.
“I always say I don't think we do things better than anyone else. And there are many great restaurants in London, but I think a lot of restaurants have forgotten about hospitality – or it's not at the forefront of what they do.”
The challenge
Sam has been in the restaurant business his entire working life. He knows what works, what doesn’t, and knows the challenges facing restaurants that you don’t see anywhere else. And so when it came time to switch from spreadsheets to a dedicated scheduling software, he was looking for a platform that understood the industry.
“I've always felt restaurants were pretty unique in the way that we schedule staff. Double shifts, early starts, late finishes, the fact the bank holidays are just a normal day of the week,” he said.
“The way we pay people, tronc. A lot of people cannot get their head round tronc if they don't work in restaurants. Lieu days, holiday. You know, there's a lot that, I think, would be alien to people who don't know restaurants.”
What was needed was a tech solution that not only made scheduling simpler, but that could cater for the unique needs of the restaurant business. Luckily, a close friend was on-hand with the perfect recommendation.
The solution
“I think we were quite an early adopter of Planday. When I'm looking at any tech for restaurants, I like a personal recommendation. And a very good friend of mine had been a very early adopter, and I knew his business wasn't dissimilar to mine,” Sam told us.
“We’d looked at quite a few [systems]. Some were quite clunky, and some have been designed by someone brilliant at tech but who maybe doesn’t understand restaurants. And when I decided on Planday, it was because Planday seemed to have that understanding of restaurants that many systems don't.”
That was some 20 years ago, and Sam hasn’t looked back since. So when it came to opening Sam’s Riverside back in 2019, there was no question over what system would be implemented.
“I like the way it continues to evolve and update,” Sam said. And as ‘Sam’s family’ of restaurants and cafes has kept adding new members, Planday has been there to grow and scale with them.
The result
Planday has been helping Sam and his team cut admin hours and create smart schedules for years. But as the business has expanded, Planday’s other features have become more and more important.
“Quite often I’m sitting in an Uber, or sitting at home, and I quickly need to know who's working where. Before I send someone a message, I can quickly see all my schedules, who's working, who's doing what hours, who's requested holiday. And then I can send them a message on Planday, which I love,” Sam said.
Sam now has some 120 staff working across the six sites, with many being pulled across and switched to different locations on an almost daily basis. Planday makes that possible, giving Sam and his managers a clear overview of where everyone is. But more importantly than that, it makes it possible to create the supportive, caring work environment that Sam’s so proud of.
“I like the fact that staff can message me. So when people say I have an open door policy, well, they can message me on Planday, ask me questions and ask to see me. So if you really believe in looking after people, which we try to do, it helps me do that,” Sam said.
“Because without them we don't have anything. And people need to feel valued. You know, we all go to work to pay the bills, but I think there's more to it than that.”
And Sam’s teams? From the managers to the waiting staff, Planday is helping them manage their time, their shifts and their work/life balance.
“It was brand new for me. Coming into Genuine Restaurants, I’d never heard of Planday. But now, over the last year and a half, I don’t think I’d know what to do without it. I’m using it all day long,” said Adam Vines, Sam’s General Manager.
“It’s really beneficial because I don’t get to see everyone on a daily basis, so if they have an upcoming holiday or something they need to talk to me about they can just message me on Planday. And I can usually respond to it on my way into work. So it just speeds up the whole thing.”
Looking to the future
So, what’s next for the business? After a period of such rapid expansion, Sam doesn’t have any immediate plans to add a new location.
“We definitely will at some stage. We grew very quickly from one site in 2019 to having six by last year. So yeah, we grew pretty quickly because some good opportunities came along and each one made sense,” said Sam.
“And so for us it's about consolidation and getting our sites functioning as best they can. But yeah, next year, if you can find me a waterside location, I'd be pretty tempted. So yes, we'll definitely want to do more.”
And with Sam’s belief in classic hospitality, his commitment to a positive working environment, and Planday in his back pocket, we know that this titan of the industry will find more success with whatever comes next.
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