Growing a restaurant isn't always about moving faster. Sometimes it's about knowing when to shift gears.
And that's a lesson the team behind Hank Daddy's Barbecue knows well.
Since opening in Vaughan, Ontario, in 2016, the family-run business has evolved from a quick-service restaurant into a full-service operation with a catering arm and plans for future expansion. Each time the business levelled up, a new set of challenges emerged.
For Olivia Caputo, who grew up in the business before becoming its general manager, keeping everything running smoothly has always been part of the job.
"A restaurant truly is a symphony of things that could go wrong, but when everything goes right, and we're all playing in the same key, it's a beautiful thing," Olivia told Square.
As online ordering became a larger part of the business and customer expectations continued to evolve, the team found itself managing more moving parts than ever before.
Guests wanted easier ways to split shared platters and appetizers, while staff needed systems that could keep front-of-house and back-of-house operations working together seamlessly.
Hank Daddy'sCourtesy of Hank Daddy's Barbecue
To help support that growth, Hank Daddy's adopted Square tools to manage everything from payments and online ordering to reporting and restaurant operations. According to the company, the goal was to build systems that could adapt as the business changed.
As the restaurant shifted from quick-service to full-service dining, those tools helped support catering orders, table service and kitchen workflows, while giving the team greater visibility into the business as it continued to grow.
Today, Hank Daddy's is exploring new opportunities, including merchandise and additional restaurant locations.
"Square really has made it that easy to grow and for us as owners, as managers, to keep an eye on trends going into the next location," Olivia said in the case study.
For a restaurant that's spent the last decade evolving alongside its customers, the next chapter is already underway.