Bill’s MD: We fell into an expansion trap

The managing director of Bill’s has said he no longer wants the restaurant group to be preoccupied with “hitting a certain number of sites” each year.

Tom James told the Casual Dining Show: “We’re really conscious not to put a number of sites into our expansion plan. You read it quite a lot – businesses wanting 50 sites over the next five years – but we are looking for quality sites and we’re growing through that.”

Bill’s shut down roughly a quarter of its “underperforming” restaurants when the pandemic forced a review of its estate. It now operates 45 restaurants, down from 61 sites at the end of Covid.

James, who joined Bill’s in 2021 as director of operations before being promoted to managing director a year later, recalled the group was keen to exit any locations that were posing a “detriment to future growth”.

“I think it fell into the trap that a lot of businesses did at that time, where the goal was expansion. It was all about hitting a certain number of sites a year and when you do that without incredibly strong foundations, it goes downhill,” he said.

Now, he is much more confident about where Bill’s is headed, having recently implemented a “much stronger culture of consistent recognition” that has led to higher retention rates across the business.

“In 2022, we had an action list of 287 actions and retention was in the top five on that list. We had a major turnover issue back in 2022, so we set a target of 70%. We were over 100% back then,” he said.

Team morale is at a high thanks to the launch of a new bonus scheme and a widespread culture of praise.

Bill’s is still looking to expand a new café bar concept that it trialed in the commuter towns of Newbury and St Albans earlier this year. It offered part of the group’s core menu as well as £10 dishes on selected evenings as well as sharing plates, cakes, pastries, beers and hot drinks.

Earlier this month, it appointed property firm Savills to support a nationwide roll-out.

The group has also been open to experimenting with new technology, which has led to a boost in sales.  

“We had a real problem with the bookings system, in that we had a traditional call centre set-up, but that couldn’t cope with demand on Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes. The big step was transitioning a call centre into an AI chatbot. Bookings went up 36% in 2023 because we could cope,” James said.

That said, he believed operators should tread the addition of new technology carefully and always ensure it is in the interest of the guest.

“It’s very easy to jump on all these amazing tech products, but we use a filter system. For example, when we were looking at pay at table and kiosk, we picked two sites and tested it with people we trust. We then looked at the data and talked to the guests.

“Unless you run [the technology] through your brand filters and your guests, you end up in a different place and it’s not quite the 6% or 7% on the bottom line you expected.”

Bill’s was originally a greengrocer founded by Bill Collison in Lewes, East Sussex, in 2001, and was acquired by the Ivy restaurateur Richard Caring in 2008.

Caring grew the business into a nationwide chain of more than 80 restaurants but later admitted it had become “tired” and needed a turnaround.

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