The more you know, the more you can grow

I’m a Dragon, trust me.

Sarah Willingham is one of the UK’s best-known businesswomen. Turning Bombay Bicycle Club into one of the most successful Indian restaurant chains in the UK eventually led to her being selected as a Dragon on BBC’s ‘Dragons’ Den’.

Passionate about small businesses, Sarah is working with Just Eat to help Restaurant Partners grow their business. Here are five of her top tips for growth:

1. Make your food profitable
Your average dish should be roughly 20% cost and 80% profit, so review your prices regularly. Worried about putting prices up? Increasing prices by just 20p-30p on one or two of your top selling dishes could have a big impact.

2. Understand your running costs
Some costs will fluctuate, so it’s important that you know your benchmark and can see when you’re over or under spending. You can also reduce running costs by taking advantage of Just Eat’s Partner Perks from Booker Makro, Global payments, and Make it Cheaper.

3. Use data to trade more effectively
Understand your trading peaks and troughs. You might find that opening for an extra hour during your busiest period could drive extra orders, or on quiet days, not opening could actually be more cost-effective.

4. Don’t underestimate the power of reviews
A recommendation or review can be the deciding factor for people on whether they choose to order from you. Take the time to respond to any your customer reviews, it’s important that you show you are listening

5. Understand your competition
Get talking with your competition, you could learn from each other.