Rachel Stainton:
Growth in hospitality rarely arrives with perfect timing. When margins are tight, teams are stretched and operators are already juggling more than enough, stepping back from growth feels sensible, necessary even. And that instinct is understandable. The urge to slow down, hold cash close and tell yourself you'll think about growth later. But that pause can quietly shape the future of a business because how and when you choose to grow has consequences, whether you're actively planning for them or not. And as it happens, this is episode fourteen arriving just in time for Valentine's Day, which feels fitting for a conversation about commitment, timing, and choices you can't afford to rush.
Gina Cavendish:
Anyone that's opened a restaurant knows there's so much execution and fine-tuning and planning that goes into these things. And I think really sitting down and thinking about where you want to put your cash is super critical and how you want to grow as well. Really, really sit down and think about those things because how you want to grow is really important.
Rachel Stainton:
Today, we're talking about growth and why the way you approach it matters just as much as the end result. Opening more locations and moving fast is one thing, but real growth means taking charge of complexity, defining the direction of your business, and making decisions that actually make sense for your operation.
Gina Cavendish:
And I found that very helpful through my career, is breaking down these complex things, break it down into what is something tangible that people can understand. And when you talk to investors and owners and you say, "You're wasting 5% and that is a million dollars. You could open a whole other restaurant with that," it like... Whoa, it really hits home. And it's like, "Holy moly, what am I doing? We need to focus on this."
Rachel Stainton:
Today's guest is Gina Cavendish, MarginEdge's CFO in residence, a hospitality finance expert who spent her career helping operators understand not just the mechanics of growth, but the timing, trade-offs, and discipline it actually requires. I'm Rachel Stainton, and welcome to Science of Service, the podcast where we uncover the strategies behind building successful hospitality businesses. Whether you're a seasoned operator or are just starting out, you'll find insights and inspiration to help you thrive. And in this episode, we're talking about what effective growth really looks like, what it costs to wait, how to plan wisely, and why the small decisions you make early can shape everything that comes next.
If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Gina, I'm sorry, but she's one of those people who manages to be deeply practical, absolutely brilliant, and has the ability to explain complex financial topics in a way that makes you feel like you could file your own taxes after talking to her. It's a dangerous combination, frankly. And if you're a regular listener, which you definitely should be, just saying, you might remember Gina from episode two last season where she walked us through the realities of securing growth funding in hospitality. Today, she's back with more practical advice that operators can actually use. And when I asked her what she'd be doing if hospitality finance hadn't been her path, it quickly became clear just how practical Gina really is. Turns out she was even making smart and strategic calls fresh out of school.
Gina Cavendish:
So, when I was at university, I had to pick which direction I went. And I really like marketing and I really like numbers, which are two kind of opposite ends of the spectrum somewhat. And my train of thought was there will always be jobs in finance because everyone always needs an accountant, right? So, I logically picked that route, but I would say my heart was really in the marketing side. I really like that. I find it fun.
Rachel Stainton:
Yeah, heard. I love, love the brand side of marketing too. And second question, what's one money myth operators believe that just drives you crazy?
Gina Cavendish:
Oh, this one drives me insane. When sales are in decline, the best thing that I can do is start cutting staff members. I have to stick rigidly to this 30% labor percent margin. It drives me insane because it's so counterintuitive, and it creates this downward spiral of revenue loss, bad customer experience, even more revenue lost. And the only way you can get out of that then is to invest serious money into things. Whereas if you just remain steady, seeing it through the course, probably would've come out of it the other side a lot... Well, your bank account would've looked a lot better on the other side. So, that drives me insane.
Rachel Stainton:
Well, bank account and sanity kind of go hand in hand for most operators. Theoretically, right?
Gina Cavendish:
Theoretically. Yeah.
Rachel Stainton:
Today, Gina's here to guide us along the pathway to growth because when margins come under pressure or operations stall, it's tempting to hit pause, but waiting comes at a cost. So, to make sure the juice is actually worth the squeeze, let's get into it. What's the real cost of hunkering down and delaying plans for growth?
Gina Cavendish:
Yeah, I think like with anything, there's a very delicate dance with growth, and capital, and timing. Those three things always intermingled. And I think the biggest one is loss of momentum. If you have a brand that's on an upward trajectory, slowing or halting growth can kind of send you back down, like the heart rate monitor. It goes up, it goes down, and there's little gaps in between of rest. Very small gaps of rest. And I think if you disrupt that by not going with the flow, then it's just lost opportunity. It's not to say that that opportunity might not come around again, but I think capitalizing on the momentum of the brand and the interest is super critical. I mean, don't drive yourself crazy opening 20 locations in a year kind of thing, but keep that momentum going, that steady interest in your brand is super important.
I think another cost of waiting is, and I saw a lot of brands do very successfully out of this was when there's a downturn, it's not necessarily the time to hunker down and stop growing. There's some great deals out there, especially with second generation property that you may be able to pick up a lot cheaper than you would've done previously. I worked with a brand in London that grew through COVID and acquired property. They had enough cash reserves to do so. They had backers that were comfortable in continuing to grow so that when we came out of COVID, we were in a really strong position, and it was a very smart business plan. It was executed very well. So, there is opportunity in downturn as well. It's not all negative. So, I think a combination of making sure you maintain that momentum combined with being opportunistic through these kind of lull, shall we say, is key.
Rachel Stainton:
Momentum is fragile in any industry, and it's especially so in hospitality. When a brand is moving in the right direction, a prolonged pause doesn't leave things neatly on hold. It can quietly and quickly shift the trajectory, affecting team energy, market perception, and long-term confidence. Opportunity rarely waits for perfect conditions. It often appears during periods of uncertainty. A second generation site becomes available. A landlord is suddenly flexible, hallelujah. Or a location that once felt out of reach becomes viable. And the operators who can act are the ones who've done the thinking ahead of time.
Any opportunity, especially when opening new outlets, can be complex. There's capital, there's people and systems, a long list that is pretty daunting. But with a growth plan, that complexity becomes far more manageable. And when that groundwork is done early, speed and confidence come with it. You're able to move decisively when the right opportunity appears, knowing that the same opportunity is likely on your competitor's radar too. So, what really matters when it comes to starting a growth plan and feeling confident at the helm as you map out what comes next?
Gina Cavendish:
Most often, what I've seen is there's a lot of excitement around the brand. So, there's that momentum that we just spoke about, but there's sometimes a little lack of cohesive plan of like, how are we going to get from A to B? And it's just as simple as, let's acquire real estate and develop it and open up restaurants. And yes, at its core, that is as simple as it is, but there is a lot. Anyone that's open a restaurant knows there's so much execution, and fine-tuning, and planning that goes into these things. And I think really sitting down and thinking about where you want to put your cash is super critical and how you want to grow as well. Really, really sit down and think about those things because how you want to grow is really important.
Do you want to grow through franchising? Is that something that you want to consider? It's less cash-intensive, but it does require a lot more strategic thought upfront. Versus, are you going to own and operate all of your locations, logistics as well? Where are you going to open the next location? I've seen a lot of people go, "I'm going to open up in this market because it's really on-brand and it's the right demographic." And it's like, "Yeah, but it's 1,000 miles from where your home base is. Have you thought about supply chain? Have you thought about how you are logistically going to operate that business? You're not a 10-minute drive away, you're a five-hour flight away from it."
So, I think really sitting down and doing what I would call like a mapping exercise of... It's a dream big. Take a map of the U.S. or wherever it is that you want to expand into and go, "Where do you want to see yourself? Where can we see our brand all over the U.S., or all over North America, or globally? And then, how are you going to get there?" And break it down into bite-size chunks because it can be very overwhelming, but you really do need that plan in place to make sure that you allocate capital wisely.
Rachel Stainton:
Every hospitality business is different, and no two growth plans will ever look the same. Hell, even for the same business, it might not look the same over time. But there are ways to increase the speed limit on your growth runway if you're clear on where you are today and what kind of growth actually makes sense for you. When you step back and take a wider view of the hospitality landscape, patterns start to emerge. Depending on your phase of growth, different paths open up. Almost like a Goosebumps Choose Your Own Adventure book where each door comes with its own set of risks, requirements, and rewards. Sadly though, in real life, you can't skip to the back and cheat your way to your desired outcome, not that I would know anything about that.
Even if we can't flip to the back, the good news is you don't have to figure it out alone. Gina quite literally wrote the guide on growth phases and she's more than happy to walk us through them, breaking down what each phase of growth looks like and what it really takes to move forward with confidence.
Gina Cavendish:
So, I would say, and this is very broadly speaking, there's a couple of different phases that a group will go through. So, the first and the most obvious is a startup phase. So, that's very, very scrappy. One, maybe a couple of different, multiple founders that are wearing multiple hats. So, think by day, I'm the dishwasher, by night, I am talking to the banks trying to raise money, that kind of stage of the business. Very rarely in these groups, they have super senior people in the business, unless the founders come from a corporate background. Business is very lean. Most of the cash is generated from operations. I would say it's very rare in this startup phase for you to see a single unit go to four units and not have plans to expand.
So, sometimes people just open one restaurant. It's a dream of theirs. They operate the restaurant, they're very happy, it's successful. But more often than not, I've rarely, rarely seen anyone grow to like three or four units and go, "No, we're going to stop here. We're good." It's typically, "We're going to open several more." And I would say in those scenarios as well, I've typically seen in that startup phase, the funding mechanism of the business is usually the founders, family and friends, maybe some small investors involved, but it's usually quite a few people that have invested, or it's been done from ownership funds to open up the first business. So, that startup phase. So, this is like, if we were to liken this to a child, because that's what a restaurant is, it's like your baby that you birth into the world. So, that's like, you're really a baby and a toddler at that point in time.
The growing up phase, so this is, I would say, when you get in towards maybe 10, 11 years old, you kind of know what you're doing, but you're still a little shaky. I would say that's probably the most difficult phase of a restaurant's growth journey because you have a successful brand. But breaking down that barrier, and then, getting to the next phase, it's really, really tricky because you're trying to operate like a mature business in some ways, but you don't have the cash, you don't have the expertise sometimes in-house to do that. So, this is one of the trickiest phases.
Rachel Stainton:
It's like the awkward middle school phase.
Gina Cavendish:
Yeah. Yeah. This is middle school.
Rachel Stainton:
Braces and-
Gina Cavendish:
Yeah. So, you're kind of going from being this scrappy startup to trying to establish more structure in the business. And it's really critical that this happens because you don't want to take this group now and scale it then beyond that with the problems that you have right now. So, typically what I find in this growing-up phase is really good revenue, successful. From a revenue standpoint, maybe some tweaks and efficiencies that need to be gained on the cost front. So, typically, operating a few percentage points where they should be in terms of cost of goods, need to do some efficiencies and tighten up on other expenses. And it's really critical you do it at this phase versus waiting, because if you don't do it at this phase and you grow a problem, then it's cash that you're bleeding out of the business that could be used elsewhere.
Typically, I have found with this group size, there's a real strong focus on systems, processes, and some key hires as well. So, we're talking like director of operations potentially, maybe a senior finance role like a controller would come in. And again, five fast casual restaurants is very different from five full-service restaurants in terms of revenue, in terms of complexity. So, it's very broad, this.
And then, when they do break out of this growing up phase, like the painful phase, you get the braces off, you've got beautiful new teeth, you're then in this, what I would call the establishing phase. So, you're not the new kid on the block anymore. You kind of know what you're doing. I would like to think of this as, you're kind of in your 20s, you're technically an adult, but you're kind of still playing pretending a wincy bit. So, at this point, this is when the key strategic hires will come in. And again, it depends on concept type. This could be anywhere from 10 to 30 units. You're going to make hires like potentially a COO where you're going to promote internally into that position, maybe even a CFO. You're going to be looking to bring in, if you haven't already during that icky growing-up phase, you're going to bring in institutional investment or you're going to do a second trench of fundraising with your backers.
And really this phase is looking at scalability and replication because you're now no longer throwing everything at a new restaurant opening. You're tweaking and how do we make it more efficient? How do we open faster? How do we get to our running numbers faster instead of having this really long lag time between when we open and when we start hitting our budgeted margins and where we want to be?So, you're really at that tweaking and refinement phase.
And then, beyond that, which is what I would say is the enterprise phase. So, again, just broad numbers here, we're looking anything from 30 all the way up to 100, maybe beyond that. This enterprise phase is what I would say is the corporate phase of the journey. So, you are now a corporation. You've got strategic hires in place, you've probably got a board, you're developing a C-suite and a VP team in the business, and you're looking at systems that are more powerful that you are able to use to scale your business and use across multiple different locations.
Rachel Stainton:
Somebody somewhere should be making that photo album with the hospitality baby photos, the growth spurts, that awkward middle school, it's not a phase, mom, phase, all in it, of course. Seriously though, just like with people, growing takes effort, but the real trouble starts when things get stuck, when businesses keep behaving like teenagers long after they should know better. So, if you're looking to avoid arrested development in your business and survive those younger years, Gina has some advice to help you graduate from the awkward phase and avoid getting grounded.
Gina Cavendish:
I think people have definitely wised up now to the fact that putting tech in early is really critical to help scale your business, but that tech may need to change over time. And I would say one of the common ones is an accounting system. So, what you need when you're a one-unit business is very different from when you were 100 unit business. At that point, we're talking powerful ERPs, just the complexity of having multiple organizations that you have to do consolidations for becomes really complex. I would say if you can make good decisions early on and get a good RMS tool in early on, it's so critical because that can grow with you. An accounting system can grow with you to a certain extent.
No one's putting in a big ERP when they're one unit because, I mean, unless you've got cash up the wazoo, you're not investing tens of thousands of dollars in that kind of thing early days, but a good RMS tool is a good smaller-scale investment to make early on because it can just help that growth journey. I'll give you a worked example of this, and I think this is really helpful. So, let's take Rachel's Steakhouse, okay? And let's say Rachel's Steakhouse is in that icky growing-up phase, and they have 10 units, and they're trying to push past that and become more of an established brand. And let's just say, I'm just going to use cost of goods margins as an example here. So, let's say they are running right now today, a 35% cost of goods margin. But theoretically, which they would know if they had an RMS tool in place that's going to give you that theoretical data, they learned that their theoretical cost of goods should be 29%. That's a 6% gap there.
Now, if we factor in a percent for waste and usage variance, so they should be a 30%. So, we're missing 5% there. Now, let's say in this hypothetical scenario, that Rachel's Steakhouse does average annual sales of two million per location. So, we use even numbers for ease. So, that's-
Rachel Stainton:
That's good. I'm not good at math, so perfect.
Gina Cavendish:
That's 20 million a year in revenue across that 10 units on average. 5% of that is a million dollars that's literally going out the door where it shouldn't be. That's a whole location in some cases, literally. A million dollars could be your investment for one, depending on if you're opening up from scratch or you're doing second generation. It could even be two units. They're going to create more cash. So, it really is critical to break it down into that. And I found that very helpful through my career is breaking down these complex things like waste, and usage variants, and cost of goods. Break it down into what is something tangible that people can understand. And when you talk to investors and owners and you say, "You're wasting 5%, and that is a million dollars. You could open a whole other restaurant with that," it like... Whoa, it really hits home. And it's like, "Holy moly, what am I doing?"
That's another million dollars, serious cash that could be reinvested into people, into the team. It could be reinvested into many, many, many smarter ways than it's currently being used. So, I think it is really critical to get that right early on so that can scale with you as you grow.
Rachel Stainton:
There are a few great takeaways from Gina's breakdown of technology here. The first one, often heard here on Science of Service, there's little or really maybe no good reason to invest in tech just for tech's sake, but what Gina's highlighting is investing in protection for future options. Systems that help you take the pulse of your operation and give you the visibility to make better decisions about where to go next. There's also a timing trap here. Many operators don't feel big enough for better systems until suddenly, you're too big for the ones you've got. And by that point, the cost of changing them financially and operationally is far higher. And then, there's the compounding effect. Small inefficiencies can feel manageable in the early days. At three locations, they're easy to ignore. At 10, they start to hurt. By 20, they've quickly become a growth constraint, a problem that's matured right alongside your business.
That is the real risk of getting stuck. Issues that aren't addressed early don't stay small. They scale with you, shaping how fast and how far you're able to grow. And I have to say, I'm delighted by the name check for Rachel's Steakhouse. My latest entirely hypothetical hospitality venture has opened just in time for Valentine's Day, and yes, we're fully booked. Sorry, you could try Carbone. Thankfully, in this imaginary world, I was ahead of the curve with my RMS, so it's reassuring to hear how that kind of early decision supports the jump into being a more established operation. But it does raise my next question. What other systems or habits should operators be putting in place at this stage to set themselves up for what comes next?
Gina Cavendish:
Yeah. I mean, you need a really good scheduling tool, preferably one that can grow with you. POS, you're going to pick early on, and it's unlikely that you're going to change unless there's anything really egregious going on because it really is a pain. It's so critical to your operation. So, I think making good decisions on that early on, no pressure, so that you can scale with them because it is costly to change these things, but then, it's also really costly to not change them as well.
I would say as well, just getting in the habits structurally of thinking about the business, and thinking about your team, and developing your team as you go as well. One thing that I always found very successful in a couple of businesses that I've worked is having this leadership program internally of, who are the next leaders of tomorrow? So, instead of us having to go outside constantly to hire senior positions that we would then have to train on the culture, train on how the restaurant operates, is constantly having that leadership program within the business. I would say fundamentally, systems are very important. But the most important thing is the culture of the business. You have got to... And I've seen this so many times, is it's in the founder's head. They know what the culture is. They know what they want the business to be like.
But I think long gone are the days where people buy from a brand for just one reason, like, I like the taste of this. Some people do, but more often than not, there's so much competition and so much choice out there. I think people nowadays, especially the younger generations, they're looking for that connection to the brand. How do I connect with you? What are you about as a business? Almost like it's a person. What's your personality? And I think it's really important to define that early on, and then, be almost dogmatic about maintaining that culture in the business. It's really, that's one of the most challenging things to do when you scale is to retain that feel of the business when it's young, and it's growing up, and it's got its braces, but it's kind of cool at the same time. It's really hard to replicate that when you're 100 units, really hard. And that flows through every single decision you make in the business. Who do you hire? How do we talk to our people?
Rachel Stainton:
Yeah. All the decisions that you make, even the systems that you put in place, asking that question, if my brand was a person, does this align with that person or this brand? If I put this policy in place for my team, does this align with what our brand is?
Gina Cavendish:
100%. Another good example, I worked for a brand that sourced locally everywhere they went. So, it took longer. It took longer to open locations because you have to find new vendors in the local area because the whole concept's about sustainability. And that's a conscious decision that we are going to do things in that way because that is where the value sits in the brand. And don't forget that because if you're loved, and you're so true to your word, and you're true to the brand constantly, you'll have such a good reputation and such brand equity that it helps with those conversations, for sure.
Rachel Stainton:
So, let's take it back a teeny bit to Rachel's Steakhouses before I was in my awkward teen phase when I was in my baby steps phases. I've just opened two Rachel's Steakhouses. What is the first step I need to make before I start to build my growth runway?
Gina Cavendish:
I would say at two units, you will have been focusing a lot on revenue, and that's absolutely right. The number one thing when you open a restaurant is your customer. It doesn't matter how good of a RMS tool you've got or how good of anything that you've got. You could have the best marketer in the world working for you. It doesn't matter. If the revenue's not there, you have to be customer-obsessed. But once you're at two restaurants, you're doing something right because you've opened the second one. So, now is really, let's put the foundations in. Let's put some good systems in that are going to help us. Fundamentally, as an owner operator, you should be spending as little time as possible behind your laptop, in my opinion. You should be spending the most time out on the floor with your clients or if you're in the kitchen, in the kitchen. That is where the business is. That is where the opportunity lies.
And you should be spending time creatively to think about what do we want to put on the menu for Valentine's Day? What do we want to do for summer season? You need to be thinking about those things. So, the least time as possible you can spend doing anything from matching transactions on your bank all the way through to counting inventory. You want the slickest, simplest systems that you can use. And by simple, I don't mean not powerful. Simple is very powerful in and of itself. You want something that's easy to use, that does as much for you so that you can focus on your business, which is the most important thing. So, I think picking a tool early on that helps you do that is super critical because then, you take all of that back office time and you freeze up your time to be able to focus on the growth of the business.
Rachel Stainton:
And so, once we're kind of in that growing up stage and we've maybe chosen a tool, like an inventory tool or just something to help take care of that back office time, what is the first process that you insist operators formalize on when they're going into the growing up phase and why would you say it's often overlooked?
Gina Cavendish:
So, I would say the most important thing is having a plan of attack. How are we going to grow this business? How quickly are we going to grow this business? But also, how are we funding it? That's super important. Are we using cash flow from operations if there is enough to fund further growth? Or are we going to take out debt, like bank loans? Or are we going to go out into the market and look for a partner? Now, when you're small at the stage we've mentioned, that might not be a possibility. Typically, private equity invests when a business is a little bit more established than that, but there are some companies out there that do seed financing. There are opportunities. So, making a determination, and then, also making that determination of how are we going to grow the business? There's a lot of key questions to ask yourself that you need to determine before you start to go out and really grow the business.
And I think the most successful businesses I've seen are, there's a beautiful combination of planning, a plan, a general plan, a general direction with a sprinkle of spontaneity in there as well. As much as we want to sit down and plan, and next year, we're going to open five locations, and the year after that, we're going to do six, and we're going to open in these geographical markets. Life sometimes throws you a curveball. And I mentioned earlier about the going with the flow. I think restaurants teach you that very much. You have to go with the flow of the customer. You have to go with the flow and the trends of the market, and you also have to go with the flow of what opportunities are presented to you.
Am I saying that you should dogmatically follow this plan that you've laid out? Absolutely not. If a location comes up and it's a great opportunity, it's in a great market and you've done your homework, go for it. But I think you've just got to ask yourself the question again, circling back to the brand piece, does it align with our brand mission? Does it align with our values? Does it align with our culture?
Rachel Stainton:
And so, when we enter the next phase, our adulting/establishing phase, things start to get really complex. We could be going 10 to 30 units potentially depending on what our concept is. What financial or operational blind spots really start to show up in that phase?
Gina Cavendish:
I would say if you haven't done the homework early on and put those systems in place and the discipline in place financially, that's when it can start to become a problem because you've grown the problem at that point. So, you may start to see underperforming locations. You may also start to see underperforming locations in terms of revenue as well. So, it's having the discipline. Every single week, I would look at the numbers and look at the trend, not just interested in what it did over last year or over the previous month. And you've got to have systems in place so you can go and find that information very quickly without you having to run 10 different spreadsheets to come up with that number.
Rachel Stainton:
Gina's a big believer in having a plan, but not being so wedded to it that you miss a great spur-of-the-moment opportunity. It's romantic, really. A solid plan with just enough room to say, "yes," when something unexpected and exciting comes along. Honestly, not bad advice for life either. But there's a serious point underneath that. Growing into a more established operation takes real intention, and that doesn't come from instinct alone. It comes from disciplined monitoring of performance. Knowing what actually matters in your business, keeping a close eye on the metrics that move the needle, and using that insight to double down on opportunities while staying steady through the tougher moments. When complexity increases, visibility becomes a kind of superpower. So, with that in mind then, how should we think about the tech stack? What's essential for operations at each stage of growth?
Gina Cavendish:
I would say RMS always comes out on top for me because that's kind of like middle point between your POS and your accounting system. And that is where the majority of your team should be going in to look at the numbers on a day-to-day basis. Your accounting system is for monthly or periodic or quarterly P&Ls. But you want something that your team can go in and get a very quick snapshot of the numbers at. It really is super powerful, and giving them that access is super, super powerful. And then, I would say just with AI in mind, BI tools for bigger businesses. How do you get all that data and make it succinct enough that you can actually do something with it? Data's great and you can have so many data points, but if you don't have any actionable insight from it, it's useless. It's just sat there. So, I think tool that helps you synthesize data that you can ask questions to that's going to give you actionable insights and a really good RMS tool that sits between your POS and your accounting system. Top two for me.
Rachel Stainton:
And what roles or skills should leaders be hiring for before they think they need them?
Gina Cavendish:
Oh, always, always, always, and I'm biased on this, always finance. It's the last thing anyone thinks of. Not always. When there's a founder that is not super financially astute, doesn't come from a very strong business background or just really doesn't like the numbers side of things, they typically bring a senior finance person in a lot earlier than most would. But in my experience, it's always one of the last considerations because of expense and because you can't directly attribute it to revenue. Their role is almost like the right-hand kind of quiet, steady presence that is going to help advise and be wise and guide decision making, but it's super critical.
Rachel Stainton:
Yeah. Finally, what's the most financially responsible Valentine's date? Or do you have any love advice for hospitality lifers?
Gina Cavendish:
I would say this. It's not about quantity. It's about quality. So, people that work in hospitality typically spend more time away from their family than other people in other industries would. And I would say someone told me this once when I was worried about how much time I did not spend with my daughter, and they said, "It's really more about the quality over quantity." And they're absolutely right. It's about those moments when you do have time together, really taking the time to connect, not just sitting on the sofa, Netflix, and chill. That's great. But when you have that time together, do something interesting. Go outside in your garden if you live somewhere warm right now, I don't know, probably maybe if you live in Florida, go outside in your garden, and make a camp out, and do something cool, put the effort in. And it can be really exhausting after a long shift and a long week, long month, long year, but you will thank yourself for making that effort to truly connect with the ones that you love.
Rachel Stainton:
Yeah. And I tend to think that hospitality people get so much from giving and being of service to others. So, it's like even if you are tired, even if it is too much-
Gina Cavendish:
And give yourself some love too. Go have a bath, put the rose petals in, some candles, give yourself the love. You have to fill your cup before you can fill someone else's.
Rachel Stainton:
Honestly, that's probably the most financially-responsible Valentine's date though it's like a date for one because then, you're just spending on one person, not two.
Gina Cavendish:
Yeah. You could order takeout from Rachel's Steakhouse.
Rachel Stainton:
Yes.
Gina Cavendish:
Bath, spend a bit of money on the rose petals and the candles. That's pretty cheap. And yeah, love it up.
Rachel Stainton:
What a time. What a time. I'm in.
Gina Cavendish:
Maybe a nice book. I don't know. Lots of red wine.
Rachel Stainton:
Love it.
Gina Cavendish:
That's how I'm going to be spending my Valentine's Day.
Rachel Stainton:
I love it. If there's one takeaway from today, whether you're planning a romantic Valentine's date, a date with yourself, or a super hot date with your P&L, it's this, a little intention goes a long way. Gina's seen that growth rarely gets derailed in the big moments. More often, it slips in the small ones, the system upgrades put on hold, the questions you keep postponing and the problems that quietly scale right alongside the business. The good news, none of this requires perfection. Just awareness, timing, and the willingness to put in the groundwork early so when opportunity shows up, you're actually ready for it. And don't worry, this is only part one. Join us next episode for part two with more wisdom, more straight talking advice, and the Valentine's gift that truly keeps on giving. And speaking of giving, if you'd like a quick recap of today's insights, you'll find them waiting for you in the show notes.
My thanks to Gina for breaking down what can feel like an overwhelming topic into something practical and very human. I'm Rachel Stainton, and if you enjoyed this episode of Science of Service, please rate, review, and subscribe. And if you know an operator who's navigating that awkward middle phase, growing fast but trying to grow well, this one is worth sharing. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.