ABOUT THIS EPISODE
The Stacked Podcast — where hospitality meets technology. Powered by Lightspeed.
Tonkotsu has gone from six sites to nineteen, with a twentieth opening in Bath, opposite the Roman Baths. Mike, the brand's finance director, has been there since 2017 — and along the way he picked up the systems too, because in a business this size somebody has to.
Chris sits down with him for an unusually honest conversation about what changing technology actually looks like when there's no CTO, no big central team, and no appetite for being sold a dream. Mike talks through the POS move to Lightspeed — one site, then four, then all of them — and what having live sales on every phone changed for his area managers and GMs. He explains how weekly stocktakes went from counting for counting's sake to a variance managed inside the week, how wastage got below 0.9%, and why his team still builds the rotas themselves rather than buying a platform that can't match what they've got.
There's a straight answer on AI too. Mike's seen invoice automation get rebranded as AI, likes what it might do for rotas, and has one warning worth the price of admission: be careful that AI doesn't become the accountant everyone used to blame for running the business off a spreadsheet.
Plus: the £1m electricity quote, the NI threshold, 20% EBITDA a decade ago versus fighting to stay flat, vibe-coded tools built by operators, and why if someone actually phones your restaurant you probably want to speak to them.
IN THIS EPISODE
(01:49) Six sites to nineteen, and Bath makes twenty
(02:39) The Tonkotsu story: Ken, Emma and the first ramen in Soho
(04:11) The systems they've never needed to replace
(05:13) AI, or automation with better branding?
(06:28) What Covid actually fixed
(08:33) Utilities, Ukraine and a £1m electricity quote
(10:12) Live sales on every phone
(11:23) The weekly estimate that checks the monthly accounts
(12:32) Stock: from month-end surprises to managed variance
(14:14) Wastage below 0.9% — and ops fixing a blip in-week
(15:50) From reporting last week to forecasting next week
(17:04) Build it yourself: the rota tool that out-featured the vendors
(19:36) And when to buy instead: handing ordering over
(21:09) The POS journey: one site, then four, then all of them
(26:14) Rolling out nineteen sites without drama
(27:39) When to pilot — and when not to touch anything
(28:47) Delivery after the peak
(29:44) AI: self-building rotas and the accountant problem
(32:02) Advice to a finance director about to change systems
(34:31) The AI wave in guest comms — and why phone orders are different
(36:27) Bath, opposite the Roman Baths
POWERED BY LIGHTSPEED
This episode is powered by Lightspeed, the platform behind the POS rollout Mike talks through.
https://www.lightspeedhq.com/uk/
ABOUT THE SHOW
The Stacked Podcast sits down with the operators, founders and tech leaders shaping how hospitality actually runs — restaurants, cloud kitchens, hotels, pubs and everything in between. No hype. No sales pitch. Just honest conversations about what's working, what isn't, and what's coming next.
New episodes every week. Follow so you don't miss one.
https://wearestacked.io
