Trail Meets Caravan's Brittney Stark

In our new series, we're putting operations in the spotlight. Getting unique insights from the front line. Today we're interviewing Caravan's Brittney Stark.
Caroline Joyce
 • 
Dec 2023
4 min read

Operations Managers and GM’s need the right tools and best people to support them.

In this interview, we talk to Caravan's Brittney Stark.

She tells us how Caravan is focussing their teams on delivering great guest experiences, giving their managers more time for coaching teams and how they’re reducing the impact of changing restrictions on teams and guests.


So that we can tell everyone in your own words, what is your role at Caravan?

My position is Operations Support, so I do a bit of everything. I mainly focus on helping teams on-site with systems, technology, safety and maintenance.


What does a typical day look like for you?

I don’t think there’s been a 'typical' day in the past year. But ideally I like to spend as much time working in the restaurants as possible. I try to visit 1-2 of them a day, catch up with site managers, spot check areas we’re focusing on, and drink way too much Caravan coffee.


What are the biggest challenges you face in your role?

The unpredictable nature of hospitality is a big challenge. You need to be flexible with your schedule as you often have to drop everything and head to a site to help with unexpected issues, which no doubt always happen in the middle of a busy shift.


How have Caravan's operations changed as you've grown?

When I started at Caravan four years ago, we had the basics—ePoS and reservation systems—but everything else was on Excel and paper checklists.

As the business (and the hospitality tech industry) has grown, we’ve implemented new systems to minimise the amount of time our people running the restaurants have to sit in the office or in front of screens. We want to give them as much time as possible on the things that matter most to us, like creating great customer experiences, supporting and developing our team and serving delicious food and drinks.

We now use technology to support almost every aspect of the business, from stock management to safety and maintenance, reporting, training, delivery, and of course Trail.

Caravan customer testimonial


Has technology helped during the pandemic?

Trail has been a huge help to us during Covid, mainly in adapting to the changing regulations—you just need to update a task and teams know what to do. It’s also been useful for the constant closing and re-openings, we just set up the checklists (with the help of the templates in the Task Library), and then reschedule them for the next opening/closing.


What has been your biggest challenge at work over the last year?

The inconsistent nature of hospitality has really been amplified during Covid. The ever-changing restrictions and requirements, which have often been unclear and introduced at short notice, means we’ve had to be on our toes and ready to adapt to anything. At times it’s definitely felt like one step forwards and two steps back, which can be really frustrating for everyone, from our directors down to our waiters, chefs, baristas and bartenders, and even our guests.


How has Trail helped your teams?

Safety is the top priority for us. We wanted to empower our teams on the ground with the best tools to ensure everyone’s staying safe and compliant.

We can check safety procedures are being followed without having to go to the site and dig through paperwork—this means we can catch things before they become a problem.

For the teams at the restaurants, Trail has taken any uncertainty or guesswork out of the equation. Everything is scheduled in the app, so our teams know exactly what they need to do.

For us in the operations team, the emails and notifications from Trail are great to ensure everything is being done, particularly for important tasks like internal audits and accident reports.

Saving paper is definitely up there too. We’ve got a big focus on sustainability, so besides the cost and time factor, the fact that we’re able to reduce the amount of trees we go through is really awesome.

Caravan customer testimonial


What customers are saying

"I f****** love Trail, it's taking my businesses to the next level."
Josh Paterson
Owner
"We rarely provide training to our guys, they just bought into the idea straight away. I love that I have a full visual of everyone's activity in front of me."
Katrin Toots
Compliance Manager
“It’s not a paper diary that’s covered in barbecue sauce. We have clarity over what’s done in our sites and are confident going into our audits.”
Jay Brown
Operations
“The EHO visited almost every site last year and every store was given a five star rating."
Jay Brown
Operations Chef
"We turned our Costa Checks and various compliance forms into regular tasks on Trail, which has contributed to some of the best scores we have had."
Delroy Daniels
Operations Director
"Our teams love it, it gives our managers of all levels absolute clarity on what they need to achieve every day."
James Brown
Operations Director

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