Founder POV: “It works for now” is costing you more than you think.

This article is adapted from a LinkedIn post by Robbie Francis, Founder of Hops.

“It works for now” is costing you more than you think.

We get it.

Our product is made BY operators who understand the job description:

• Find deals + compare quotes
• Cut costs where possible
• Why spend ££ when Excel does the job?

It’s probably the most common thing we hear from growth-stage operators: it works for now.

But he issue is: “cheap” tools, like spreadsheets or clunky legacy systems, only look cheap up front.

In reality, they rack up hidden costs the longer you run them:

Labour: → Your GM spends 8+ hours a week entering invoices by hand. That’s £6k+ in time, just for data entry.

Mistakes: → One client lost £15k/year in mis-keyed deliveries and unapproved orders.

Training drag: → New managers spend weeks learning the ‘quirks’ of your patchwork system.

Opportunity loss: → While your team’s chasing variances, another operator is changing their menu pricing based on real-time GP data.

Spreadsheets are "fine" for now. But "fine" is a slippery slope in hospitality!

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About Robbie Francis
Robbie Francis is the Founder of Hops. He has spent years building and implementing hospitality technology with operators, focused on simplifying back-of-house operations across inventory and finance.

Follow Robbie on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robbiefrancis

View the original LinkedIn post: “It works for now” is costing you more than you think.