How long does the hospitality scorecard take?

Around two minutes. You answer 9 short statements across menu, operations and growth, then receive your band rating and recommended next step.

What does the scorecard measure?

Three pillars of independent hospitality performance: commercial and menu, operations and systems, and sales and guest growth. Each pillar is scored separately so you can see where you are strong and where profit is leaking.

Who is the scorecard for?

Independent UK café, restaurant and takeaway operators — pre-opening, recently launched or already trading and looking to tighten margins.

Is the scorecard really free?

Yes. You get your score, a written diagnosis and a recommended package — at no cost and no obligation to book.

Free Business Assessment

How Healthy Is Your Hospitality Business?

Name: Start Smart Hospitality Consulting
Price range: ££

Answer 9 questions. Get a free personalised plan and package recommendation.

No spam. Just your results and a clear next step.

What the Hospitality Scorecard tells you

Most independent café, restaurant and takeaway owners can feel when something is off — covers are up but profit is flat, the team keeps asking the same questions, or the menu has quietly drifted away from what actually sells. The Start Smart Hospitality Scorecard turns that gut feel into a clear, written diagnosis in under two minutes. You answer nine short statements about your business, and we score you across three pillars that decide whether an independent operation is profitable, scalable and resilient.

The three pillars we score

Commercial & Menu. Whether you know your target customer, price for them, and run a menu that generates margin on most items — not just the hero dish.
Operations & Systems. Whether your team can deliver consistently without you on the floor, with written SOPs, portion control and waste management that hold up on a busy Saturday.
Sales & Guest Growth. Whether you have a repeatable way of attracting new guests, track the right weekly metrics, and have an active 90-day growth plan rather than reacting week to week.

What you get at the end

Your final score places you in one of three bands — Foundation, Growth or Scale — each with a written explanation of what is likely working, what is leaking profit, and the single most important thing to fix next. We also recommend the Start Smart package most aligned with your stage, whether that is Launch Smart for pre-opening, Performance Builder for margin recovery, or Turnaround & Scale for multi-site operators. There is no obligation to book — many owners use the scorecard purely as a sanity check before their next quarter.

Who it is built for

Independent UK operators running cafés, restaurants, takeaways and small multi-site groups. The questions assume you are owner-operating or close to it, and that you care about building a business that runs without you — not just a job you own. If you are pre-opening, the scorecard works as a readiness check; if you are already trading, it works as a 90-day reset.