What changing systems actually takes with Mike Statham, Finance Director at Tonkotsu

<p><br></p><p>The Stacked Podcast — where hospitality meets technology. Powered by <a href=" https://www.lightspeedhq.com/uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Lightspeed.</a></p><p> </p><p>Tonkotsu has gone from six sites to nineteen, with a twentieth opening in Bath, opposite the Roman Baths. Mike, the brand&#39;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.</p><p> </p><p>Chris sits down with him for an unusually honest conversation about what changing technology actually looks like when there&#39;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&#39;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&#39;t match what they&#39;ve got.</p><p> </p><p>There&#39;s a straight answer on AI too. Mike&#39;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&#39;t become the accountant everyone used to blame for running the business off a spreadsheet.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p>IN THIS EPISODE</p><p> </p><p>(01:49) Six sites to nineteen, and Bath makes twenty</p><p>(02:39) The Tonkotsu story: Ken, Emma and the first ramen in Soho</p><p>(04:11) The systems they&#39;ve never needed to replace</p><p>(05:13) AI, or automation with better branding?</p><p>(06:28) What Covid actually fixed</p><p>(08:33) Utilities, Ukraine and a £1m electricity quote</p><p>(10:12) Live sales on every phone</p><p>(11:23) The weekly estimate that checks the monthly accounts</p><p>(12:32) Stock: from month-end surprises to managed variance</p><p>(14:14) Wastage below 0.9% — and ops fixing a blip in-week</p><p>(15:50) From reporting last week to forecasting next week</p><p>(17:04) Build it yourself: the rota tool that out-featured the vendors</p><p>(19:36) And when to buy instead: handing ordering ov