Why your best site and your worst site are 11% apart with Alison Fraser, SVP & GM Fourth

<p>Chris is joined by Ally Fraser, SVP and GM for EMEA at Fourth, a business that has been building back of house systems for hospitality for over 25 years. Ally spent 15 years on the frontline before joining Fourth, where she started out implementing purchase to pay and inventory at operators like YO! Sushi and now runs the region.The conversation lands on one uncomfortable number. Research Fourth ran with Peter Martin and the team at Peach found an average 11% margin gap between the top performing and bottom performing site inside the same brand. Same brand. Same systems. Same menu. Ally&#39;s argument is that the gap is behavioural, not technical, and that adoption data is the thing that closes it.They also get into the UK legislation squeeze, including operators seeing sick pay costs rise 40 to 50% off the back of the day one change, why forecasting took hospitality 20 years longer than it took the supermarkets, how automated scheduling actually works, and why nobody wants a machine placing their food order just yet.Chapters01:10 Intro and Ally&#39;s route from frontline to Fourth02:54 Fifteen years, six roles, one company03:34 What Fourth actually does, and why the demand forecast sits at the centre04:55 Why hospitality trailed retail on forecasting by two decades06:21 QSR forecasting at SKU level in 15 minute increments07:36 The UK legislation squeeze: day one sick pay, VAT, the Fair Work Agency09:09 Why compliance failure gets blamed on the tech supplier11:38 Where AI actually shows up in the product12:50 How automated scheduling works, step by step14:20 The bit nobody talks about: humans have to trust the schedule15:26 Sweat your tech, before you sign another contract17:15 What best in class operators do differently18:04 Adoption by sector: QSR strong, pubs and casual dining around half, hotels lowest20:24 Benchmarking every click, and what good actually looks like21:47 The 11% margin gap between top and bottom site in the same brand23:12 Vibe coded dashboards, and why operators should not become developers26:08 Suggested ordering, safety stock, and keeping a human in the loop28:08 Quickfire: competitive socialising, the reMarkable, and the one thing she&#39;d fix overnightKey takeaways1. The gap is inside the brand, not between brands. An 11% average margin gap between best and worst site in the same estate means the playbook already exists somewhere in the business. It just isn&#39;t travelling.2. Adoption is measurable now. Fourth is capturing e