From Fine Dining to Financial Excellence: Hayden MacMillan’s Journey in Best Practice Hospitality

The Classic Chef’s Journey: From Kitchens to Ownership

Hayden’s path in hospitality began like many: in the kitchen, learning the ropes at renowned Auckland fine-dining spots such as Vinnies, The French Cafe, and Meredith’s. Opportunities came fast—his first head chef role arrived early—and soon he was leading a 120-seater pop-up for the America’s Cup in San Francisco. The move home, followed by a stint in Melbourne (including opening his own restaurant Etta), eventually brought Hayden and his wife Dominique back to New Zealand. There, a surprise invitation to buy into legendary Wellington restaurant Floriditas set them on a new course—this time, as business owners, just six weeks before the pandemic struck.

The Wake-Up Call: Why “Best Food” Isn’t Enough

Despite extensive culinary accolades, Hayden describes a pivotal realization: simply creating the best food and dining experience wasn’t enough. “We wanted to be known as the best, but never really thought about being the best in finance, best practice, employment brand, or marketing,” he reflects. The pandemic highlighted the importance of sustainable business practices for survival and growth. Enter James O’Connell and The Hospitality Company(THC)—whose coaching would help Hayden cultivate a new, numbers-focused mindset.

 Embracing Financial Best Practice: Targets, Tools, & True Costs

The first step? You can just get curious about the numbers. Working with James revealed the power of setting clear financial targets—like net profit and industry benchmarked ‘prime costs’—and using robust tools to track performance. For Hayden, using Loaded (a hospitality management software) transcended basic dashboards to full integration of true wage costs, menu costing, and tracking the “real” numbers behind every decision.

“Once everything was into Loaded and I could see my true cost of goods… it just told a really good story,” Hayden shares. Importantly, incremental improvements—starting with costing their top 10 bestselling dishes—drove significant results. Rather than compromising quality, Hayden and the team identified minor tweaks and efficiencies that preserved their guest experience and improved profitability.

For chef-owner-operators who find menu costing or micro-level analysis daunting, Hayden’s message is blunt: “Don’t complain when you get your P&L at the end of the year and you haven’t made any money. You have to make the time.”

Beyond Numbers: The Power of Strategy and Open Book Management

Financial discipline, however, is just one pillar of this approach. Hayden credits the adoption of strategic planning—setting both short-term and long-term goals—with providing a clear “track” for the business, especially in uncertain times. This clarity reduces knee-jerk reactions and creates consistency for staff and guests alike.

Perhaps the most transformative change has been the adoption of open-book management. By transparently sharing financial performance and targets with their team, Hayden found that staff took ownership and began to think like business owners. “They start making decisions through the owner’s lens because they have the context, and that’s powerful,” he says. The cultural impact has been profound: performance is now measured and celebrated, and the team understands how their daily actions drive results. Incentivization programs tied to profitability reinforce this performance mindset.

Conclusion: The New Standard for Hospitality Business

Hayden’s takeaways are compelling: Get curious about your numbers, leverage tools like Loaded, share information openly with your team, and set concrete strategies. The result isn’t just a more profitable business—it’s a better workplace for staff and a richer experience for guests. “The more profitable the business, the better it is for everyone,” he concludes.

For hospitality businesses navigating uncertain times, Hayden’s journey isn’t just inspirational—it’s actionable. Excellence in hospitality today means being as steadfast with tech and strategy as with sauce and service.

Catch the full conversation with Hayden MacMillan on Episode 19 of the TBOH Podcast for more best-practice insights.

Leading with Best Practice: Insights from Katherine & Ryan Dippie on Hospitality Success

Introduction: A Tale of Growth and Transformation

Our latest article shares the insights from previous coaching clients and great friends of THC, Katherine & Ryan Dippie. Together, Katherine and her husband Ryan have owned successful hospitality venues, notably the gastro pub Rain Bar and the award-winning Fife Lane in Mount Maunganui. Their story is more than just one of serving great food; it’s about systematically embedding best practice into every facet of the business. This article delves into how their approach to financial leadership and team empowerment has created a thriving, profitable restaurant with an engaged and loyal staff.

From Rain Bar to Fife Lane: Lessons in Financial Management

Katherine and Ryan’s journey began with Rain Bar, where they quickly faced the realities of tight profit margins and evolving financial challenges. Despite prior education and industry experience, they realised there were gaps in their understanding of best practice, especially in managing the costs of goods and wages. “We hadn’t learned or had never been taught how to do that properly…we had to go find that information for ourselves and hunt it out,” Katherine explains.

This pursuit of knowledge led them to begin a coaching relationship with James at The Hospitality Company. The early days, Katherine admits, were confronting but brought necessary “home truths” about leadership and accountability: “Ryan and I as directors needed to lead the charge…You can’t just push it down to managers or chefs. You have to own it.”

A turning point came when THC recommended that they implement cloud-based management systems, including Loaded for cost of goods and wage management, and Operandio for operations management and compliance. The process was laborious but transformative, ultimately equipping them with the tools and clarity needed for business decisions.

The Power of Preparation: Opening Fife Lane with Confidence

Unlike many new ventures that defer financial discipline until after opening, Katherine and Ryan committed to launching Fife Lane with robust cost and wage management from day one. They spent months before the opening meticulously inputting recipes, stock, and costing data, and committed to weekly stocktaking and reporting processes.

This careful preparation paid off immediately, even as the COVID-19 pandemic hit just months into the new business. Fife Lane was able to meet its cost of goods and wage targets right from the start, allowing the owners to “actually enjoy the first couple of months” rather than scrambling for profitability.

Katherine’s advice to others about to open a hospitality business is unequivocal: “Investigate your goals and your targets and then stick to them. The more time you invest before opening, making sure all your numbers are going to be right, the better off you’re going to be after one month, after two months.”

Team Buy-In and Open-Book Management

A major differentiator in Fife Lane’s operation is the company-wide commitment to transparency and financial literacy. Katherine credits part of their enduring success to the roll-out of THC's three-tier profit incentive program (PIP), which involves all staff—managers and team members alike—in tracking and achieving cost and wage targets. “They’re all very actively, still three years on, bettering their numbers…It’s a huge team effort.”

Equally vital is the open-book management approach (taught to them by THC), where all key numbers are shared weekly, and annual planning involves the entire team. This fosters not only accountability but also a sense of ownership among staff: “They feel a lot of the time like they are owners and they have a real investment in the business as well.”

Culture and Retention: High Trust, High Performance

Beyond financial systems, Katherine and Ryan have cultivated a “high trust relationship” with their senior managers—three out of four of whom opened Fife Lane with them and remain to this day. Ongoing training, upskilling, and real input into business decisions ensure lasting engagement and results. “Sometimes, people don’t even know who Ryan and I are. That’s the best feeling—because the team treats the business as their own.”

The Next Chapter: Innovating Hospitality HR

The Dippies’ commitment to hospitality excellence is evolving beyond Fife Lane, too. Katherine introduces Muna HR, a New Zealand-based software solution aimed at streamlining HR for small hospitality businesses—freeing up operators to focus on what matters: people and profitability.

Conclusion: Leadership, Numbers, and Hospitality

Katherine’s advice for hospitality leaders is to “focus on the things that you can control and understand them”—starting with cost of goods and wages, supported by a team culture rooted in shared responsibility and exceptional guest care. By owning the numbers and fostering real buy-in, business owners can break the myth that profitability must wait. As Fife Lane proves, with discipline, openness, and hospitality at heart, success is achievable from day one.