Why Labour Is Still Killing Margins (And What to Do About It) with Nory

Why Labour Is Still Killing Margins (And What to Do About It)

Labour remains the biggest and least forgiving cost on an operator’s P&L – and despite years of focus, it’s still where most margin quietly disappears.

Rising wage pressure following the Autumn Budget, unpredictable demand, and increasingly complex operations mean labour can no longer be managed by instinct, templates, or end-of-week reviews. The operators staying profitable are those who understand exactly where labour leaks happen, and how to fix them before they show up in the numbers.

In this masterclass, Nicol Dwyer, Gary Digby, and Jack Lander will share practical, operator-led insight into how labour costs actually behave on the ground – across multi-vendor sites, growing multi-site brands, and high-volume service models.

This is not a session about cutting staff or pushing teams harder. It’s about understanding the mechanics behind labour performance: how staffing levels, roles, service flow, and demand patterns combine to either protect margins or slowly erode them.

Using real examples from fast-moving hospitality businesses, this session will give operators clear, practical ways to take back control of labour in 2026.

What you’ll learn

• Why labour still kills margins, even in well-run businesses
• The metrics that actually matter when managing labour at scale
• Where inefficiencies hide as businesses grow busier or add sites
• How operators are improving sales per labour hour without compromising service
• What to put in place now to protect margins ahead of further cost increases in 2026

Moderator: Lewis Rhys Davies

Speakers

• Nicol Dwyer, Operations Director, Digbeth Dining Club
• Gary Digby, Founder, Digby & Fox
• Jack Lander, Co-founder & Managing Director, Pizzarova