As coffee groups grow, operational complexity tends to grow with them. Labour, inventory, forecasting, and sales data are often managed across separate systems, creating additional layers of reporting and reconciliation as new sites open.
That’s a challenge Black Sheep Coffee has been navigating during a period of rapid expansion. The business has grown from 73 sites at the start of 2024 to more than 130 locations across the UK and US, increasing the need for consistent operational processes and clearer visibility across the estate.
To support that growth, Black Sheep Coffee consolidated forecasting, labour scheduling, and inventory management into Nory’s platform, allowing store and regional teams to work from a more connected set of operational data.
Rather than reviewing labour and inventory separately, the business now manages both as part of overall prime cost performance. Schedules are built using forecasted demand patterns and projected sales several weeks ahead, with oversight from regional managers to help maintain consistency across locations.
Having labour data centralised has also improved visibility across the estate, making it easier for operational teams to identify where stores may be over or under deployed and adjust accordingly.
On the inventory side, Black Sheep Coffee wanted to reduce the amount of manual reconciliation required at store level. Inventory, sales, recipes, and waste are now tracked within the same workflow, helping streamline reporting and reduce reliance on spreadsheets and paper-based processes.
According to Black Sheep Coffee, forecast accuracy is currently running at 98%, with demand forecasting managed in 15-minute intervals across sites. The business also reported labour cost variance of under 1% of sales during Q1 2026.
As the company continues to scale, maintaining operational consistency across new openings has become increasingly important. By standardising forecasting, labour controls, and inventory processes centrally, new stores are able to launch within an already established operating framework rather than building site-specific ways of working.
Black Sheep Coffee says integrations between ATS workflows and labour scheduling have also helped improve onboarding efficiency, reducing administrative work for managers and allowing new starters to move into scheduling systems more quickly.
As we scale, having forecasting, labour and inventory connected in one place means every new site launches into an already established operating model. The controls are already there from day one.
Ula Spire, Head of Operations
For hospitality businesses operating at scale, the challenge is often less about growth itself and more about maintaining consistency and visibility as operational complexity increases. Black Sheep Coffee’s approach reflects a broader shift toward more integrated operational systems across multi-site hospitality.