Run It Without You
Add the editable template pack at checkout and save 15%. All 19 templates are Word files, ready to customise, print and laminate.
“The second I walk out the door, or when I’m off, they act completely different.”
— restaurant owner, Reddit
Run It Without You is the 30-day system that keeps standards in place when you're off the floor.
“Are you leading the shift, or is the shift leading you?”
You know the feeling. It’s your first night off in nine days. You’re at dinner with your partner, or on the couch, or at your kid’s school concert, and your phone is face up on the table. You’re not really there. You’re wondering whether the close will get done, whether the bar’s been restocked, whether someone’s pouring free drinks for their mates.
Then you walk in the next morning, and you find out. The bins weren't done. The float is out. There's a one-star review about slow service. You fix it, have the conversations, and tell yourself you can't take nights off yet.
That’s the trap. And it’s costing you money, good people, and your own hours.
Run It Without You is a 73-page practical guide for first-time venue managers. It gives you the system I’ve used across 62 venue openings so the venue hits your standard whether you’re standing in it or not.
Inside you’ll get:
The Ten Non-Negotiables: one page of clear, checkable standards so “clean” and “ready” mean the same thing to everyone
Four routines (open, pre-shift, during service, close) with ready-to-use checklists
The Check-Out Rule: nobody finishes until a named person has walked their section and signed it off
From the floor: At one CBD bar, the team kept walking into busy shifts unprepared. We introduced a daily three-point check-in I call Check Mate and fixed it within 3 to 5 weeks.
How to pick and arm a shift leader with real authority (including the one-page Decision Card)
The 10-minute pre-shift briefing that carries your standard onto the floor when you’re not there
The 60-second correction that stops small things becoming big ones
Simple logs that close the money leaks (comps, voids, waste, till)
The Night-Off Test: a clear 30-day finish line so you know whether it’s working
All the templates are in the Appendix, ready to print and use from day one.
By Day 30, you can take a full night off and walk into a venue the next morning that scores 9 or 10 against your own standards.
A$29
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Add the editable template pack for A$19 at checkout.
30-Day Guarantee: If you implement the 30-day rollout and the venue still doesn’t run to your standards on your night off, email me for a full refund. No questions, no forms.
You’re not the only one.
Managers and owners say the same thing in public forums, in their own words:
“I am having a hard time knowing that the quality of food and service decreases because I am not there.”
"A lot of what he does is not when we are there."
"Checklists seem not to be working on my staff."
One owner who took over a family restaurant said nothing had ever been written down, so the family had to be “in the restaurant 24/7.”
(Quotes are verbatim from public Reddit threads by hospitality owners and managers. Names removed.)
This costs you more than your nights off.
The Restaurant & Catering Australia 2025 Industry Benchmarking Report found:
· Wages take up about 38 to 40% of turnover, the business's highest cost.
· Food and beverage costs together run above 60% of turnover, so every unrung drink and every tray of prep in the bin comes straight out of a thin margin.
· 19% of businesses made a loss last financial year.
· 17% of owners work more than 40 unpaid hours a week in their own business.
When the venue only performs with you standing in it, you pay three times: in your own hours, in product and labour that leak away, and in good staff who get sick of carrying the slackers and leave.
The problem isn’t your staff. It’s that the standard lives in your head.
When you’re on the floor, you make a hundred small corrections nobody sees. Your team isn’t hitting the standard; you are, through them. When you walk out, the standard walks out with you.
Run It Without You gets the standard out of your head and into the venue: written down, turned into routines, checked every shift by someone with real authority—that way it holds on the nights you're not there.
It’s not motivation. It’s mechanics.
[ Get Run It Without You for A$29 ]
30-day money-back guarantee. No questions, no forms.
Where it fits
· On its own: if you can’t leave the floor without the place sliding, this is the whole system, start to finish. You don’t need anything else.
· With 60 Venues Later: 60 Venues Later is the big-picture story of opening venue after venue. Run It Without You is the practical companion: the routines, checklists and scripts that turn those lessons into a venue that holds its standard every shift.
Who it’s for
· First-time venue managers in bars, pubs, restaurants and cafés, especially if you’ve been promoted from the floor or just inherited someone else’s team.
· Owner-operators of a single venue who still make every shift work.
· Assistant managers and shift leaders stepping up to run shifts on their own.
Who it’s NOT for
· Multi-site groups with a full operations team and existing SOPs. You’ve already built this.
· Anyone looking for recipes, marketing, fit-out or finance advice. This guide does one job.
· Anyone who wants a shortcut without doing the work. It’s simple, but it takes 30 days of discipline.
Chapter by chapter
11 chapters, plus a print-ready appendix of 19 standalone templates. Each template sits on its own page, so you can print just the ones you need.
· The One-Page Quick-Start: the whole 30-day system on a single page, for when you only have ten minutes.
· Ch 1. Why your standards walk out the door with you: the three reasons standards slip, and a manager's real job.
· Ch 2. Write your Ten Non-Negotiables: the one page that replaces the operations manual nobody reads, with a worked example.
· Ch 3. Turn standards into routines: open, pre-shift, during service and close, with full checklists.
· Ch 4. The Check-Out Rule: the oldest habit in hospitality, and the fastest way to make the close hold, with a word-for-word script to introduce it, and the full Check Mate story.
· Ch 5. Pick and arm your shift leader: who to choose, the Decision Card that spells out their authority, and a 7-shift handover plan.
· Ch 6. The 10-minute pre-shift briefing: the running order that carries your voice onto the floor when you’re not there.
· Ch 7. Correct on the spot, praise in public: the 60-second correction script.
· Ch 8. When they test you: “don’t know, can’t, won’t”, the consequence ladder, and a sit-down record template, with a fair process that points you to Fair Work guidance.
· Ch 9. Close the money leaks: comp, void and waste logs, and the one rule that closes most leaks.
· Ch 10. Inspect what you expect: the handover note, the unannounced walk-through scorecard, and reading the shift from home.
· Ch 11. The 30-day rollout and the Night-Off Test: week-by-week steps, and a simple 10-point score that proves your venue runs without you.
· Print-ready Appendix: 19 standalone templates, each on its own page with write-in lines: the Ten Non-Negotiables, opening and closing checklists for bar, floor and kitchen, the Decision Card, the briefing card, the Check Mate daily check-in card, the 60-second correction card, the sit-down record, comp, void and waste logs, the handover note, the walk-through scorecard, the weekly review and the Night-Off Test scoresheet.
Instant PDF download. Read it on your phone on the tram, print the templates and stick them up tonight.
Who wrote it
Stewart Koziora is the co-founder of Retail Savvy Group, a Melbourne hospitality group. He's opened 62 venues and is a Fellow Chartered Accountant (FCA), so he reads a venue through two lenses at once: the floor and the P&L.
His approach is blunt: look after your people so they can look after your guests, run near-flawless routines, and be ruthless about waste.
His rule: preparation is 99% of a successful shift.
Why A$29
It's A$29, once, and the whole system is yours to keep. Compare that to a general online hospitality training library at US$180 a year — broad, and you still have to build the system yourself.
· Replacing a single operational staff member was estimated at A$9,591 in a study of 64 Australian hotels (Griffith University, 2009; hotels, not bars or restaurants).
· One more night of unpaid work because the venue can't run without you.
[ Get Run It Without You for A$29 ]
30-day money-back guarantee. No questions, no forms.
Add the editable template pack for A$19
☐ Yes, add the editable template pack (the Shift Standards Pack) for A$19. Every checklist, script and template in the guide as editable Word and Google Docs files: the Ten Non-Negotiables, opening and closing checklists for bar, floor and kitchen, the Shift Leader Decision Card, the pre-shift briefing card, the comp, void and waste logs, the handover note and the walk-through scorecard. Put your venue’s name on them, print, laminate and stick them up tonight, without retyping a thing.
FAQ
I’m in Australia. Is this written for Australian venues?
Yes. It's written in Australian English by a Melbourne operator; it uses Australian industry data, and it points you to Fair Work guidance for anything to do with performance management. The routines work in any venue, anywhere.
I'm not a manager yet; I'm a supervisor or shift leader. Is it for me?
Yes. Chapters 4 to 7 are exactly the skills that get people promoted. Show it to your manager.
Do I need to read 60 Venues Later first?
No. This guide stands on its own. If you’ve read 60 Venues Later, think of this as the practical companion: the “how” behind running a venue that holds its standard.
Is this the same as The One Minute Floor Manager?
No. The One Minute Floor Manager is about running the floor itself. Run It Without You is about keeping the venue to standard when you're not on it. They work well together.
Do I need any software?
No. Everything works on paper, a clipboard and a group chat. If you already use rostering or till software, the routines slot straight in.
How long does it take to read?
An evening. The rollout takes 30 days, a step or two each week alongside your normal shifts.
What format is it?
A PDF you download straight after purchase. The Shift Standards Pack adds editable Word and Google Docs files.
My owner keeps overriding me in front of staff. Does this help?
Yes. The Decision Card in Chapter 5 works up the line as well as down. Use it to agree on who decides what.
What if it doesn’t work for me?
If you implement the 30-day rollout and the venue still doesn’t run to your standards on your night off, email me for a full refund. No questions, no forms.
Your night off starts with one page.
Write your Ten Non-Negotiables tonight. Have the Check-Out Rule running by next week. In 30 days, take the Night-Off Test: a full night off, then score your venue out of 10 the next morning.
[ Get Run It Without You for A$29 ]
30-day money-back guarantee. No questions, no forms.