​ProjectManagementDocs.

com

P​OST​ P​ROJECT​ R​EVIEW

Smoke City BBQ

Mornington Peninsula pop-up

Smoke City BBQ

An Elwood Foods company

Version: Final
30/3/2022
Author: Louisa Moore

1
 ​ProjectManagementDocs.com

1. P​ROJECT​ S​UMMARY
Elwood Foods group recently completed a summer pop-up of Smoke City BBQ on the
Mornington Peninsula during the summer season of 2021/22. This marks the end of a
challenging yet successful foray into regional pop - ups for Elwood Foods.

The objective of the project was to increase revenue streams and brand awareness outside
Melbourne CBD, taking advantage of the significant population swell in regional Victoria during
the Summer months.

The scope of the project included development, fit-out and launch of a 100 seat restaurant,
including 40 in the dining hall and 60 in the outside beer garden. The restaurant also serviced a
10km home delivery radius.

2. P​ROJECT​ T​EAM​ ​AND​ S​TAFFING

The Smoke City BBQ Mornington Peninsula Pop-up consisted of a skilled and knowledgeable
team. The chart below provides information about the Project team members:

Name Title Project Role Contact

Anthony Jacobs General Manager Project Sponsor anthony@elwoodfoods.com
Louisa Moore Director Project Manager louisa@elwoodfoods.com
David Kelly Restaurant Manager Team Member david@elwoodfoods.com
Mary Nguyen-Kelly Marketing coordinator Team Member mary@elwoodfoods.com

Smoke City BBQ Mornington project team was a matrixed organisation with full support from
Elwood Foods senior leadership. Effective communication, detailed planning, stakeholder
involvement, project management tools, and organizational structure all played key roles in the
project’s success.

Staffing lessons from previous projects were used in building the project team. Rather than
allocate too many resources, as some past projects have done, the project team was staffed
with one resource per skill area.

While the Operations of the pop-up was considered out of scope, the recruitment and
onboarding of the operational team was within scope, see below for completed lessons learned
register.

2
 ​ProjectManagementDocs.com

Human Resources Lessons Learned for operational team:

Category: Issue: Response: Lessons Learned:

Recruitment and Ads posted only on Received a lot of generic Next project will post recruitment
Hiring for seek.com.au applications with no ads at local universities and tafes
operational staff applicable skills or to attract workers with experience
experience who are free from studies over the
summer period.

Some staff had transport Staff were late or missed Ensure requirements for ad specify
restrictions shifts due to lack of public “must have own transport”.
transport

Training and Staff turnover during Cost of trainer not included Ensure a senior operations staff
onboarding trading period creating a in ongoing budget member is appointed to provide
need to retrain ad-hoc training workshops as the
need arises, organise this from the
start.

Most seasonal candidates Elwood foods hired a In regional communities where

are unfamiliar with Elwood trainer who designed a
foods branding and bespoke program to
processes, technology, provide a workshop on
menus etc hospitality basics, Elwood
foods branding to ensure
consistent experience
across the venues
experience with Elwood Foods
venues is limited It is important to
hire a trainer to ensure staff learn
appropriately in a supportive
environment.

Salaries and Elwood foods did not pay One month into the Amend policies, if necessary, to
Benefits sick leave to casual staff trading period Elwood ensure any casual staff receive
creating staff morale Foods began paying sick benefits received by full-time
problems leave entitlements employees.

3
 ​ProjectManagementDocs.com

3. P​ROJECT​ ​COMMUNICATIONS​ ​AND​ R​EPORTING

The Project team established a robust communications and reporting plan in line with
stakeholder requirements to report on the progress on the project in weekly and monthly
increments as defined in the Project Communications Plan.

Project Communications and Reporting lessons learned:

Category: Issue: Response: Lessons Learned:

Meetings In the first few months the Some attendees could not Set regular monthly meetings at
monthly meeting invite was attend the beginning of the project
only sent a few days before
the meeting date

Before access to site there Another (future Hold meetings in CBD until site
was no location defined for competitor) had to be access
meeting venue booked as a venue

Reports Weekly reports were late on Stakeholder dissatisfaction Set diary reminders in project
occasion team to complete reports
requirements ahead of due date

Database of stakeholders some reports bounced Ensure IT team review contact

had inaccuracies back database as part of
onboarding/offboarding
procedure so reports are sent to
the right audience

Social Media Inaccuracies in copy Perceived damage to Marketing department now have a
reputation 3 tier proofreading process in
place to avoid errors

4
 ​ProjectManagementDocs.com

4. P​ROJECT​ D​ELIVERABLES​ (P​LANNED​ ​VS​. A​CTUAL​)

The Smoke City BBQ Mornington Peninsula Pop-up project​ ​has been completed successfully.
There were planned deliverables for each phase of this project. This section highlights some key
planned deliverables and compares them to actual deliverables as they occurred.

Planned Deliverable Actual Deliverable Summary

Construction of interior Additional construction of This deliverable in addition
restaurant car park to scope baseline.
Equipment installation Equipment installation This deliverable was
completed as planned
Advertising & Marketing Advertising & Marketing Contractor is no longer on
the preferred vendor list
Staff Staff Position descriptions have
been created for future
projects and archived
Grand Opening Grand Opening and Project team expected to
handover hand over operations
although there was some
cross over in responsibilities.
Defit Defit and make good upon This deliverable was
vacating completed as planned

In summary all documented project deliverables have been met by the project team. All
stakeholders have submitted their feedback and acknowledge that there are no deliverables
which were missed or omitted for this project.

5. T​RANSITION​ ​TO​ O​PERATIONS​ ​FOR​ T​RADING​ P​ERIOD

Resourcing plan was to completely hand over management to the restaurant operations team
upon launch, however we were committed to hiring the majority of staff locally thereby saving
on relocation fees and accommodation should we source staff from Melbourne CBD. The trade
off for this was that local staff were less experienced than we had anticipated and the project
team became more involved in the launch week than had planned, the handover was extended
to ensure a successful opening week.

The project was successfully transitioned to operations as a result of effective communication

and a collaborative approach. Future projects can benefit by scheduling the job advertising
earlier in the project and onboarding one or two key roles earlier, therefore making those
personnel seniors and allowing time for them to build rapport and a shared vision for the

5
 ​ProjectManagementDocs.com

business. The remaining team can be hired closer to launch allowing the minimum sufficient
time for onboarding and training prior to launch.

6. P​ROJECT​ C​OSTS
The budgeted cost was set at $690,700. This cost was broken out by project phase in the
following chart with actual costs compared to the planned/budgeted cost.

Project Phase Budgeted Cost Actual Cost Comments

Procurement $179,300 $170,798 Procurement costs
came in under
budget
Renovation & Styling $107,400 $113,000 Construction was
over budget due to
additions in scope
Advertising & $8,400 $7,400 Advertising &
Marketing marketing costs were
under budget
Grand opening $27,800 $26,490 Grand opening costs
were under budget
Defit $17,800 $16,600 Defit was under
budget
Wages $275,000 $282,000 Wages costs were
over budget
Rent $80,000 $80,000 Rent costs were on
budget

Total actual costs of the MicroFiber Project amounted to $684,688. The Smoke City
Mornington Peninsula pop-up was not only successful in meeting all of its objectives and
deliverables, but by completing under budget.

7. P​ROJECT​ S​CHEDULE

The Smoke City BBQ Mornington Peninsula pop-up schedule called for a 10 month project with
initiation beginning on July 1, 2021 and project closeout ending on March 31, 2022. The below
chart shows each phase of the project lifecycle, the planned schedule dates, and the actual
completion dates of each phase.

6
 ​ProjectManagementDocs.com

Project Phase Scheduled Actual Completion Comments

Completion
Planning 1st August,2021 1st August, 2021 Completed on time

Procurement 31st August, 2021 28 August, 2021 Completed ahead of schedule

Renovation & Styling 29th October, 2021 29th October, 2021 Completed on time

Advertising & Marketing February 28th 2022 February 28th 2022 Completed on time

Staff 29th November, 2021 29th November, 2021 Completed on time

Grand Opening 30th November, 2021 30th November, 2021 Completed on time

Project Closure 31 March, 2022 TBD Progressing on time

All project phases were completed on time with the exception of procurement which was
completed ahead of schedule.

8. R​ECOMMENDATIONS
The Smoke City BBQ Mornington Peninsula pop-up was an example of a carefully planned and
successfully executed project for Elwood Foods. However, it is not without its
recommendations or lessons learned.

Recommendation #1:
Recruiting key senior operations staff earlier in the project. This is imperative in establishing
familiarity with the restaurant brand and ensuring an on-time handover for successful launch as
well as establishing expectations of what operations will require during transition.

Recommendation #2:
It is recommended to move website design in house within Elwood Foods rather than using
contractors, as we had issues with delivery which could have compromised the quality of the
project. This would ensure all website edits and builds for all venues of Elwood Foods could be
done with a faster turn around and in the long run it would be less expensive and more flexible
than using contractors and cost could be recouped across the group. The contractor engaged
for the project is no longer on the preferred vendor list.

Recommendation #3:
Our commitment to using local producers placed stress on the schedule as we reverted to CBD
suppliers as the project neared launch as the relationships and billing processes were already

7
 ​ProjectManagementDocs.com

established. We seek to continue to utilise local vendors for future projects and this
relationship and process should be established in the planning phase of the project.

Sponsor Acceptance

Approved by the Project Sponsor:

Anthony Jacobs 
General Manager, Smoke City CBD 
30/3/2022