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Since opening in Minneapolis in 2014, Spoon and Stable, the flagship restaurant of Soigné Hospitality Group, has built a reputation for exceptional hospitality and refined yet approachable dining. Led by Executive Chef Christopher Nye, the team was looking for ways to reduce prep time, simplify onboarding, and centralize recipes so chefs could spend less time managing paperwork and more time leading their teams in the kitchen.
By implementing a more streamlined operational approach, Spoon and Stable achieved a 40% reduction in prep time and cut new hire onboarding time by 20%, giving the culinary team more time to focus on food quality, consistency, and guest experience.
Streamlining Kitchen Operations Without Compromising Culinary Excellence
Spoon and Stable has always been a chef-driven restaurant.
Opened in 2014 by James Beard Award-winning chef Gavin Kaysen, the Minneapolis restaurant anchors a hospitality group with top-tier restaurants like Spoon and Stable, Demi, Bellecour and Four Seasons partnerships in Minneapolis and Naples, Florida.
Executive Chef Christopher Nye has been part of that growth from the beginning, first as chef de cuisine and now as the leader of kitchens across Soigne Hospitality Group.
The group’s growth created a familiar challenge for operators: How do you keep standards high when recipes change, teams grow and information has to move across more than one kitchen?
For years, the answer was a mix of paper, notebooks, shared documents and memory.
Nye still remembers that world well.
“If you washed your work pants with your notebook in your pocket, you were done,” he said with a laugh. “You were in real trouble then.”
That system worked when a kitchen was smaller and information moved person to person. It became harder as Spoon and Stable grew into a larger restaurant group with more chefs, more cooks, more locations and more daily operational demands.
By 2019, the team needed a better system.
The Challenge: Maintaining Consistency Across a Growing Culinary Team
Before opsi, Spoon and Stable used Google Drive to manage recipes, prep sheets and tasks. It was better than paper, but it still created friction.
Recipes were harder to search and documents often changed. Multiple people touched the same files. Information lived in too many places. Chefs were still spending too much time finding, printing and explaining what the team needed before the real work could begin.
That mattered because Spoon and Stable’s culture depends on hands-on leadership.
“We’re all here to get better,” Nye said. “Over the years, our culture has been defined by a commitment to excellence, a desire to improve every day and the belief that you can do both while treating people with kindness.”
To protect that culture, Nye needed less time chasing information and more time teaching the people responsible for carrying the standard forward.
The Solution: Built by Chefs, Designed for Real Kitchen Workflows
The answer came from someone who understood the kitchen.
Chef James Passafaro, who co-founded opsi, had worked with the Spoon and Stable team and was developing the platform around real restaurant workflows. Nye saw the opportunity early and began using opsi with Spoon and Stable’s back-of-house team.
“James was in the development stages of opsi when he was here,” Nye said. “We were kind of like the testing ground in a way.”
opsi now gives Spoon and Stable one place to manage back-of-house operations, including recipes, prep lists, inventory, food costing and team communication. GoTab acquired opsi in 2025, integrating its back-of-house tools into a broader entertainment commerce platform.
For Nye, the value is practical. Recipes can be updated once and accessed by the team. Prep lists are easier to manage. Inventory pricing stays closer to the moment. Recipes can be transferred between restaurants instead of rebuilt from scratch.
The platform also gives staff access to information without requiring a chef or manager to stop and find it for them.
“The thing that I use it most for is nonverbal communication,” Nye said. “It’s a really great way for our staff to access the information that they need without me having to go and get it for them.”
The Impact: The Biggest Return Wasn't Only Efficiency—It Was Also Leadership
Since implementing opsi, Spoon and Stable has reduced prep time by 40% and cut time spent onboarding new hires by 20%.
However, Nye said the bigger return is what that time makes possible.
“I could see myself growing as a leader,” he said. “I didn’t measure it in the amount of time I was saving a day. I measured it in how I saw myself grow and how I saw the time teaching the team.”
That is where the platform changed daily life in the kitchen. Chefs no longer have to spend as much time at a desktop printing recipes or tracking down information before pre-shift. New cooks have a clearer place to start. Managers have better visibility. Teams across different restaurants can work from the same source of truth.
The benefits also extend beyond the chef team.
Once Spoon and Stable integrated opsi’s inventory tools, the team gained pricing that reflected current costs instead of outdated spreadsheet updates.
“We have inventory that’s priced to the moment, not priced from the last time we updated,” Nye said.
That reduced a quarterly chore Nye described as a “drag,” chasing purveyors and reps for updated pricing, and helped streamline work for the accounting team.
“If I can speak for our accounting team, it streamlined a lot of things for them too,” Nye said. “There’s been a lot of benefits beyond the chef team.”
Why It Works: Removing Operational Friction Without Changing Kitchen Culture
Spoon and Stable is a modern kitchen with old-school standards.
Some cooks still like to write things down. Others are part of what Nye calls “the digital generation.” The team includes different ages, experience levels and language backgrounds. Nye said some staff members do not speak or read English, yet they still use opsi and the team has found consistency.
“I don’t know how they do it, but it works out,” he said. “We found consistency there too.”
That consistency is the point.
opsi does not replace the chef’s eye, the cook’s discipline or the culture that made Spoon and Stable successful. It removes the operational drag around recipes, prep, inventory and communication so the team can focus on the food and the people making it.
For operators still relying on paper, desktops and scattered files, Nye offers a simple test.
“Take one day and just mentally note every time you go in and use a desktop computer to print out a recipe or information for a dish for pre-shift,” he said.
Then multiply that by 30.
At Spoon and Stable, that math made the value clear. opsi gave the team cleaner systems, faster access to information and more time where it matters most: with chefs on the floor, cooks at the stove and a growing restaurant group still committed to getting better every day.
Key Takeaways
Operator: Spoon and Stable / Soigne Hospitality Group; Minneapolis
Founded: Spoon and Stable opened in 2014
Chef-owner: Gavin Kaysen, James Beard Award-winning chef
Executive chef: Christopher Nye, Soigne Hospitality Group
Concept: A chef-driven hospitality group rooted in French technique, Midwestern seasonality and a culture built around excellence, daily improvement and kindness. The group includes Spoon and Stable, Demi, Bellecour and partnerships with Four Seasons.
Scale: opsi is used across the restaurant group. Nye estimates about 200 team members use the platform.
Use case: Decrease prep time, reduce time spent onboarding new hires, centralize back-of-house information and give chefs more time to coach, teach and lead.
opsi Tools Used
- Centralized recipe management with live updates across the team
- Mobile recipe access so cooks can find what they need without stopping a chef or manager
- Digital prep lists that help managers track work before service
- Recipe transfers between restaurants to save time and protect consistency
- Real-time inventory tracking with pricing that stays closer to the moment
- Food costing that reduces the need for manual quarterly updates
- Access to recipe details, dietary information, sourcing notes and prep information in one place
- Team-wide communication that supports cooks across different ages, experience levels and language backgrounds
- Less reliance on binders, printed recipes, scattered documents and shared-drive confusion
- Back-of-house tools connected to GoTab’s broader entertainment commerce platform
Giving Chefs More Time to Lead, Teach, and Maintain the Highest Standards
opsi gives Spoon and Stable a cleaner way to run a growing, chef-driven operation without pulling chefs away from the work that matters most.
Before opsi, the team used Google Drive to manage recipes, tasks and prep sheets. It was better than paper, but as more people touched the system, information became harder to organize, search and trust. opsi gave the team one place to manage the information that keeps the kitchen moving.
The impact is practical. Spoon and Stable reduced prep time by 40% and cut time spent onboarding new hires by 20%. But for Nye, the bigger win is what that time makes possible: fewer interruptions, better communication and more time in front of the stove teaching cooks how to grow.
The platform helps chefs protect the standard without carrying every detail themselves. Recipes are easier to find. Prep work is easier to track. Costs are easier to keep current. Staff can access information from their phones. Even the accounting team benefits from cleaner inventory and pricing data.
At Spoon and Stable, opsi does not replace the chef. It gives chefs more room to lead.
About the GoTab and opsi Integration
opsi helps restaurants centralize recipes, prep lists, inventory, food costing, task management and back-of-house communication in one easy-to-use platform. GoTab acquired opsi in 2025 and integrated its back-of-house tools into a broader entertainment commerce platform, connecting guest-facing operations with the systems teams rely on behind the line.
Ready to connect your recipes, prep lists, inventory and costs in one platform? See how opsi gives operators better back-of-house control, protects consistency and gives chefs more time to coach, teach and lead. Request a demo and learn more about the opsi by GoTab integration.
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