If I were running your restaurant, the first thing I’d want to know is simple:
Are we actually making money?
Not just, “Are we busy?”
A restaurant can have full dining rooms, strong sales and still struggle financially.
So before I changed the menu, staff, hours or marketing, I’d look at the numbers.
I’d Start With Five Things:
1. Sales
What are we selling? Which days and dayparts are strongest? How do we compare to last year?
2. Food & Beverage Cost
Are we controlling portions, waste, purchasing and inventory? Are rising vendor prices eating into our margins?
3. Labor
Are we scheduling based on business levels, or simply scheduling the way we always have?
4. Prime Cost
Food + beverage + labor tells us a lot about the health of the business.
5. The Leaks
Waste, over-portioning, excessive comps and voids, over-ordering, overtime and poor purchasing can quietly cost thousands of dollars.
Then I'd build a simple weekly scorecard to track sales, food cost, beverage cost, labor, prime cost, waste, comps, voids and average check.
Because you can't manage what you don't measure.
And here's the important part:
The numbers aren't the enemy. They're telling you a story.
If food cost is high, let's figure out why.
If labor is high, let's understand what happened.
If sales are down, let's find out where.
If profitability is slipping, let's identify the leak.
I wouldn't make changes just because something feels wrong.
I'd use the numbers to tell me where to look.
At Plate & Prosper, we believe profitable restaurants aren't built by accident.
They're built by paying attention to the details that matter.
Smart Strategy. Sweet Results.
Plate & Prosper Restaurant Consulting
Helping restaurant owners and operators improve operations, control costs, strengthen their teams and build more profitable restaurants.