Straight answers, operator to operator

“I’ve been doing this for twenty years. What can a consultant tell me about my own restaurant?”

Nothing you don’t already sense. But sensing that your food cost is drifting and knowing it’s drifting 2.3 points on your protein line at the Hillcrest location specifically are different things. You don’t have time to run the forensics while you run three rooms. I do. I’m not here to teach you the business — I’m here to hand you the evidence you’re too busy to pull yourself.

“Consultants give me a binder of recommendations and disappear.”

I don’t deliver recommendations. I deliver a variance report with your actual numbers and a ranked list of what to fix first. The diagnostic stands on its own — you could hand it to your team and act on it without me. Most operators don’t, because once they see what I found in week one, they want me watching it every week. But that’s your call, not a contract you’re locked into.

“How do I know you’ll find anything worth the fee?”

Because nearly every multi-unit group is carrying 200 to 400 basis points of recoverable prime cost — it’s structural, not a sign of bad management. The Diagnostic Sprint is priced specifically so that finding even a fraction of that pays for the engagement several times over. You see the recovery math before you decide on anything ongoing.

“My bookkeeper / controller already handles this.”

Your controller reconciles what happened. I find what’s leaking while it’s happening. A controller will tell you your beverage cost was 24% last month. I’ll tell you it’s 24% because you’re free-pouring well liquor at a 31% pour cost and your three best-selling cocktails are underpriced by a dollar each. Different job, different lens — operator forensics, not accounting.

“I don’t have time to onboard a consultant right now.”

That’s the entire design. The data handoff is three exports and one call. No site visit, no staff meetings, no project plan for your team to manage. You spend forty-five minutes up front, and the next thing you do is read a brief that tells you where your money went. The whole point is that I work the numbers so you don’t have to.