The Engagements in Full

Three ways to recover margin. Start where it makes sense.

01Cost ReductionStart Here

The Prime Cost Diagnostic Sprint

The fastest way to find out what your operation is really leaking. In under two weeks, we pull your food, beverage and labor numbers apart, and hand you a ranked map of exactly where your margin is going and what it is worth to recover. No retainer. No commitment. Just evidence. Most operators read the diagnostic and immediately understand why their P&L never quite added up.

What we audit

Theoretical vs. actual cost of goods
Vendor invoices and menu mix
Beverage pour cost and bar program
Your labor model, daypart by daypart

What you receive

A variance map: theoretical against what your P&L reports
A dollarized leak ledger, ranked by what it’s worth
A prioritized recovery roadmap your team can run Monday

Best whenYou suspect the leak but can’t yet name it, and you want proof before committing to anything larger.

02Profit ImprovementRecommended

The Margin Recovery Retainer

Finding the leak is the start. Keeping it closed, and catching the next one before it costs you, is where the real money lives. The retainer puts a senior operator on your numbers every week: reviewing variance, tightening the program, and telling you what to act on before it shows up at month-end. This turns a one-time recovery into a permanently healthier P&L. Most Sprint clients move here once they see what week one uncovered.

What we monitor

Monthly cost-of-goods variance
Menu performance and the beverage program
Labor model and vendor pricing
POS reporting, read weekly

What you receive

Dedicated senior operator time every week, direct-line access
A written monthly performance briefing
Implementation oversight, and a P&L cleaner every quarter

Best whenYou want the recovery to hold and compound, not evaporate the moment attention moves elsewhere. Month-to-month, no lock-in.

03On-Demand

The Operator’s Line

Some problems don’t need a full engagement. They need twenty minutes with someone who’s already solved them. The Operator’s Line puts a veteran operator on the other end of the phone when you need one, for the vendor call you’re about to walk into, the number that doesn’t look right, the decision you’d rather not make alone. Buy the time you need, use it when it counts. No retainer, no commitment.

Call the line for

A vendor negotiation, or a lease clause read by someone who’s signed a few
A menu re-engineer, a creeping labor schedule, a pour-cost spike
A key hire or firing, a build-out gut check, a month-end surprise

How it works

Senior operator access, by the hour
Billed in hour increments, no minimum
Prepay a block or bill as used

Best whenYou want senior judgment on a specific problem without a standing retainer. Lean on it most weeks and the Retainer is the better value, we’ll move you over.

Not sure which engagement fits? That’s what the call is for. We’ll pull your headline numbers, find where you’re most likely bleeding, and tell you which one makes sense, before you spend a dollar.

Book a Free Audit Call→

Built for operators who own the P&L.

1 to 5 units

Independent restaurant groups

Multi-unit means multi-blind-spot. Costs drift differently in every room, and the roll-up hides it behind a single number that looks fine until it isn't. We work unit by unit first, isolating where each kitchen and bar leaks, then across the group to standardize what works.

Where it leaksPrime cost variance masked by the group roll-up

F&B under one roof

Boutique hotels

Food and beverage is usually the department nobody has time to run properly. Banquet, outlet, and in-room each leak in a different place, and the rooms side of the P&L covers for it until it doesn't. We give F&B the forensic attention the rooms team already gets.

Where it leaksBanquet, outlet, and in-room margin, each a separate hole

Bar-driven volume

High-volume bars

Pour cost is where the money goes and where nobody looks. Free-pouring, comped rounds, over-ordering, and a list built on instinct instead of margin. On high volume, a few points of pour cost is a full-time salary walking out the door every year.

Where it leaksPour cost, comps, and a list priced by feel

What operators ask before they call.

QHow long before I see something?

Two weeks. The Prime Cost Diagnostic Sprint runs fourteen days from data handoff to roadmap. You get a ranked, dollarized leak map, not a slide deck, and it is yours to keep whether or not we work together after.

QDo you need my books?

No. We start with POS exports, invoices, and schedules. Your Toast data alone tells most of the story. How we read it.

QI already have a bookkeeper and an accountant. Why you?

They tell you what happened. Prime cost forensics tells you where it went and how to stop it. Different job, run by an operator who has stood on the line, not read about it. More of what operators ask.

QWhat does prime cost actually mean for my concept?

Food plus beverage plus total labor as a percentage of sales, and the healthy range moves with concept type. Run your numbers, or read the full prime cost guide.

QWhat if the leak isn't big enough to justify the work?

Then I say so on the call and you keep your money. It happens, and telling you the truth on a thirty-minute call is cheaper for both of us than selling you work you don't need.

QWill you change my concept?

No. I fix the plumbing, I don't touch the soul. The concept, the menu identity, the room you built stays yours. I make the economics behind it work.

See what recovery has looked like in other San Diego rooms→

Find the leak. Close the leak.

Start small. Scale only if it works.

Two weeks to your first answer.

Book a free audit call

We diagnose

You get a roadmap