From Financial Statements to Operating Decisions — Part Two Revenue is usually the first number people look at on a restaurant’s profit and loss statement. Did sales increase? Did we beat the budget? Are we ahead of last year? Those are reasonable questions. But revenue alone rarely tells restaurant leaders what actually happened—or what they
Category Archives: Leadership
Why so many restaurant and taproom KPIs describe performance but rarely explain it Restaurants and taprooms have no shortage of data. Most operators can quickly pull reports showing sales, labor cost percentage, prime cost, sales per labor hour, average check, guest counts, overtime, discounts, ticket times, and restaurant-level profit. The challenge is not as simple
There’s a moment most owner/operators recognize: You’re busy. The patio is packed. Your beer is moving. Tickets are humming. And someone says, “We should open another one.” Sometimes it’s a second location. Sometimes it’s a private-event room. Sometimes it’s a kitchen upgrade, a patio build-out, a packaging line, or a small taproom bolt-on. And in
If labor feels “out of control,” it’s usually not because you’re a bad operator. It’s because the rules changed—again. In 2025, 89% of restaurant operators reported rising staff expenses, and many saw the jump land in the 1%–5% range (with a meaningful slice experiencing 6%–14%). And heading into 2026, demand has gotten choppier: Black Box
In the food & beverage world, labor is one of your largest—and most delicate—levers. Too many operators lean into labor efficiency (i.e. hitting labor as a percentage of sales) as their north star. That framing often backfires: when sales dip, hours get slashed, service suffers, team morale erodes, and long-term growth stalls. What if we
- 1
- 2