Starting a restaurant
What Worked: Lessons from Independent Restaurants in Recent Years
Independent restaurants that did well lately tested small, found a second way to earn, made their best cooking easier to reach and watched a few numbers closely.
Posts about margins
17 posts.
Starting a restaurant
Restaurant Profit Margins: What Is Normal, Good and a Warning Sign
There is no single normal restaurant profit margin. There is a margin your format, rent and labour model make possible, and a few warning signs that show it slipping before the bank balance does.
Hotels & lodging
ADR, Occupancy and RevPAR Explained for Independent Hotel Owners
Three numbers run a hotel's top line. Here is how ADR, occupancy and RevPAR fit together, and why two hotels with the same RevPAR can earn very different profits.
Hotels & lodging
Independent Hotel or Franchise? How to Choose a Brand Affiliation
A brand is worth what your hotel earns with it, minus what it earns without it, minus the fees. Here is how to put numbers on that before you sign.
New formats
Ghost Kitchens and Virtual Brands: What Still Works in 2026
Stand-alone ghost kitchens struggled, but virtual brands cooked in a restaurant's quiet hours still make sense. The difference is whose costs the order has to cover.
New formats
Slow Hospitality: The Case for Fewer Covers and Deeper Experiences
Slow hospitality runs on a different sum: more value from each seat-hour, less strain on the team, and time that guests feel they have paid for.
Operations & service
10 Ways to Cut Restaurant Food Waste That Pay for Themselves
Food waste has four sources, and each needs a different fix. Weigh it by source first, then work through ten changes in order of effort, starting with the ones that cost almost nothing.
Operations & service
Sustainable Restaurant Operations: Energy, Water and Waste
Start with the bin, then the tap, then the meter. A practical order of work for a sustainable restaurant, with the published evidence on what pays back.
Menu, food & drink
Menu Engineering Explained: How to Design a Menu That Sells Itself
Menu engineering ranks each dish by how often it sells and how much cash it earns. Here is the method, a worked example, and why a low food cost percentage can point you the wrong way.
Menu, food & drink
Food Cost Percentage: Formula, Benchmarks and How to Lower It
Food cost percentage tells you how much of each sale goes on ingredients. The useful number is the gap between what it should be and what it is.
Menu, food & drink
How to Price a Menu: 6 Methods Beyond Multiplying Cost by Three
Cost times three gives you a number, not a price. Treat it as a floor, then add six methods that set prices guests accept and the business can live on.
Menu, food & drink
Bar Profit: Pour Costs, Par Levels and a Beverage Program That Pays
A bar's profit margin is set by three numbers: pour cost, par levels and variance. Here are the formulas, a worked example and a weekly routine that finds the leaks.
Menu, food & drink
Wine Lists That Sell: Curating for Margin and Memory
A good wine list earns on cheap bottles and wins loyalty on memorable ones. Here is how to price the ladder, what the research supports and how to build a list guests remember.
Menu, food & drink
Coffee Shop Business Model: The Unit Economics of a Specialty Café
Coffee is cheap to make and expensive to serve. A coffee shop business plan should model the barista's minutes, not the beans. Here is the arithmetic behind a specialty café.
Technology & AI
Restaurant Inventory Software: What to Automate and What to Count by Hand
Software can do the sums, reorder lists and invoice entry. Only a hand count tells you what is really on the shelf. How to split the work and what to count weekly.
Technology & AI
Dynamic Pricing for Restaurants: Does It Work and Is It Fair?
Restaurant dynamic pricing works best as a discount for quiet hours, not a surcharge for busy ones. The evidence on fairness explains why, and how to test it safely.
Technology & AI
7 Numbers a Restaurant Owner Should Know Every Week
Seven restaurant KPIs to check each week, from prime cost to RevPASH, with what each one tells you and the trap that comes with it.