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Statistics refute the common myth about the inevitable failure of restaurants: although up to 30% of establishments close in their first year, more than half successfully overcome the five-year mark.
Belief in inevitable failure is paralyzing. It causes people to give up when what is needed is cold calculation and decisive action. That is why the BRG team is here. We offer quick and effective solutions to restaurant problems. Our experts are not afraid to dive into financial chaos, operational disorder, and team conflicts. We know how to bring your establishment back to life.
A complete check-up of your business from BRG
Before treating a disease, you need to understand its causes. And although external factors affect the health of a business, the root of the problem is often found within. BRG’s anti-crisis audit is a comprehensive approach that combines financial analysis, process auditing, and brand assessment.
P&L report
Many owners look at the cash flow statement and think that if there is money in the account, everything is fine. In reality, cash flow only shows the movement of money, but not the actual profitability of the business. Only the profit and loss statement, or P&L, shows the true picture of financial health. By analyzing it, you can answer key questions:
- Where exactly are we losing money?
- Has food cost increased due to rising food prices or theft?
- Which department is dragging us down?
- Are we spending too much on salaries compared to revenue?
To perform a self-diagnosis, calculate key indicators and compare them with industry averages.
Figures for the standard control table:
| Indicator | Formula | Standard (Full Service) |
| Food Cost | (Cost of food / Food revenue) * 100% | 25-30% |
| Labor Cost | (Total labor costs / Total revenue) * 100% | 26-32% |
| Occupancy | (Rent + utilities / Total revenue) * 100% | Up to 10% |
| Marketing expenses | (Marketing expenses / Total revenue) * 100% | 3-5% |
| Household goods | (Household goods expenses / Total revenue) * 100% | 2-3% |
| Average check per guest | Total revenue / Number of guests | $13 – $20 |
| Table turnover | Number of tables served / Number of tables in the hall | 2-3 times per service |
| Restaurant profitability (profit) | (Net profit / Total revenue) * 100% | 10-20% |
| Average check in a restaurant | from 30 $ |
The BRG team can provide parameters for the remaining indicators as part of the consultation.
Concept and brand audit
Any problematic establishment often suffers from a “split personality”: the concept says one thing, the prices say another, the service says a third, and the interior says a fourth. To check the integrity of your brand, conduct a check-up on key issues:
- Who is our guest?
- Why do we exist?
- How do we do it?
- What do we sell?
Menu engineering on a napkin
Your menu is your main sales tool. Menu engineering is a mathematical analysis that allows you to understand which items bring you money and which ones are just a headache.
The simplest method is the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix. You will need data on the number of sales of each dish and its margin for a certain period. Based on this data, all dishes are divided into four categories:
- Stars: High popularity, high margin. Place them in the “golden triangle” of the menu (center, upper right, and upper left corners). Train your staff to actively recommend them.
- Plowhorses: High popularity, low margin. Try raising the price a little. Analyze the recipe: can you replace an expensive ingredient with a cheaper alternative without losing quality, or slightly reduce the portion size?
- Puzzles: Low popularity, high margin. Move them to a more prominent place on the menu. Change the name to something more appealing. Offer them as the “dish of the day.”
- Dogs: Low popularity, low margin. Most often, it is best to simply remove them from the menu, as they complicate kitchen work and tie up money.
Audit of service and operational processes
The owner will never have the same experience as a regular guest. Their mere presence in the dining room makes the staff work better. An objective assessment requires an outside perspective. We use several tools for this:
- Mystery guest: A trained expert visits the establishment incognito and evaluates all stages of interaction.
- Customer Journey Map: We break down the entire guest experience into separate “touchpoints,” from searching on Google to saying goodbye to the hostess.
- Review analysis: Systematic analysis of reviews on online platforms allows us to identify recurring issues.
Resuscitation measures from BRG
Our anti-crisis audit concludes with the development of an individual “treatment” plan.
Implementing “Profit First”
The traditional formula: Revenue – Expenses = Profit. The problem is that profit here is what remains. The “Profit First” method, developed by Mike Michalowicz, turns this formula upside down: Revenue – Profit = Expenses.
Profit becomes not a leftover, but a mandatory payment. This approach uses Parkinson’s Law: expenses always grow to fill all available income. By limiting the money in the operating account, we artificially create a deficit that forces us to be resourceful and look for ways to optimize. This system creates healthy financial pressure that stimulates innovation.
The power of simplicity
It seems that growth requires constantly adding something. But often, growth requires subtraction. Simplifying operations frees up enormous resources — money, time, management attention. These resources can and should be reinvested in what really matters: marketing, team training, and, most importantly, creating an incredible guest experience.
Brand relaunch
Once finances are stabilized and operations are simplified, it’s time to win back the love of your guests. There are two stages here: first, restore trust, and then build genuine loyalty. Key principles:
- Service is the technical part. Hospitality is the emotional part (how the guest feels). Service is a monologue, hospitality is a dialogue.
- Manage 95% of your business down to the penny. And spend the last 5% of your budget “unwisely” on creating unique, personalized WOW experiences.
It seems that how can a loss-making, problematic establishment afford such a “luxury”? But this is not a luxury, but a strategic investment in customer LTV (Lifetime Value). The money for this “unwise” 5% comes from the efficiency achieved through simplification and the Profit First system.
How to raise morale during a crisis
In a crisis situation, team morale is the first to suffer. The “belt-tightening” approach only makes the situation worse. There are much more effective tools:
- Regular short meetings to exchange information.
- Transparent and honest communication about the state of affairs.
- Recognition of each employee’s small victories.
- Gamification: competitions for the best sales of a “star” dish.
- Joint volunteer activities that unite the team.
How to turn a restaurant into the community’s favorite “third place”
After the pandemic and in conditions of constant stress, people feel an acute lack of live communication and belonging to a community. Sociologist Ray Oldenburg called such places “third places.” The “first place” is home. The “second place” is work. And the “third place” is an informal public space (café, bar, pub, coffee shop).
When your establishment becomes a “third place,” it ceases to compete on price. It becomes part of a person’s identity. This is the highest form of loyalty and your main protection in any crisis.
BRG’s recipe for longevity
Loss-making is not a sentence, but a set of symptoms that indicate systemic problems. There is no magic pill. Success in the restaurant business is the result of systematic work on four pillars:
- Financial discipline.
- Operational excellence.
- Emotional intelligence.
- Strong culture.
Self-medication in business, as in medicine, can be dangerous. If your troubled establishment exhibits the symptoms described above, don’t wait until it’s too late. Contact BRG. We will conduct a comprehensive anti-crisis audit, make an accurate diagnosis, and offer effective solutions to restaurant problems with guaranteed results.
We will conduct a comprehensive anti-crisis audit, make an accurate diagnosis, and offer effective solutions to restaurant problems with guaranteed results.