Plan B Business
Food & Beverage

Always busy.
Never profitable. Until now.

We work with independent restaurant owners doing $1M-$8M in annual revenue. Our 12-month engagement takes food cost from 38% to 28%, opens B2B catering and event revenue, and gets you to 15-18% net margins.

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Industry Reality

8 patterns we see in >70% of independent restaurants

85%
frequency

Food cost above 35% (target: 28-32%)

Root cause: No daily food cost tracking. Vendor prices creeping. Menu has 6+ items with food cost above 38%.

What we do: Daily food cost tracking system (10 min/day). Menu engineering audit - cut bottom 4-6 items, reprice top performers. Annual vendor RFP.

75%
frequency

Owner-chef bottleneck (60+ hours/week)

Root cause: No documented SOPs in kitchen. Chef-owner is in every shift. Knowledge lives in their head.

What we do: Document 15 core dish recipes as SOPs. Train sous-chef as proven backup. Chef-owner reduces to 4 shifts/week within 6 months.

70%
frequency

Heavy seasonality (40%+ revenue drop in slow months)

Root cause: 100% reliance on B2C dine-in revenue. Slow months = losses.

What we do: Launch B2B revenue streams: corporate lunch programs (weekly orders from local offices), private event catering, holiday gift orders. Target 25-30% B2B mix.

80%
frequency

Staff turnover at 80%+ annually

Root cause: Below-market wages, no tips pooling clarity, no growth path, aggressive shift culture.

What we do: Hybrid compensation: hourly + tip pool + monthly margin-share bonus. Defined growth path: server → senior → trainer → AGM. Quarterly all-hands.

90%
frequency

No CRM, no email list, no repeat customer system

Root cause: Customer who comes 2x/month is anonymous. No marketing tool.

What we do: Toast/Square POS-integrated CRM. Email list capture at every order. Loyalty program with reward structure. Quarterly comeback campaigns.

70%
frequency

30%+ delivery commission (Wolt, DoorDash, UberEats) eating margins

Root cause: All delivery goes through 3rd parties at 23-28% commission. No direct ordering channel.

What we do: Build direct ordering channel (WhatsApp Business + simple online ordering). Target 40% of delivery orders direct within 9 months.

60%
frequency

Hidden food waste at 5-8% of cost

Root cause: No daily inventory count. Spoilage between purchase and sale is invisible.

What we do: Weekly inventory count for top 5 categories. FIFO discipline. Designated kitchen manager for inventory. Drop waste to 2-3%.

70%
frequency

Menu hasn't been engineered in 3+ years

Root cause: Owner attached to legacy items. Pricing not updated for inflation.

What we do: Annual menu engineering: contribution margin analysis, item ranking, strategic repricing, quarterly mini-updates.

Benchmarks

The numbers we hit

KPIMarket avgPlan B targetAfter 12 mo
Food cost percentage35-40%28-32%29-33%
Net profit margin3-7%15-18%10-16%
Average ticket size (per cover)$55-$85$80-$120$72-$110
% revenue from B2B (catering, events)0-5%25-30%15-28%
Repeat customer rate (visit 2+ times/month)20-30%45%+38-50%
Staff turnover (annual)80-100%<30%25-45%
Owner-chef weekly hours60-75<4540-50
Engagement Model

What working with us looks like

  1. 01

    Month 1: Kitchen + financial audit

    We pull 13 months of P&L, every vendor invoice, every menu item's actual contribution margin. We identify the 1-2 highest-leverage actions.

  2. 02

    Months 2-3: Menu + cost discipline

    Daily food cost tracking goes live. Menu engineering audit complete - bottom items cut, top items repriced. New vendor RFPs launched. Average food cost drops 3-5 points.

  3. 03

    Months 4-6: B2B revenue + staff systems

    Corporate lunch program launches with 3-5 pilot accounts. Catering pricing structure rebuilt. Staff compensation restructured. Hiring SOPs in place.

  4. 04

    Months 7-12: Operations + freedom

    POS + CRM fully deployed. Direct ordering channel running at 30-40% of delivery. Owner-chef at 4 shifts/week. We shift to quarterly check-ins.

Common questions from independent restaurants owners

What size restaurant is this for?−
Sweet spot: $1M-$8M revenue with 1-3 locations. Below $1M, you're still building operational foundations. Above $8M (or 4+ locations), you need full-time GM/Director of Operations.
We're chef-owned and proud. Will this hurt the food?+
No - and this is the most important question. Our work doesn't touch the food, the recipes, or the culinary vision. We work on what surrounds the food: pricing, vendors, scheduling, marketing, retention. Your chef-vision is sacred. Your business model is what we change.
What about full-service vs. fast-casual vs. QSR?+
We work primarily with full-service and fast-casual. QSR (quick-service restaurants) typically have different economics and require franchise-system expertise. We don't work with QSR or coffee shops.
How long until we see real change?+
Food cost discipline shows in 30-60 days. B2B catering revenue starts showing in 60-90 days. Significant net margin improvement in 6-9 months. Restaurant ownership is a marathon - this isn't a 30-day quick fix.
What if we're in a cash crunch right now?+
Restaurant cash crunches are common. Our first-30-days playbook for restaurants in trouble: vendor renegotiation, payroll restructure, marketing pause-and-pivot, immediate menu repricing. We can structure payment terms to start.
Do you work with franchise restaurants?+
No. Franchise economics, marketing budgets, and operations are dictated by the franchisor. We can't add meaningful value where you have limited operational latitude. We only work with independent restaurants.
What's the team like - who does the work?+
Ligal Frish and Eitan Eshtemaker - the two co-founders of Plan B. You won't be handed off to associates. We're the people you talked to on the strategy call.
What's your fee structure?+
Diagnostic: $1,500 one-time. Advisor: $3,500/month (most restaurants, 6-12 month engagement). Partner: $8,500+/month (multi-location groups or fast-growth scenarios).

Stop being busy-but-broke.

30-minute strategy call. We'll diagnose your top 2 levers and tell you if we're a fit. No pitch. No pressure.

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