Fixed price consulting
Find where your food and beverage operation is losing money, with the math shown.
Most operations do not have a sales problem. They have a visibility problem and a consistency problem, and the two feed each other.
Prime cost creeps a point at a time. Nothing on any single shift looks wrong, and the statement that would show it lands four weeks after the month you could still have changed. By then you are reading history instead of steering.
Underneath that, standards hold on the nights you are in the building. When the systems live in your head and in your best manager's head, the operation is one resignation away from chaos. That is not a discipline problem. It is a systems problem, and it is fixable in weeks rather than years.
How the work is bought
- Fixed price, fixed scope. You get the number and the scope in writing before the work starts. It does not move because the work took longer than expected.
- No hourly billing. You are not paying for time in a room.
- No open ended retainers. Every engagement has a defined end and a defined deliverable.
- No surprise invoices. Anything outside the agreed scope is quoted and approved in writing first.
The four engagements
Tiers are set by the size of the operation, not the depth of the work. The work is the same in every tier, and outlet count, staff and SKU volume change the hours.
| Tier | Who it fits |
|---|
| Tier 1, Single Outlet | One restaurant or bar, under roughly $2M annual revenue |
| Tier 2, Multi Outlet | Two to four outlets, or $2M to $6M annual revenue |
| Tier 3, Club or Resort | Private club, resort, or five or more outlets, including banquet and member dining |
An operation that falls between tiers goes to the lower tier.
| Engagement | What you get | Timeline | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 |
|---|
| A. Operations Audit (the way in) | Two to four days on site, a 15 to 25 page findings report organized by dollar impact, a prioritized fix list (this week, this quarter, structural), a quantified leak estimate with the math shown, and a 90 minute presentation to ownership | 2 weeks | $3,000 | $5,000 | $7,500 |
| B. Beverage Program Rebuild | Counted and valued bar inventory, vendor bid comparison, costed cocktail menu with target margins, pour cost control, par sheet and variance workbooks, bar SOPs, two on site trainings, 30 day check in | 4 to 6 weeks | $5,500 | $8,500 | $12,500 |
| C. Operating Systems Install | SOP library written to your operation, training manuals with certification tracking, labor and scheduling model, order guides and receiving controls, weekly P&L package, manager onboarding playbook, four on site training days, 60 and 90 day reviews | 90 days | $9,500 | $15,000 | $22,000 |
| D. Fractional F&B Director | Director level leadership part time: weekly P&L and prime cost review with written commentary, management team coaching, vendor negotiation, menu cycles, hiring support, a monthly operating review and rolling 90 day plan. Three month minimum, then month to month | Monthly | Not offered | $6,500 per month (40 hours) | $9,500 per month (60 hours) |
Add ons
| Service | Price |
|---|
| Menu engineering only, food or beverage | $2,500 per menu |
| Single training day on site | $1,500 |
| Manager search and hiring support | $4,000 per hire, or 18% of first year base |
| New outlet or concept opening support | $15,000 (four weeks before opening through two weeks after) |
| Follow up audit, six months after an engagement | 50% of the original audit fee |
A 50% deposit is due on signature for engagements over $5,000, with the balance on delivery. Engagement C is paid 50% on signature, 25% at day 45 and 25% on final delivery. Travel within the Charleston and Savannah corridor is included. Outside it, travel and lodging are billed at cost. You own every deliverable outright at final payment.
The Audit Credit
The audit fee is earned when the findings are delivered. Every audit comes with the full report, the prioritized fix list and the 90 minute ownership presentation, so you always leave with something you can act on. What the audit finds then decides how much of the fee comes back to you as credit toward your next step: documented recoverable savings of three times the fee or more per year earn a 100% credit, one to three times the fee earn 50%, and anything under the fee earns 25% plus a 60 minute follow up call at no charge to walk through what to do next. Savings count only when they are documented with supporting calculations in the report.
On a Tier 1 audit at $3,000, finding $9,000 a year earns the full $3,000 credit. Finding $4,500 a year earns $1,500.
The credit applies toward Engagement B or C if you book within 30 days of the findings presentation. It is a credit toward future work, not a cash refund, and engagements B, C and D do not carry one.
See the method before you hire it
Every engagement runs on systems we publish for free. Read the guide, run the calculator on your own numbers, and you will know before the first call whether the gap is worth fixing.
Running events or a club? Start with private events and catering pricing. Every term is defined in the glossary.
About Rob
Rob Bruni, founder of OpsEdge Hospitality, has spent twenty years running multi outlet food and beverage at director level across restaurants, bars, hotels, resorts and private clubs. He has run up to 11 outlets at one property, led teams of about 100, and served as general manager of a three hotel group and of a 400 seat brewery restaurant. At a luxury resort property he grew the team from five people to more than sixty and total food and beverage revenue from roughly $200,000 to $3 million. He holds the Cornell General Managers Program certificate and WSET Level 1 wine certification, and is a U.S. Army veteran. OpsEdge Hospitality LLC is a Texas limited liability company.
We work with operators who know something is leaking but do not have the time, or the outside eye, to find it.
Not in the Lowcountry, or not ready for on-site work?
The Remote Prime Cost Review ($495) looks at four weeks of your numbers and shows you the three biggest leaks in dollars, with a 60-minute call. Monthly Prime Cost Coaching is $595. Both are fully remote.
See the Prime Cost System
How to start
Tell us about your operation and we will tell you which engagement fits, or whether you need one at all. Email rob@opsedgehospitality.com with the answers to the questions below. We do not quote on the first email.
- How many outlets do you run, and what does each do in annual revenue?
- What is your current prime cost, and what do you want it to be?
- Who is running the operation day to day right now?
- What specifically is going wrong?
- Have you brought in outside help before, and how did it go?
- What is your timeline, and who signs off on the spend?
Email Rob
Confidentiality: all financial and operational information is treated as confidential, and an NDA is available on request.
