The operator
Seventy locations, roughly $1.5M average unit volume, $105M in system sales. A mature fast casual brand with a real operating discipline: prime cost inside target, manager tenure above the industry norm, guest scores steady.
This is the profile most cost-cutting engagements decline, because there is nothing obviously broken to fix.
The problem
Strong operator. Healthy business. No obvious crisis. Which is exactly why nobody had looked below the line in years. Every contract in the file had been signed by someone who no longer worked there, and every one had auto-renewed on schedule.
The finance team could not state its effective card processing rate without pulling statements. Rebates arrived quarterly as an unexplained check. Delivery remittances were booked net, so error deductions were never visible as a line item. None of that is negligence — it is what happens when a five-person finance team runs 70 restaurants.
The diagnostic
Six categories, run in parallel over several weeks against source documents rather than summary reporting.
Payment processing
Statements from every location, priced line by line. Effective rate against achievable rate, interchange qualification, debit routing and processor markup. The single largest category in the file.
Food and paper
Six months of primary distributor invoices price-checked against real group purchasing contracted rates on the same SKUs — delivered cost, not list price with a rebate check.
Third-party delivery
Marketplace remittances audited for commission structure, error deductions and adjustments, then a dispute recovery process stood up against the recoverable share.
Labor and benefits
Benefits census reviewed for a Section 125 structure that lowers employer payroll tax while raising employee take-home pay, plus FICA tip and hiring credit capture on existing volume.
Vendor contracts and occupancy
POS platform and service agreements, linen, waste, repair and maintenance, insurance, energy procurement and property tax posture across the fleet.
Revenue programs
Off-P&L revenue the accounting team had never invoiced: real estate monetization on controlled sites, guest acquisition capital and corporate dining channels.
The result
- $9.6MTotal opportunity identified across the six categories
- $7.1MAdditional annual revenue — payments, benefits, delivery recovery, off-P&L monetization
- $2.5MAnnual cost reductions — food, labor, POS, fuel and utilities, retention
- ~6.8%Of system top line, with no change to the guest experience
- 24 monthsTypical diagnostic-to-full-realization timeline
Figures reflect opportunity identified through diagnostic and modeled annual run-rate. Realization depends on implementation sequencing, contract timing and eligibility. Results vary by operator.