Johann Moonesinghe

🚨 The #1 Growth Mistake I See Restaurant Owners Make (And It’s Not What You Think) It’s not signing a bad lease. It’s not underestimating the build-out cost. It’s not even hiring the wrong GM. 👉 It’s expanding a business that’s not truly ready to scale. Here’s what that looks like: 🔻 Your labor targets are inconsistent. 🔻 You’re still the “system” in the operation. 🔻 You’ve never tracked CPLH or SPLH, let alone optimized them. 🔻 The first location is profitable… but only if you’re working six days a week. If that’s your foundation, adding another unit won’t solve it—it will multiply the stress. I’m not saying don’t grow. I’m saying: build the machine first, then multiply it. 📌 If you missed it, my latest post walks through 7 ways to fund your growth + includes a free Growth Planning Checklist to help you pressure-test your next move. 🧠 If you did see it and you’re thinking, “Okay… where do I start?” That’s where I come in. 📞 DM me or grab a free strategy session. Let’s make sure your next move is your best one. #restaurantconsulting #restaurantgrowth #hospitalityconsulting #restaurantowner #scaleyourrestaurant #restaurantexpansion #restaurantleadership #restaurantfunding

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Hot Take: Sweetgreen is a “villain” in the restaurant sector. Truth be told… I’m a bit jealous of their ability to raise capital, the brand halo, and especially the valuation. Reason #1: $657m expended with no cumulative profitability… that’s inclusive of $307m cumulative loss in EBITDA since 2014 and an estimated $350m in capital spend. That’s not inclusive of any $$ taken off the table by shareholders. This shouldn’t have been a great return… but the public markets love the story and perceived future upside. Reason #2. The brand halo…Initially, the story was that of tech company that sells food… but with Covid and the need for other brands to compete digitally, I think most everyone caught up, or at least that advantage isn’t as much of a differentiator anymore (except for the infinite kitchens). SG also gets a lot of credit for supply chain, but I think that could be more hype than reality. For the record, all of our food comes from farmers too… as does most everyone's in the fast casual space. Reason #3. The valuation… a $1.4 billion market cap. Here’s how investors would respond to a new investment in SG… how do I know? Because I’ve answered the same questions about Original ChopShop for the last 4 years. * Store Margins. LTM are <20%, and have been <20% every year since 2014. Investors: Brands that aren’t at >20% are un-investable. * Unit growth rate. Annual growth rate is <20%. Investors: This is no longer a growth company and doesn’t deserve a growth company multiple. * G&A. Averaging $600k+/store. Investors: $200k/store is too high. * SSS and Traffic. Both negative in last quarter. Investors: I can’t take negative SSS and/or traffic to my investment committee. * Menu price elasticity. The menu price is already perceived to be too high. Investors: The pricing limits margin expansion and unit growth potential outside of affluent and dense trade areas. * Guest sentiment. Google ratings are low in new markets… has the unit growth outpaced the people growth? Investors: Is it prudent to continue growth before addressing the negative sentiment? * White space. SG has reported difficulties in southeastern markets.  Investors: It's not traveling. The white space is limited. Granted, most of these responses are “knee-jerk” reactions and in jest... to prove a point... but that’s today's restaurant investment environment. One of these alone would prevent an investment. If SG was held to the same valuation method as small company owned concepts… the EBITDA multiple would be a max 15x (and that’s generous)... or a value of $270m. If you had a spare $100m sitting around… you could own 7% of SG… or you could make your bet on ChopShop... I know where I'd put my money… but I am a bit biased. I have no financial position in SG. SG Q2 earnings today… expect the outlook to be revised downward. It's tough out there! Take a look at the 1st comment for how Original ChopShop answers those investor questions... checking almost every box.

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⚠️ Restaurant Owners & Hospitality Leaders — This Is Your Wake-Up Call The restaurant industry didn’t get easier after 2020. It got more competitive. More expensive. More unforgiving. Food costs fluctuate weekly. Labor shortages are the new normal. Guests expect better service, faster execution, and higher quality than ever before. Yet many operations are still running on old systems, old menus, and outdated strategies. Here’s the reality: The restaurants that survive the next decade won’t just be the best chefs. They will be the best operators. The ones who understand: ✔ Menu engineering ✔ Profit-driven food & beverage strategy ✔ Waste reduction systems ✔ Labor optimization ✔ Guest experience design ✔ Data-driven decision making That’s exactly why Vanguard Food & Beverage Thynk Tank was created. We help restaurants, hotels, and hospitality groups transform their operations into profitable, scalable, and future-ready businesses. Because great food is important. But great strategy is what keeps the doors open. If you’re serious about elevating your operation and protecting your margins, now is the time to start thinking differently. 📈 The future of hospitality belongs to the operators who adapt first. 👉 Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ga3EKxk7 #RestaurantOwners #HospitalityIndustry #RestaurantConsulting #FoodAndBeverage #RestaurantManagement #RestaurantBusiness #ChefLife #RestaurantLeadership #FoodServiceIndustry #HospitalityLeadership #RestaurantStrategy #RestaurantGrowth

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Your restaurant's profit architecture may be broken (and you don't even know it). These 3 mathematical mistakes show up in most operations that fail: 🔴 Table turns are lying to you. You think you can achieve 2.8x per shift, but 2.1x is your max. Your data is missing or incorrect with reset times, no-shows, table/section attribute variations, day part variations, and what’s in your head doesn’t align with the software settings. 🔴 Cost per square foot is incomplete. Your design/layout factored seats per sq ft in the FOH, but you didn’t factor yield on sq ft in the kitchen, storage, or bathrooms. Seeing rent per sq ft on revenue generating and non-revenue generating areas is key to optimizing space utilization. 🔴 Labor ratio is misleading. Hitting 28% labor cost, but your P&L has all the related costs in separate categories? Add payroll taxes, benefits, manager salaries, and training. You're probably closer to 35-40%, and it should all be in one section of the P&L, in individual items. When your math actually maths: ✅ Menu prices reflect true costs and are engineered to both sell well and win with profit architecture ✅ Staffing decisions based on real data, like sales per 15 min increments ✅ Growth strategies built on solid foundations Your profit architecture determines everything. Get the math right, and the profits follow. #RestaurantProfitability #FoodServiceOperations #RestaurantManagement #HospitalityBusiness

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Restaurant managers don’t need more reports. They need clarity. • What’s my labor vs. sales right now? • Where is inventory variance happening? • Which items are hurting margin? • Are we aligned to forecast? When operators have real-time visibility, decisions improve immediately. At SabreTooth Technologies, we focus on giving restaurants actionable insight — not just data. Because clarity drives performance. #RestaurantOperations #IntelligentEdge #SmartLynX https://lnkd.in/eUWk_365

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💡 There’s no shortage of great scheduling software. So why are so many restaurant schedules still… not great? After analyzing millions of shifts, the same patterns keep surfacing: ➡️ Overscheduled and underscheduling ➡️ Copying and pasting the same schedule each week ➡️ Inaccurate forecasts ➡️ Manager bias baked into every schedule Here’s what’s really happening 👇 1️⃣ Software still relies on human input. Some managers are great at tailoring schedules to their restaurant’s unique rhythm. A lot aren’t — and even more don’t have the time. The result? Inconsistent schedules that depend on who’s behind the keyboard. 2️⃣ The best schedules require insight built on deep analysis. Great scheduling means knowing how the team actually behaves and how to best deploy them. When it comes to this, most managers use their gut understanding because deep data analytics isn't in their wheelhouse and even if it were...there's no time to do it consistently each week. 3️⃣ Managers second-guess the system. Every GM believes their restaurant is different and they're right! They tweak the schedule to “fit their gut,” even when the data disagrees. When we built GM PILOT, we asked a different question: “What if every restaurant could have its schedule written by the most skilled manager in the company — every single week?” To make that possible, we built a service that: ✅ Adapts to each restaurant’s specific needs ✅ Integrates seamlessly with existing tools ✅ Requires zero painful implementation The purpose of GM PILOT is simple: 🚀 Remove the burden of schedule writing — for good. That means: Tailored scheduling for every location Optimized, data-driven schedules that reduce labor costs Transparent proof that managers can trust the system 💬 The takeaway: The future of restaurant labor isn’t “more software.” It’s intelligent systems that supercharge managers — so every schedule is as strong as your best one.

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