Writing / Topic
Opening Day
- Capital Planning for Multi-Unit GrowthHow much capital do you actually need to grow a multi-unit restaurant group? The buildout number is the small part. Working capital, ramp period, and reserve are where operators run out of runway.
- Launching a Catering Channel at a New LocationCatering can be the second revenue engine at a new restaurant unit. How to launch it right, when to launch it, and the corporate accounts that build the channel.
- City Inspection Day Preparation PlaybookThe day-before checklist and morning-of walkthrough for restaurant health, fire, and building inspection. What kills a first pass, how to sequence inspectors, and when to schedule reinspects.
- Deciding to Close a Unit Is Also GrowthClosing a weak unit is not failure. It is portfolio management. The signals that say close, the process of doing it right, and how a clean close makes the rest of the group stronger.
- Equipment Selection for New OpeningsWhat to spend up on, what to buy used, and what to defer. Equipment decisions for new restaurant openings, from an operator who has bought a lot of stainless.
- Equipment Vendor Warranty Negotiation Before OpeningHow to negotiate warranty terms, on-site service SLAs, loaner-unit clauses, and parts inventory with restaurant equipment vendors before the truck arrives. What to give up, what to hold.
- Expanding Inside an Existing Market Without CannibalizingOpening a second or third unit inside a market you already serve. How to place the unit so the new revenue is additive, not cannibalized from the units next door.
- Expanding Into a New Market : The First Three Things to Get RightOpening the first unit in a new metro. Where operators lose money, and the three decisions that decide whether year two works or year two turns into an exit.
- The First-Week General Manager Checklist for a New UnitWhat the new-unit general manager should be doing every day of week one. A practical day-by-day checklist from an operator who has coached this transition twelve times.
- Franchise Rollout: What the Franchisor Is Not Telling YouWhat the franchisor's rollout deck leaves out. Real timelines, real costs, and the operator conversations that happen behind the sales pitch. From an operator who has run 21 franchise units. (From my earlier Hana Group scope.)
- Grand Opening Versus Soft Open : Which and WhenGrand opening or soft open. Which one does a new restaurant actually need, and when? An operator's framework for making the call that shapes the first 90 days.
- Handling Permit Delays Without Blowing the BudgetPermits always slip. Here is the operator playbook for protecting a restaurant opening budget when they do: rent abatement asks, staggered vendor deposits, hire-freeze triggers, and the marketing pause criteria.
- Hiring Your First 15 Line Cooks for a New UnitHow to hire fifteen line cooks in 45 to 60 days for a new restaurant unit. Sourcing channels, interview cadence, staggered start dates, training capacity. The T-60 to opening staffing ramp.
- The Landlord Relationship During BuildoutHow multi-unit operators actually work with landlords from LOI through opening. Rent commencement, tenant improvement draws, delivery date slippage, and punchlist disputes without burning the relationship.
- Licensing, Permits, and Inspection Timelines Nobody Plans ForThe permit and inspection sequence is the constraint nobody wants to talk about, and the one that will slip your opening by 30 to 60 days. Here is what to plan for.
- Neighborhood Canvassing Pre-Opening That Fills SeatsThe ground game 30 to 60 days before opening. Which businesses to visit in the 5-block radius, what to hand out, and how the door-by-door work feeds the soft-open guest list that actually fills seats on night one.
- The 90 Days Before Opening DayThe last 90 days before a new restaurant opens are the ones that decide whether week one goes clean or breaks. The T-90 to T-1 sequence, week by week, from an operator who has run it twelve times.
- The Opening Day Service Recovery PlanThings go wrong on opening day. The best openings expect the wrongs and have the recovery choreographed. Here is the specific service recovery plan I run every time.
- Partnership Openings With Host RetailersOpening a food unit inside a Walmart, Sam's Club, Whole Foods, or Target. What the host retailer wants from opening day, and what makes their opening different from a standalone.
- Pre-Opening Marketing Budget AllocationHow to split a pre-opening marketing budget across signage, digital, community, PR, influencer, and direct mail for a new restaurant unit. Real percentages, week-by-week spend, and the mistakes to avoid.
- Pre-Opening Marketing That Fills Seats Week OneHow to build a 90-day pre-opening marketing plan that fills seats without overwhelming the kitchen. What to spend on, what to skip, and when to press the accelerator.
- Pre-Opening Training That Holds Past Week SixMost new-unit training peaks at opening and decays by week six. Here is the training design that survives the transition from the opening crew to the resident team.
- Real Estate Scouting for Restaurant OperatorsHow to evaluate a restaurant site as an operator, not a broker. The eight questions I ask on every walk, and the deal terms that will eat you alive in year two.
- The Soft Open Week Schedule Hour by HourSeven days from friends-and-family night to the first paying guests. Hour-by-hour soft open week schedule for a new restaurant unit, drawn from 12+ openings and the Zareen's expansions.
- Staffing a New Location Without Poaching From the Old OneHow to staff a new restaurant opening without breaking your existing units. The training crew model, the temporary assignment, the promotion path that makes the whole thing work.
- The Transition From Three Locations to FiveThree to five is the transition where an owner-operated restaurant group becomes a real multi-unit business. What breaks, what has to be built, and the Zareen's story of scaling through it.
- Training a GM for a New UnitThe 90-day arc for training a general manager into a new restaurant unit. Milestones, shadow shifts, decision-rights handoff, and the specific mistakes that show up when you scale from three to five locations.
- The Twelve-Opening PlaybookTwelve new-unit openings across restaurant and embedded retail. What the third opening taught me that the first eleven did not, and the sequence I run every time now.
- Unit Count Versus Unit Quality : Growing Without Blowing It UpEvery restaurant group that grew too fast paid for the growth in year three. Here is how to tell whether your next unit should open or wait, and the numbers that make the call.
- Week 1 Through Week 4 Post-Opening CadenceThe operating rhythm for the first four weeks after a new restaurant opens. Daily huddles W1, twice-daily P&L reads, staffing recalibration by W2, first monthly review at W4. What actually stabilizes a new unit.