How To Increase Profit with No Excuses During This Flat Market

In this essential episode for restaurant entrepreneurs and business owners, Matthew Mabel reveals his proven six-step process for dramatically increasing restaurant profit during challenging flat market conditions. Drawing from real client success stories, Matthew demonstrates how smart restaurant operators can turn market stagnation into competitive advantage through strategic operational improvements. Learn why flat revenue often disguises serious profit erosion problems in restaurant businesses, and discover the exact methodology that helped one multi-unit restaurant client more than double their profit while improving guest experience. This episode delivers actionable restaurant management strategies for entrepreneurship success, focusing on hospitality excellence, cost control systems, menu innovation, and financial literacy that every restaurant business owner needs to thrive in today's competitive market.

Key Topics Covered

• Why flat markets disguise profit erosion in restaurant businesses
• The six-step process to dramatically increase restaurant profit
• Re-emphasizing true hospitality and distinctive service standards
• Tightening food cost systems and inventory management
• Strategic pricing decisions for restaurant profitability
• Developing innovative menu items to attract guests and social media attention
• Laser-focused purchasing strategies for optimal cost management
• Utilizing manager financial literacy for better business decisions
• How this client achieved a forecasted profit increase in the seven figures
• Overcoming excuses and using market challenges as growth opportunities

Links Mentioned

• How To Take The Right Steps Toward Mastering Your Restaurant Financials
• How Top Restaurants Avoid the End of Hospitality

Resources Mentioned

• Website: www.surrender.biz
• Free initial consultation available

Connect with Matthew Mabel

Matthew works with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to improve:

• Profit growth
• Sales optimization
• Guest count increase
• Unit expansion
• Employee engagement
• Brand loyalty

How to Support the Show

• Subscribe to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter
• Rate and review the show
• Visit www.surrender.biz for additional resources

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the Restaurant Success Podcast. I'm Matthew Mabel, veteran restaurant advisor, coach, consultant, and speaker devoted to multi-unit independent restaurant unit, profit and revenue growth, internal harmony and ownership freedom and flexibility.

This is your weekly entree of the advice, strategy and tactics that I currently provide to my best clients.

Today we're going to talk about something that's been on my mind a lot lately - how to increase profit with no excuses during this flat market. I know many of you are feeling the pressure of stagnant revenue and wondering how to maintain profitability when growth seems elusive. We'll explore why flat markets can actually disguise serious problems in your operation, and I'll walk you through the exact six-step process I recently used with a long-time client to more than double their profit. By the end of this episode, you'll understand why now is not the time to slack off, but rather the perfect opportunity to outperform your competition.

In my experience, during a flat market, people can lose focus on "profit-erosion".

We've all been taught that volume covers a multitude of sins. But today, I want you to understand that flat revenue can also be that disguise. It becomes the excuse for everything.

So let me ask you this - can you honestly say your business runs better today than it ever has? Most of my clients can say exactly that.

And here's the thing - while the current market may not stimulate you or inspire you to be at your best, the only way to carve out more than your fair share of revenue and profit from this flat market means taking no time to slack.

Now, I'll be honest with you - lately, I've let things slide myself in some areas but, still, I sometimes get the distress call from a client who’s observing that things could be better.

This year, a long-time client contacted me after we hadn't worked together for a while.

They had this queasy feeling that, even though the business was still very successful, something seemed off on guest experience - and therefore profit. They couldn't quite put their finger on it, but they knew something wasn't right.

So I did what I always do - I dug into the numbers, slicing and dicing them in every way possible to show them what action to take.

What we discovered was fascinating, and the steps we took to fix it resulted in some truly impressive results.

Let me walk you through exactly what we did. There were six key areas we focused on, and I want you to think about whether any of these apply to your operation.

The first thing we tackled was re-emphasizing true hospitality and the unique steps of service that set the brand apart. We went back to the fundamentals of what made this brand distinctive in the first place.

From there, we moved into the operational nuts and bolts - going back to basics on all the systems that controlled and calculated food cost, all the way to the point of reteaching people how to take inventory. 

Now, the next move was one that many operators are hesitant to make. We took an overdue, modest price increase. 

We also got creative with the menu, developing fantastic new menu items that attract the attention of current and lapsed guests and non-users - and their social media accounts too. 

Another area where we really tightened up was purchasing. We focused like a laser on making sure they bought at the absolute best price available for the quality they cook with.

And the last change we made was utilizing the financial literacy of managers by providing them with all the information they need to make smart decisions about their restaurants.

So to recap what we accomplished here - we went back and re-emphasized true hospitality, we tightened up all our food cost systems, we took that overdue price increase, created exciting new menu items, we laser-focused on purchasing, and we got our managers the financial information they needed to make smart decisions.

Now, I thought we would lose a lot of managers who couldn't keep up with these changes.

But, instead, we raised them up.

And what about the results?

They were impressive everywhere. Food cost went down three points. Guest counts were modestly higher, with profit increasing significantly.

Here's the really exciting part - we forecast that profit in twenty twenty-six will have more than doubled compared to twenty twenty-four, yes, you heard that right.

That profit increase number is in the seven figures. After years of holding steady on unit count, I've even heard people there cautiously whispering it may be time to expand again soon.

This brings me to an important point about excuses.

When I re-engaged with this company, the first thing I asked the multi-unit people was what they had done in the past that had made them successful - whether in their current job or previous jobs. Their lists looked comprehensive, full of things that were not happening at their current operation. Which puzzled me.

Sometimes people just need a push. So, consider yourself pushed.

How will you use a flat market to be at your best to grow profit and sales, as opposed to it just making you cautious or bringing you down?

Before we wrap up today, I want to mention a couple of articles I've written that connect directly to what we've discussed. When I talked about re-emphasizing true hospitality, that reminded me of a piece I wrote about How Top Restaurants Avoid the End of Hospitality.

It really addresses this growing trend of restaurants abandoning personal service in favor of text-only communication, and how the best operators are going in the opposite direction to create competitive advantage through exceptional hospitality.

And when I mentioned utilizing the financial literacy of managers, that made me think of another article I wrote that tells you "How To Take The Right Steps Toward Mastering Your Financials."

It explores the four main challenges I see even in successful restaurant groups when it comes to financial transparency and literacy - from P&L format issues to the lack of transparency that keeps managers from making informed decisions.

And, you can find links to both of these articles, in today's show notes.

Let me tell you about how we might work together. I work with owners of successful, independent, multi-unit restaurants to grow their profit, sales, guest count, and unit count. My unique approach bonds employees and guests to restaurant brands and allows owners to enjoy the freedom and flexibility they have earned.

To schedule a call with me to discuss how to achieve your biggest goals, follow the link in the show notes. The initial consultation is complimentary, and we can discuss which big moves might be right for your operation.

Thanks for listening. If you haven't already subscribed to the Restaurant Success Podcast and Newsletter podcast, please do so, and rate and review the show. Find more information in the show notes at Restaurant Success Podcast dot com.

Also find tons of information you can use in print, audio and video form at my website, www dot surrender dot biz. Thanks again and see you next time.