Massage franchise or independent: what each asks of you
Royalties are on revenue, not profit. What a franchise buys, what it costs in the four forms it takes, and the membership liability people miss.
Insights
For the people running the floor.
Page 8 of 11.
What makeup artists earn, and the pricing mistake
Five ways the work is paid, why a bridal day priced on application time pays you for a quarter of it, and the consumable costs that thin the net.
Chain or independent: the question that decides it
Not which pays more. Whether you have a book that would follow you — and an unsentimental way to answer that before you pay rent.
Your slow season is three weeks, and it is fixed in October
Pull two years by week and the pattern is sharper than you think. Why rebooking beats discounting, and what a quiet week actually costs.
Prime cost: food and labour only make sense together
The two halves trade against each other, so watching either alone misleads. How to calculate it properly, and why purchases are not cost of goods.
Menu engineering: four groups, four different actions
Contribution in dollars, not percentages. A $34 dish at 40% beats a $12 dish at 30%. The four groups every menu divides into and what to do with each.
Table turn time is your revenue ceiling
1.5 turns on 40 seats is 60 covers; 2 turns is 80. Same rent, same staff. Where the missing fifteen minutes actually goes, and how to get it back.
How much of the room to hold for walk-ins
All reservations means empty tables when people no-show. All walk-ins means no planning. The mix that works, and the cancellation call that costs you twice.
A waitlist that converts a queue into covers
Quote honestly and let people leave. Why under-quoting feels like good news and is not, and the busy-night calls that pull your host off the door.
Comps and voids: the difference that matters
A void removes something never made; a comp removes something you paid to cook. Why aggregate totals hide everything, and the four controls that work.
Delivery commission: is it actually incremental?
A $20 dish contributing $14 in the room contributes about $8 through delivery. How to test whether it is extra orders or the same ones at a worse margin.
The hour before service decides the service
What belongs on a front-of-house and kitchen open, the five-minute brief worth doing daily, and the item almost every checklist is missing.