Restaurant turnarounds for rooms that used to be full

You have a room that used to be full. We find out why, fix what can be fixed, replace what cannot, and show you the numbers every week while we do it.

Signs you already know

Nobody fills out the form because things are fine. If three of these sound like your restaurant, it is time for the walk-in.

Covers down since a season you can nameSpring, the new place down the road, the week the chef left. You know when it started.
The kitchen turns over faster than you can train itEvery new cook learns the menu from the last new cook.
Nobody can find you on MapsAnd the ones who do are reading reviews from two owners ago.
Food cost creeps and nobody can say whyNo one can point to the plate that is doing it.
A menu nobody can execute on a FridayIt grew one good idea at a time, and now it is too big for the line.
Regulars stopped comingNobody asked them why. They just stopped.
You work every shiftAnd the numbers still do not move.
Everyone has a theoryYour partner, your chef, your accountant. Nobody has a number.

What changes in week one

Every room is different. These are the moves that usually come first, once the number is in writing and the authority is signed.

Seed-crusted pieces basting in a hot pan

1
Aziz on the pass
From the first service he runs, plates leave right or they do not leave. The standard is set by doing it, not by a memo.
2
The menu gets cut
To what sells and what makes money, costed plate by plate. Fewer dishes, done the same way every night.
3
A line-up before every service
The whole crew, the same standard, said out loud before the doors open.
4
The numbers go on the wall
Covers, check, food cost, labor. The same numbers you will see every week for ninety days.
5
Search and maps get fixed first
Because that is where your next guest is deciding. Marketing starts where the bookings start.
6
Supplier invoices, line by line
The waste gets found, named and cut.

The authority agreement

A turnaround needs one person steering. For the term of the agreement, Aziz has one hundred percent operational authority: the kitchen, the floor and the marketing run our way.

It is signed up front, before any work starts, so nobody relitigates it in the middle of a Saturday service. Half measures are how restaurants stay stuck.

Authority is not ownership. The restaurant, the name and the decision about what comes after the ninety days stay with you, and you see the numbers every week.

What you keep control of

Illustration: Chef Aziz leading a pre-service line-up with cooks and servers listening

Targets you can measure

The number the agreement answers to comes from your own numbers, not ours. It is agreed together, in writing, before any fee beyond the visit.

If you want it

The turnaround, on camera

If you want it, your turnaround is filmed for Show Me Kitchen, so the whole city watches the room fill. If you do not, nothing is filmed and the work runs the same way.

About the series