Featured case · Fitzroy · 2025

Northside Espresso

They thought food cost was 30%. It was 37.4%. Sixty-one thousand was sitting in the pass.

Recovered

$61,200

Gross margin

+6.8 pts

Hours back / wk

Play your scan More on this case

We find the gaps. The audit pays for itself. Or your money back.

The framework

Six pillars. The whole shop.

GRC

Governance, risk, compliance

Who decides, what can go wrong, and whether the licences are actually current.

GRC FIN

Financial management

Cash, stock, invoices, tax, the budget you actually use. Margin protection — not a surprise at EOFY.

FIN OPS

Operations

How the work gets done. Waste, suppliers, yield, the plant. The leaks that eat Friday’s profit.

OPS PEOPLE

People & culture

Pay, rosters, induction, the person who knows how the place runs. So it still runs if they are off.

PEOPLE SAFE

Safety & compliance

OHS, food, privacy — the stuff a council or a claim will ask for. Practical checks, not theatre.

SAFE STRAT

Strategy & growth

Where the business is going, and whether this week’s work still points there.

STRAT

On the floor

Cases. Composite. Real maths.

18-seat cafe · Fitzroy

Northside Espresso

$61,200 / yr · +6.8 pts GM

4-site pizza group · Port Melbourne

Harbour Slice

$186,400 / yr · +8.6 pts GM

60-cover dining · South Yarra

The Copper Pan

$94,200 / yr · +4.1 pts GM

Bakery, wholesale + retail · Brunswick

Mill & Rye

$62,400 / yr · +6.5 pts GM

Inner-west pub · Seddon

The Red Stag

$78,400 / yr · +5.4 pts GM

QSR, two sites · Dandenong

Quickfire Burgers

$51,200 / yr · +4.1 pts GM

Events & corporate · Richmond

Kindling Catering

$110,400 / yr · +13.5 pts GM

Truck + ghost kitchen · Footscray

Solar Food Co.

$44,200 / yr · +11.1 pts GM

The leaks

Where Friday’s profit goes.

QUAL

Portion drift

The smash gained 40 grams. Nobody weighed it. That is a point of food cost, every plate, every day.

COGS

Uncosted menu

Supplier file moved. Recipe file did not. You are selling last year’s plate at last year’s price.

ROST

Roster habit

Saturday staffing on a Tuesday room. Labour % is a decision you already made, poorly.

Dogs on the pass

Low-margin, low-velocity dishes that steal mise, coolroom, and ticket time.

FRAUD

Quiet theft

Voids after nine. Mates rates. A cellar with no sheet. Not always malice. Always a number.

INV

Dead stock

Cash sitting in a bag of something you will not plate before it turns.

How it runs

The book is 249 pages. You do not read it.

You send it — or we walk in

P&Ls, recipes, rosters, a day on the floor. You keep serving. We do the looking.

We run the book. You do not read it.

Two hundred and forty-nine pages of GRC, FIN, OPS, PEOPLE, SAFE, STRAT. Condensed into SME checks.

Every gap gets a number

Not a vibe. Recoverable gross margin, hours back, a week it lands, a person who owns it.

Five actions. Then the rest.

The fastest payback first. Training so it sticks. Pulse on the site so it does not go stale.

Pulse

$890

AUD + GST

The SME checks live on your site. Staff tick. Gaps show.

Send the brief →

Walkthrough

$2,490

AUD + GST

We walk the floor. Plain-English report. The next five actions.

Send the brief →

Full Matrix

$4,900

AUD + GST

Every pillar. Quantified ROI on each action. Training so it sticks.

Send the brief →

Pays for itself. Or we pay you back.

If the walkthrough does not identify recoverable gross margin greater than the fee, we refund it. We find gaps or you do not pay.

The deal