Opening & planning
Budgets, timelines, opening checklists and tools for turning the idea into an actual restaurant.
Tools for independent restaurant owners
Things I wish I’d had earlier.
Calculators, templates, checklists and working systems built from things I actually use — or had to build for myself.
Not because there’s only one way to do things. Just because starting from something useful is usually better than starting from a blank spreadsheet.
How I think about these
The knowledge shouldn’t disappear behind a paywall.
If I know something useful, I’d rather explain it properly in a guide than hold back the important part just so I can sell you something.
The tools are different.
They’re for when you understand the idea but don’t want to spend three hours building the spreadsheet, document, calculator or system yourself.
You can take the free advice and build your own version. Or, if mine saves you time, use mine.
The library
Built around the problems that actually come up.
Numbers & profitability
Labour, food cost, margins, pricing and simple ways to understand where your money is actually going.
Operations & staffing
Documents and systems for the things that have to happen repeatedly without needing the owner standing beside them.
Guests, groups & bookings
Policies, calculators and templates for group reservations, private events and the awkward situations nobody explains beforehand.
What I’m building first
A few useful places to start.
01
Restaurant opening budget
Coming soonA realistic opening budget that forces you to account for the boring, expensive things that are easy to forget when you’re excited about the concept.
02
Labour cost calculator
Coming soonA simple way to see what your schedule is actually costing you before the payroll report arrives.
03
Menu costing & pricing sheet
Coming soonCost dishes properly, understand the margin and see what changes when ingredients, portions or prices move.
04
Group booking kit
Coming soonA starting point for fixed menus, minimum spends, cancellation rules, credit-card holds and the messages that explain them to guests.
05
Private event profitability calculator
Coming soonWork backwards from what closing the restaurant actually costs you instead of guessing what a privatization should be worth.
In the meantime
You probably don’t need to wait for a template.
Most of the thinking behind these tools will live in the Guides library too. If you’re working through something now, start there.