Operating system · Food & Beverage

Open a full-service restaurant that survives its first winter — and gives a lender a reason to say yes.

A banker-ready business plan and an editable financial model built for the one truth most first-time restaurateurs miss: a restaurant lives or dies on prime cost — food plus the hourly cooks and servers, held at or below ~60–65% of sales — which is why an honest full-service P&L shows a ~40% gross margin, not the 70% a generic template will happily (and wrongly) print. This system prices the menu, the bar, the events, and the delivery channel to protect that margin, and models the capital stack a lender actually underwrites.

What's inside

The regulatory and market spine, mapped: the state-adopted FDA Food Code and Certified Food Protection Manager requirement, the liquor license and the legally mandated three-tier distribution system, wage-and-hour and the tip credit, and the card-processing (~2.5–3.5%) and third-party-delivery (15–30% commission) margin traps — the reg-and-cost reality generic plans omit.

The editable model's real levers: starting run-rate and covers, check average, the 40% prime-cost gross margin, non-labor fixed cost, and a true build-out/equipment loan modeled as a full amortization schedule (interest/principal split), with depreciation, real net income, and a lender-grade DSCR that computes live in the Annual Summary — change any yellow input and the three-year projection and DSCR recompute.

The niche-specific playbooks: menu engineering on the stars/plowhorses/puzzles/dogs matrix and contribution margin; the weekly prime-cost cycle (theoretical-vs-actual food cost, SPLH); a restaurant chart of accounts that books hourly labor in COGS; second-generation-space-vs-vanilla-box capital strategy; the pass, ticket times, the nightly close, and the soft-opening sequence that protects your fragile first reviews.

Who it's for

Built for the chef, the front-of-house veteran, or the first-time hospitality entrepreneur assembling a lender/investor package for a single owner-operated location. Delivered instantly at checkout — single-buyer license, no redistribution.

Choose your edition

Edition	What's included	Price
Starter	Business plan + financial model + essential playbooks	$149	Buy Starter
StandardMost popular	Plan + model + all 12 core operations playbooks	$299	Buy Standard
Premium	Plan + model + all 17 playbooks (core + growth & scale)	$499	Buy Premium

Please read before purchasing. This product is an informational and educational operating system — a research-grounded business plan, operations playbooks, and an editable financial model. It is not legal, tax, accounting, financial, or investment advice, and using it does not create a professional-client relationship. Bytell Press does not guarantee any specific business, funding, or financial outcome. You are responsible for your own decisions and for consulting a qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction before acting.