We cut food cost variance
from 6.2% to 1.1%
in eleven weeks.
Operators we've worked with
We rewire the nervous system of restaurants — replacing the systems that fail you during a slammed Friday service with tech stacks that hum.
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The Problem
Food Cost Variance
A 22-seat fine dining restaurant in Chicago knew their food cost was wrong. The owner could feel it in every week's P&L — but the numbers from Toast didn't match the invoices, and the invoices didn't match what was actually in the walk-in. Three months of reconciling in Excel. No clear answer.
Lost to untracked variance per month:
~$4,200
The Intervention
Connected the invoice trail to the plate.
We integrated MarginEdge directly into their existing Toast POS, pulling invoice data from their three primary vendors automatically. Every purchase order now reconciles against usage. Theoretical vs. actual cost updates nightly.
Stack deployed:
Time to first reconciled P&L:
11 days
Food Cost Variance — Before vs. After
↓ 82% reduction"I finally know what my food cost actually is. Not what I think it is — what it is."
— James Kowalski, Owner, Ardor Chicago
The Intervention
One source of truth across 22 locations.
We mapped the data handshake failure between Toast Enterprise and 7shifts, rebuilt the API middleware, and established a labor cost feed that updates every 15 minutes. Managers stopped manually entering shift data. The COO stopped receiving spreadsheets on Sunday nights.
Stack deployed:
Hours of manual data entry eliminated per week:
38 hrs / week
The Problem
POS ↔ Labor Platform Integration Failure
A 22-location casual dining group upgraded to Toast Enterprise in Q3. Their 7shifts integration — which had worked fine on the old system — broke completely during migration. Labor data stopped syncing. Managers at every location were manually re-entering scheduled shifts into two separate systems. Payroll was running 12–18% over budget for six consecutive weeks.
Payroll overrun:
+16%
Weeks unresolved:
6 wks
Labor Cost as % of Revenue — Before vs. After Integration Fix
↓ 14 pts recovered"Sunday night is just Sunday night again. I'm not building spreadsheets for the Monday ops call anymore."
— Darnell Washington, VP Operations, Meridian Dining Group
Know exactly what's broken
before it costs you another quarter.
We'll map your current tech stack, identify the integration failures, and tell you exactly what to fix — in order of financial impact. No sales pitch. No retainer required to start.
The Problem
Franchisor Mandate: Online Ordering Live
A 60-location franchise group received a non-negotiable directive: all locations must have an active online ordering channel within 90 days or face contract penalties. They had no unified menu taxonomy, no existing Olo account, and their Toast configurations varied wildly across locations acquired over six years. Their IT team had two people.
Locations
60
IT staff
2
Days
90
The Intervention
60 locations live. 84 days.
We embedded with their ops team on day one. Audited all 60 Toast configurations, standardized the menu taxonomy, built the Olo storefront architecture, and executed a phased rollout starting with 8 pilot locations. Staff training was delivered remotely via recorded walkthroughs, not in-person visits.
Week 1–2
Menu data audit & taxonomy cleanup
Week 3–5
Olo storefront build + Toast integration
Week 6–8
Pilot rollout: 8 locations
Week 9–12
Full 60-location deployment + staff training
Online Order Revenue — 30 Days Post-Launch vs. Target
✓ 6 days ahead of deadline"We were terrified going into this. Sixty locations, two IT people, ninety days. Ticket ran the whole thing. We just had to show up for the calls."
— Patricia Okonkwo, CEO, Sunrise Franchise Partners
POS platform comparison: Toast vs. Lightspeed vs. Square
Integration compatibility matrix (2024)
Food cost tool evaluation rubric
Online ordering channel decision tree
Labor scheduling platform ROI calculator
The 2024 Restaurant Tech Stack Guide
32 pages. Every major platform evaluated. Integration compatibility mapped. Written by operators who've actually migrated these systems — not vendor marketing teams.