For Independent restaurant groups running a few to a dozen or more locations
Catch menu item margin slipping when ingredient costs move
Ingredient prices rise one invoice at a time while menu prices stay put. A best seller slowly turns into a low-margin item, and modifiers like extra protein get given away. Nobody recosts the menu until the next menu change.
What it can cost you
Example: a dish selling 400 plates a month whose plate cost rose $1.80 with no price change = $720 a month.An illustration, not a promise. Your Opportunity Scan puts a real number on it.
What the system checks overnight
- Recalculates plate cost per item from recipes and the latest invoice prices.
- Compares plate cost to the menu price in the POS for each location.
- Tracks contribution margin per item and how much each item sells.
- Flags items whose cost rose past your target with no price change.
- Flags paid modifiers rung in at no charge more often than usual.
Where it reads from
- MarginEdge
- Toast or Square
What happens when it fires
You and the chef decide to reprice, change the portion, or swap an ingredient. The system lists the items that slipped most and drafts a short recosting summary for the menu meeting.
Autonomy level: Suggest only. The brief tells you what changed and what to do. Nothing happens without you.
What we guarantee
Plate cost recalculated for every recipe-costed item each week, with items below target margin listed first. We agree on the metric before the Sprint starts and measure it over the first 20 business days after go-live. If we miss it, you get half your Sprint fee back. Dollar savings are tracked in your monthly saves log, reported rather than promised.
Questions
We change the menu by season. Is weekly recosting overkill?
The recosting runs on its own, so it costs you nothing to keep it current. The brief only mentions items that crossed your target, which is usually a short list.
Do prices differ by location?
If they do, it compares each location's price to its own plate cost, since vendor prices can differ by location too.
Do I need new software for this?
No. The system reads from the tools you already use, with read-only access by default. A guardrail layer controls exactly which data the AI can see.
What does it cost?
A 3-week Sprint is $6,000 fixed and includes the morning brief plus one automation tied to an agreed metric. Ongoing support is $1,500 a month, or $500 a month to keep it running without new automations. If the agreed metric is missed over the first 20 business days after go-live, half the Sprint fee is refunded.
How is this different from a dashboard app or a free AI kit?
A dashboard app shows numbers when you go look. A free AI kit gives you the parts, and you do the setup, the upkeep, and the checking. Here the alarms are built for your kind of business, they watch outside data like market rates and rule changes alongside yours, and on Run or Keep-Running, the person who built them keeps them working and logs what they caught.
More alarms for multi-unit restaurant groups
Seven more things worth watching.
- Food cost creep by locationCompare actual to theoretical food cost per location every week, by category, so the store drifting high gets noticed while you can fix it.
- Labor running ahead of salesCompare next week's schedule to forecast sales and reservations per location, and track labor percentage by daypart, so schedules match the business.
- Vendor price increases on key itemsCompare every invoice line on your top items to the last price and the agreed price, across locations, so price creep gets challenged fast.
- Comps and voids anomaliesCompare comps, voids, and discounts per server, manager, and location to their peers and history, so odd patterns surface while they are fresh.
- Review rating dropsRead every new review across your locations each morning, spot repeated complaints, tie them to service days, and have reply drafts ready.
- Reservation no-show patternsTrack no-shows and late cancels by day, time, party size, and booking channel per location, so deposits and overbooking go where they matter.
- Overtime building mid-weekProject who will cross your overtime threshold before the week ends, including staff who work at more than one location, so you can shift hours.
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