Results That Matter!

Food Sense understands it takes a commitment of your valuable time and financial resources to partner with a consultant. We build our reputation based on the success of our client’s and do not settle for mild improvements. We deliver results, not theory. We put our money where our mouth is, with a guaranteed minimum four-fold payback return on your investment in our fees, often ten-fold and higher!

Why should you choose us?
Food Sense delivers sound strategies that matter and can be executed better, faster, with lasting results.

• We have been in the trenches and your shoes, having learned from mistakes and what works.
• We understand business realities and responsibilities to meet real budgets and timelines.
• We have a proven track record of success and guarantee high return on your investment.
• We have over 20 years experience with some of the nation’s most respected premier operators.
• Unique perspective across diverse projects spans over 30 concept and thousands of product developments.

Success Stories
Over the years, Ms. Holand, President and Owner, has successfully led projects from single independent operators and start-up concepts, to multi-concept national operators and turn-around revitalizations.
Much of our specific project results are confidential however, here are a few success stories to give you a flavor of the level of results achieved, across a diverse range of project experience.

Situation / Problem: National concept under-performing to best in class standards, food and labor cost as well as operating expenses below expectations and diminishing bottom-line profit.

Solution: Through targeted strategic analysis into operations at national, regional and single-unit levels, best practices were identified, food cost waste systems and labor control programs implemented, as well as menu re-engineering and daily management practices. Monthly operations evaluations from commodity costing and menu cost and profit opportunities, to labor productivity and other operating cost benchmarking was conducted to achieve incremental gains month after month.

Food waste programs as well as menu item re-engineering analysis was performed to the ingredient and portion level, evaluating competitive concerns. Pricing strategies were studied and time and motion studies conducted to maximize profit potential.

Results: Chain saved over two million annualized profit increases, achieving new benchmarks of excellence to sustain growth and concept expansion long-term.

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Situation / Problem: National chain looking to create a new best in class fast-casual concept, to address growing industry trends and as a new concept growth vehicle for long-term expansion.

Solution: Coordinated project management, from financial budgeting, capital investment and procurement to ensure concept launched timely within budgets and return on investment expectations. Conducted extensive menu planning and analysis, recipe and activity based costing and production planning to ensure food and labor cost would be within profitable levels. Reviewed over thousand products from private label to manufacturer product evaluations and testing to ensure offering would deliver a memorable experience to drive sales long-term.

Developed merchandising and presentation strategies to drive impulsive sales and average check. Created new point of sale systems processes, labor management systems and cash handling procedures to maximize efficiency and reduce shrink. Developed daily production, ordering and product handling standards to reduce waste and labor costs. Developed management reporting and just-in-time management tools to accelerate performance in opening months and enable concept success.

Results: Concept exceeded sales and return on investment projections within the first four weeks, expanding to six locations within a few years. Concept achieved new sales highs for the chain received the coveted National Restaurant Association’s “New Concept of the Year” award.

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Situation / Problem: Single unit restaurant open 10 months has failed to be profitable, experiencing high food cost, labor cost and mounting loses over the past three months. High end upscale restaurant has limited market appeal and needs to be revitalized to increase sales. General manager was working every imaginable function, rather than managing the business.

Solution: A full operations assessment was conducted, analyzing costs of recipe items, waste and labor efficiency, as well as the menu appeal, marketing efforts and training needs. Menu was re-engineered, production streamlined and daily operating systems created to manage costs. Labor was re-structured to reduce general manager need to actually work functions and allow focus on daily systems, running and marketing the business.

Staff labor functions were redefined to empower staff to more productive practices, while reducing general manager hours from 80+ per week to 60 and returning quality of life. Restructured all labor functions including back-of-house, front-of-house and management focuses to reduce management costs 20%. Financial tracking was implemented as well as cost monitoring. Marketing programs developed and project return on investments to set realistic expectations and performance measurements.

Results: Re-engineered menu profitability and labor cost and production requirements to enable a profitable concept. Streamlined menu and simplified production to improve consistency and profits. Identified other operating cost control areas to reduce over 20% of expenses. Marketing plans developed with minimal investment to promote brand and stimulate sales growth.

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Situation / Problem: Chain entering primary competitors home market, needing to create best in class concept that will wow customers as well as deliver high level of sales and profitability.

Solution: Utilizing best practices from industry and internal success stories, a new concept was developed to address the growing fast-casual needs. Partnerships were formed with franchisers for best in class venues as well as new proprietary concepts developed for pizza venues, soup bars, sandwich programs, prepared foods, full-scale bakery operations, sushi bar, gourmet coffee bars and more. Models were developed for each venue to maximize sales and profitability with extensive activity based costing and menu engineering to ensure food, shrink and labor cost would return a profitable structure.

Designed maximum productivity facility with design elements that enabled high-impact visual merchandising concepts. Equipment specifications would need to meet high production needs and flexibility to change venues with market needs. New training programs as well as daily operating systems implemented to create a model that would exceed any performance levels currently within the organization. Extensive strategic planning and analysis performed to enable concept success.

Results: Concept delivered the highest levels of company performance, generating over $150k weekly sales and achieved profitability within 60 days of opening, on a fully loaded profit & loss statement basis. Concept models went on to be refined into new benchmarks for the company, with above average return on investment ratios.

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Situation / Problem: Very successful perishable retailer desired to accelerate profit performance and develop best practices within the lowest performing region, to demonstrate and implement proven systems that would work across the entire company.

Solution: Operations and feedback teams were formed to gain understanding as to the barriers and cultural issues surrounding the performance, in terms of system support, training and hiring practices as well as management issues. The corporate structure was then assessed to determine operational enablers that would be required to reach new levels of excellence. System wide regions were then reviewed for best practices and a new daily management and training program was developed using all these elements, to create a program that could be implemented at the store level and across regions.

New daily operating systems of management to daily associate task management were created to maximize sales performance and labor efficiency. New methods of menu management were trained to enable managers to understand how to evolve product offering and improve profitability. A staging program by which the store and manager progress through new best practices, achieving performance levels and bonus rewards, created a new level of competition among store managers, to excel at the new programs. Once several managers achieved the first levels, the program was implemented across the region. The program was then refined and rolled-out to other regions as a new benchmark for best practices.

Results: The worst performing financial region in the company became the highest performing region within nine months, setting new company records in unit weekly sales, food cost, labor efficiency, employee retention, and overall customer satisfaction. The pilot locations went from negative profit losses to double digit profitability within the third month on the new programs.

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Situation / Problem: Foodservice and perishable deli and cheese departments performing flat to negative sales growth. Margins needed revitalization as well as labor cost reductions. Concept needed revitalization in the face of growing competition and shrinking market share.

Solution: Each major department and product category was analyzed from market share, procurement practices and pricing strategies to labor efficiency, merchandising and marketing programs. Major commodity contracts were renegotiated, new merchandising techniques tested and implemented, time and motion studies conducted to realign functional effectiveness. Daily Management systems improved as well as new training programs developed to improve product knowledge and customer service.

Marketing, advertising and new product POS materials developed to communicate the essence of the brands. Hundreds of prepared foods products were evaluated, streamlining recipes for improved consistency, reduced costs and added appeal while reducing labor costs. New facilities designs were created and best in class models for benchmarking.

Results: Concept revitalized to positive growth, achieving over 20% profit increase while establishing new benchmark and operations models for expansion across the chain. Improved competitive posture dramatically as well as improved customer satisfaction.

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Situation / Problem: Successful well-known concept was failing to grow the past few years to expectations. Menu was stale and the organization lacked core competencies to develop the concept to new levels with the support commissary. The company needed a catalyst to facilite change as the commissary contract was limiting the operator to grow the business in the changing and increasingly competitive environment.

Solution: The concept menu was evaluated to enable expansion of variety to reflect trends and broaden consumer appeal. New products and menu items were developed, sourcing collateral sales building manufacturer products to complete the perishable presentation and bring credibility to the concept. Shelf lives and production products were engineered with the commissary to extend shelf life to enable improved variety and meet the changing taste profiles of the consumer. Merchandising and product presentations were revived as well as new marketing strategies and materials created to communicate this new menu effectively to revitalize sales.

Since the chain was approaching the summer and behind schedule, this transformation or menu and presentation had to be developed in rapid pace, with responsibility to budgeting and investment. New daily ordering systems were developed to enable an efficient supply chain response cycle. New training programs were implemented to enable concept success. New strategic financial measurements and benchmarking systems developed to monitor results.

Results: New program was implemented and achieved minimum 10% sales growth in every location, averaging over 20% with some stores achieving over 50% sales growth. Margins improved due to extended shelf life and improved quality of operation, which in turn improved labor productivity. Company learned best practices to maintain and manage program long-term.

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Situation / Problem: Chain was operating over 4 types of franchise concepts plus proprietary foodservice and lacked consistency to consumer, as well has experiencing mounting profit losses in double digit proportion. Foodservice program lacked vision and strength to compete long-term. Company wanted to develop proprietary, credible foodservice and perishable operations.

Solution: An organizational assessment was conducted to evaluate franchise concepts and market potential of proprietary concepts. Core competencies were evaluated and a strategic business plan to convert all existing operations to one new proprietary operation that could be expanded into every location, creating a viable brand and consistency for the consumer. Supply chain was created from inception, commissary and bakery partners sourced, hundreds of products developed across major manufacturers to create the new concept. Facilities were aggressively redesigned over a four month period, changing shopping patterns and maximizing concept visibility. New daily ordering and product management systems developed as well as training programs and performance measurement systems.

Merchandising and marketing programs were developed for go-to-market as well as billboard, radio and community marketing campaigns. Additionally, all related perishable categories from bakery and sandwich programs to perishable produce, dairy, frozen and ice cream were refined. A complete cultural reform to embrace the concept occurred, dramatically changing daily focus, supported by new management bonus programs to change the face of the company and it’s competitive posture.

Results: Concept exceeded industry channel sales standards, as well as food and labor cost benchmarks and return on investment standards. Culture reached full embracement within the first year to establish a concept that sets new benchmarks in foodservice profitability. The value proposition and consistency of the offering to the consumer was dramatically improved and long-term competitive positioning. The concept is now poised for successful, long-term growth.

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Situation / Problem: The gourmet program while seen as very competitive and widely recognized by the consumer in the market, was not returning the profit levels needed. The program needed to achieve new standards of excellence to thrive in the competitive market place, needing a complete program review from roaster to supplier to cup. Repair and maintenance costs were escalating and the brand had reached a three-year maturity point.

Solution: A complete assessment of the program was conducted to understand opportunity areas as well as to evaluate the organizations core competencies in growing the brand long-term. A full review of the commodity product, reformulation of product specifications and roast blends were developed to compete effectively against best in market competitors. New roaster partnerships were formed as well as preventative maintenance programs. All related commodity costs from green bean procurement, condiments and packaging to repair and maintenance practices were reviewed, stripping the program down to each cost component to identify profit opportunities.

Extensive strategic analysis was performed to determine cost and waste reduction opportunities, by location and component product. New best practices were developed and monitoring procedures at store level to improve quality and consistency. Marketing campaigns and merchandising programs were upgraded to highlight the brand and improve value proposition. Equipment specifications were tested against major manufacturers to determine next generation equipment. Warrantee programs were re-negotiated to reduce repair and maintenance liability and cost monitoring systems established.

Results: Sales reached and sustained new growth level highs. The quality and consistency of the product improved greatly. Repair and maintenance costs were reduced while improving quality of preventative maintenance services. Profit margins dramatically increased in key locations over 15% from previous benchmarks and the program is strongly positioned for long-term growth.

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Situation / Problem: Single unit operator, facing increased competition and slumping profits in the bakery and cheese departments, needed to revitalize the programs to survive long-term. Bakery operation was extremely labor intensive and the cheese shop lacked broad customer appeal. Service standards were below expectations and product selection was not competitive.

Solution: The Bakery department product selection, merchandising and overall department appeal was upgraded with minor investment. Hundreds of products were sourced from par baked breads and frozen finish-off products to specialty foods, jams, jellies and olive oils to bring credibility to the overall presentation. Scratch production was limited and labor scheduling streamlined to improve customer focus and dramatically improve labor productivity and reduce labor costs. Signature products were created, pricing structures refined, upgrading presentations and packaging to improve value proposition.

The Cheese Shop was completely re-invented using existing fixtures, sourcing new supply chain manufacturers, negotiating new purchasing contracts. Product assortment was increased from under 100 items to over 300 items, while improving inventory turns and margins. New sales programs, sampling programs and marketing materials were developed to promote the new cheese shop image. Management and staff were re-trained to achieve new service standards levels and the entire store to embrace the new concepts. The transformation of both departments took place over an aggressive eight-week period.

Results: The Bakery Department created draw and instant recognition, boosting sales to new levels while dramatically reducing labor costs to become profitable within four weeks of new program implementation. The Cheese Department grew sales four-fold, instantly achieving profitability to levels never seen by this operator. The supermarket created two viable thriving departments and key destination brands that will enable the operator to compete effectively.

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