Emmy Squared Pizza Bite-size: Operational Reality of a Post-Covid Rebuild

I would say pre-COVID models, they weren't necessarily as defined.

pre-COVID models where I had a great idea for a recipe or I've always wanted to try to open my own restaurant or yes, I want to go after that Michelin star or yes, I want to be that counter service concept.

But there was much more um, trial and error.

There was much more organic movement through who you were and what you were offering to the community.

And you could play in a lot of different sandboxes.

You could be that little mom and pop restaurant that also had really nice stemware and, uh, you know, nice linens and, you know, um, you know, a type of linen, like a seafold napkin in your bathroom that made you feel like you were in front, you know, in Paris kind of walking out of the bathroom, you know? So there was a lot of, Hey, you know, what's frivolous, what's not frivolous, but it wasn't like something that we had to make a decision on.

It was like kind of who are we today? Who are we tomorrow? Who are we next year? And kind of figuring out the operations and what we felt like was a part of the brand and wasn't.

Post-COVID, The margins obviously are even slimmer than they were.

And that's saying something because the margins were slim pre COVID as well.

But I think people coming into this industry post COVID have realized that there needs to be such a discipline and deliberateness to every choice made about your operations from the beginning, right? There can't, there can be very little trial and error because every dollar wasted on something that doesn't necessarily support the core essence of the brand is a dollar that you can't afford to lose.

And so, you know, I made the, I use the example of a linen roller, right? you know, mom and pop restaurants are looking at their operating expenses and they obviously have their prime cost.

And they're like, okay, we know that, you know, if we could be 22% or under in our op ex, we would make a little bit of money at the end of the day.

And now, right.

Like you can't be 22% that, you know, you're underwater.

Right.

And so it's, How are you looking at every aspect, every line item of your P&L and truly understanding like, hey, is the difference between a paper napkin and a linen napkin truly worth the brand kind of perception? And if so, how are we making up that revenue to allow us to actually generate that 5% to 7%.

And the restaurants that are successful are profiting at a really high level in certain categories because The restaurants that are profitable are profiting at much higher numbers than they used to be, I would say, in the fast casual categories because they found that like, okay, we're going to streamline our operations.

We're going to cut away all of the fat.

And we're going to just focus on the things that make us successful.

And then they're able to leverage obviously their buying power and things like that.

And the other side of that, the true fine dining kind of Michelin star, you know, $80 a head, $150 a head, $400 a head restaurant.

The word bench is the key, right? Like, can your payroll afford an individual that

is potentially like kind of waiting in the wings that not

directly supporting generating revenue currently.

Um, and I know a lot of models right now, a lot of business models that can't afford that, you know? And so, um, you know, that means that you have to look to your hourly, you have to look to your team, uh, to be, um, you know, kind of brand ambassadors and are constantly on the lookout for that, that that one or two individuals that they think could potentially three months from now, six months from now, you know, grow into somebody that could really create value for your company.