Most restaurant owners think their labor cost is already as low as it can go. But what if they're wrong?

If your restaurant labor cost is sitting at 30-35% of sales, you're likely leaving thousands in profit on the table every month.

In this episode of the Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast, Andrew Scott (founder of Owner Shift) reveals why your management team believes lowering labor is impossible - and how to prove them wrong without cutting pay, slashing hours, or hurting your restaurant culture.

Tune in to discover:

✅ How to lower restaurant labor cost without cutting hours or underpaying staff
✅ The real reason your restaurant team feels overwhelmed (even when overstaffed)
✅ Why most restaurant managers resist lowering labor costs
✅ The dangerous belief keeping your restaurant stuck at "this is as efficient as we can get"
✅ Why adding more restaurant staff often leads to less work getting done
✅ The leadership shift that increases restaurant profit margins and employee retention

Key moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:04:30 Belief Blocks Profit
00:07:30 Two Cooks Vs Five
00:10:30 Smaller Sandwich Test
00:14:00 The Newspaper Moment
00:17:00 Standards Over Softness
00:20:00 Whose Business Is It Really?
00:23:00 Why Staff Complain
00:25:30 Call People Up

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✅Tools For Restaurant Owners✅

Claim your FREE Restaurant Weekly Financial Tracker to uncover thousands in hidden profits and optimize your costs (in less time than it takes to finish your morning coffee):

https://ghl.ownershifttraining.com/weekly-tracker-lp

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast

If you're a restaurant owner struggling with profit, cash flow, or growth… this might be the most important episode you listen to this year.

Most people think restaurants fail because of bad food or bad service.

But that's rarely the real reason.

Restaurants usually fail because of bad decisions, flawed thinking, and misreading the numbers. And most owners don't even realize they're doing it.

In this episode, I break down the biggest mindset and strategy mistakes restaurant owners make - and how to fix them fast.

Tune in to discover:

✅ Why comparing weekly or monthly sales is misleading your decisions
✅ How to properly analyze restaurant financial data and avoid emotional mistakes
✅ The truth about restaurant seasonality (and how I grew winter sales by 50%)
✅ Why your P&L shows profit - but your bank account is empty
✅ The dangerous trap of merchant loans and why more cash won't fix a broken business
✅ Why opening a second restaurant location can hurt more than help
✅ The mindset shift that separates profitable restaurant owners from struggling ones

Whether you're running one location or thinking about scaling to multi-unit, this episode will help you stop guessing and start making smarter, data-driven decisions.

Key moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:40 Week Over Week Trap
00:05:00 Seasonality
00:07:00 Pioneering Delivery
00:11:20 Data Versus Feelings
00:12:20 The Barbecue Client Story
00:17:00 External Versus Internal Control
00:19:20 Best Worker Worst Leader
00:20:20 Someday It Gets Better
00:22:40 Liquidity Is A Symptom
00:25:00 More Locations = More Problems

Hit play now and find out which thinking errors are costing you the most.

-

✅Tools For Restaurant Owners✅

Thinking of opening another restaurant? Avoid costly mistakes with my free guide:

👉https://hs.ownershifttraining.com/optin-mupb?el=podcast

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast

Hiring more staff won't fix your restaurant staffing problems.

In fact, it's probably making them worse.

If you're constantly short-staffed, dealing with unreliable employees, or stuck working in your restaurant instead of on it… this episode will change the way you hire forever
.
I’m sharing the critical difference between hiring for relief vs hiring for leverage - and how this one mindset shift can transform your team, your profits, and your freedom as a restaurant owner.

Tune in to discover:

✅ Why hiring out of desperation is killing your restaurant business
✅ The difference between A, B, and C players… and why it matters more than your menu
✅ How to identify, attract, and retain top-performing restaurant employees
✅ Why "gut feel" hiring fails the moment you try to scale
✅ How paying your team more can actually lower your labor costs
✅ The exact mindset shift you need to build a self-running restaurant

Key moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:00:30 Staffing vs. Leadership Mindset
00:01:30 The A-B-C Player Grid
00:03:10 Hiring to Level Up
00:04:10 Engineer Your Hiring System
00:05:50 The Reverse Roster Exercise
00:06:50 It's a Talent Game
00:08:10 Gut Feel Doesn't Scale
00:09:50 You Can't Overpay A-Players
00:10:30 The Dollar Raise Experiment
00:12:10 Hiring Drives Your Finances

-

✅Get your FREE copy of The Restaurant Manager Hiring Playbook✅

👉https://hs.ownershifttraining.com/managerhiringtoolkit?el=podcast

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast

Most restaurant cost-cutting strategies fail because restaurant owners are cutting costs the wrong way - destroying profit margins and unknowingly making their business harder to run.

This episode will help you change that, so you can decrease costs and increase margins for the long term.

You’ll also hear why most cost-cutting strategies fail - and how to fix them without hurting your business, your team, or your customers.

Tune in to discover:

✅ Why aggressive cost-cutting backfires in restaurants
✅ The biggest mistake owners make with food cost… and how to avoid it
✅ How to reduce labor costs (without hurting service)
✅ The right way to increase menu prices… while keeping customers happy
✅ What you MUST do with any changes before rolling them out across your business
✅ The simple secret to increasing profit margins by 10%+

Key moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:00 Why most cost-cutting plans fail
00:02:40 The comfort zone trap
00:04:00 Price increases done wrong
00:06:00 Inventory vs food cost myth
00:08:40 Smart labor scheduling
00:11:20 The 50 flyers mistake
00:13:20 Facebook ads "don't work" fallacy
00:15:00 Test first

-

✅Tools For Restaurant Owners✅

Thinking of opening another restaurant? Avoid costly mistakes with my free guide:

👉https://hs.ownershifttraining.com/optin-mupb?el=podcast

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast

Most restaurant owners say, “I can’t afford help”... but what if that mindset is actually costing you tens of thousands of dollars every year?

This episode exposes one of the biggest mistakes restaurant owners make - trying to do everything themselves.

If you're stuck working long hours, struggling to grow sales, or feeling like your business isn’t moving forward, you need to understand how investing in your restaurant can help.

Andrew shares real experiences from his early days as a restaurant owner - including costly trial-and-error mistakes, failed marketing assumptions, and the hard truth about why figuring things out alone slows your growth.

Tune in to discover:

✅ Why saying “I can’t afford help” is holding your restaurant back
✅ The hidden cost of trial and error in your business
✅ How delaying decisions can cost you $50K+ in lost profit
✅ The difference between paying with time vs money
✅ Why learning from experts accelerates restaurant growth
✅ How to break out of the “stuck” phase and scale faster
✅ The mindset shift every successful restaurant owner makes

Key moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:00 Podcast overview
00:02:00 The "I can't afford help" trap
00:04:05 Learn from others' mistakes
00:05:00 Self-made mindset
00:06:00 The delusional mailout math
00:07:40 You pay either way
00:09:00 The 5-10x time penalty
00:10:00 Who has what I don't know?
00:11:00 Seven years to location two
00:12:20 Choose your hard
00:13:40 Limiting belief to leverage

Listen now and discover why the smartest investment you can make is the one that saves you years of guessing.

-

👉Get the restaurant manager hiring playbook:

https://hs.ownershifttraining.com/managerhiringtoolkit

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast

If your restaurant is packed but your bank account isn’t growing, this shows you exactly why - and how to increase restaurant profits.

In this episode of the Restaurant Growth Accelerator, Andrew Scott (multi-unit restaurant owner with 20+ years of experience) breaks down one of the biggest myths in the industry:

More sales do NOT automatically mean more profit.

Most restaurant owners focus on getting more customers, but ignore the one metric that actually determines profitability.

If you don’t fix this metric first, more volume can actually make you poorer.

Tune in to discover:

✅ Why increasing sales can hurt your profits
✅The truth about restaurant prime cost (and why it matters)
✅How to properly match labor to demand
✅How to reduce costs and instantly improve cash flow
✅How to turn slow weekdays into revenue opportunities
✅Why every restaurant needs a clear P&L (profit & loss statement)

Key moments:

00:00:00 - Intro
00:01:00 - When Busy Means Broke
00:04:00 - Bare Bones Staffing Exceptions
00:06:40 - Your P&L Is Non-Negotiable
00:08:20 - Prime Costs Over 100%
00:10:00 - The 55% Prime Cost Target
00:12:00 - Protecting Your Profit Margin
00:14:00 - Fix Costs Before Marketing
00:17:00 - The Lean Model Framework
00:18:40 - Weekday Revenue Strategies
00:20:40 - Prioritize the Right Actions

If you feel stuck, working harder than ever in your restaurant, but you're still not making the money you want - this episode is the guide to increasing restaurant's profits.

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast

Growing a profitable restaurant is hard. Scaling a restaurant to multiple locations is even harder. But building a restaurant business that someone will actually pay millions to buy?

That requires a completely different level.

In this episode, you’ll hear the real story of Chris Wietecha - and how he scaled a restaurant brand to six locations and sold it for a 5x multiple.

Like many restaurant owners, Chris faced the early challenges of overworking, inconsistent systems, staffing struggles, and thin profit margins.

But by focusing on better leadership, smarter systems, and operational discipline, he scaled the brand to six locations and millions in revenue - before selling the company to a restaurant group.

If you're a restaurant owner looking to grow, improve profitability, or eventually sell your business, this conversation will show you what actually happens behind the scenes.

Tune in to discover:

✅ How Chris went from one location to six restaurant locations

✅ The biggest mistakes restaurant owners make when opening a second location

✅ What systems and management structures matter when scaling restaurants

✅ The operational changes that dramatically improved profit margins

✅ Why many restaurant owners struggle with burnout and a lack of freedom

✅ The truth about restaurant exits and why most restaurants never sell

Key moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:01:00 Chris's origin story and first location
00:06:37 Growing to six locations
00:07:22 Readiness checklist for expansion
00:10:20 The danger of scaling unprofitable
00:15:00 Systems break at multi-unit
00:18:20 When Chris found ownership coaching
00:26:00 The cream cheese cost revelation
00:36:04 Coffee switch that boosted sales
00:40:20 What drove Chris to get help
00:47:00 Good versus great in business
00:52:40 The exit and 5x multiple explained
00:57:40 Why most restaurants can't sell


Listen now and start running your restaurant like a business that actually pays you.

-

✅Tools For Restaurant Owners✅

Claim your FREE Restaurant Weekly Financial Tracker to uncover thousands in hidden profits and optimize your costs (in less time than it takes to finish your morning coffee):

https://ghl.ownershifttraining.com/weekly-tracker-lp?el=podcast

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast

Most restaurant owners think more sales = more profit.

That’s a lie.

If your restaurant is busy but your bank account doesn’t reflect it, this episode will show you exactly why - and how to fix it.

In this episode of the Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast, Andrew Scott (multi-unit owner for 20+ years) breaks down the simple weekly tracking system that transformed his own restaurants - from stressed and losing money to structured and profitable.

If you’re tired of working 80+ hours a week, constantly putting out fires, and wondering where the money went… this is the system you need.

In this video, you’ll learn:

✅Why tracking restaurant numbers weekly changes everything

✅How to calculate prime cost (food + labor) properly

✅The ideal prime cost percentage for maximum restaurant profitability

✅Why increasing sales alone won’t fix your profit problem

✅The simple dashboard system that gives you visibility and control

Key moments:

00:01:30 Track numbers weekly
00:02:10 Painful first restaurant story
00:04:30 Discovering the real problem
00:05:30 The Issue With Monthly P&Ls
00:06:30 Weekly dashboard
00:07:30 Prime cost sweet spot
00:09:50 How the sales forecasting tool works
00:14:50 Year-over-year vs month-over-month
00:17:30 Planning three months ahead
00:18:50 How to actually get real results
00:19:50 The personal trainer analogy
00:21:10 Start tracking this week

Listen now and start running your restaurant like a business that actually pays you.

-

✅Tools For Restaurant Owners✅

Thinking of opening another restaurant? Avoid costly mistakes with my free guide:
👉https://hs.ownershifttraining.com/optin-mupb?el=podcast

-

✅About Us✅

The Restaurant Growth Accelerator Podcast is hosted by Andrew Scott - founder of OwnerShift Training.

Andrew Scott successfully scaled his restaurant business to 4 locations while working a handful of hours each week. He’s since helped over 1,000 restaurant owners increase their sales, profits, and free time - and he’d love to help you too.

✅For Restaurant Owners✅

Interested in growing your restaurant business while working less? Book your free assessment call:
👉 Restaurant Assessment Call

✅Connect With Us✅

https://www.facebook.com/groups/multiunitempirebuilders/
https://www.instagram.com/andrewrichardscott
https://ownershifttraining.com/?el=podcast