A Restaurant Company Explains The Difference Between Good Profits And Bad Profits | forbes
Order lunch or dinner at the Rail Trail Flatbread Co. in Hudson, Mass., and you’re in for a pleasant experience. The food is great. The service is excellent. And if you ask, your server will be happy to explain the economics of the business—labor, cost of goods, and so on—along with some ideas she and her coworkers have recently come up with to boost revenue and control expenses.
Rail Trail Flatbread is one of three food-service establishments owned by partners Jason Kleinerman, Michael Kasseris, and Karim El-Gamal; the other two are an ice cream parlor called New City Microcreamery and a speakeasy-style cocktail bar and restaurant known as Less Than Greater Than, both across the street from Rail Trail in downtown Hudson. Working with the consulting firm Rethink Restaurants, all three have introduced open-book management and have been reaping the rewards in the form of better results and more engaged employees.
But this article isn’t just another paean to the virtues of the open-book approach. What caught our eye the other day was a sign in the office/storeroom/classroom adjacent to the restaurant—the place where employees gather to update and discuss the company’s results and forecasts.
