Margins don’t collapse overnight.
They erode — drip by drip.
In multi-unit restaurants, those drips scale fast:
- A little spoilage here
- A few unplanned overtime hours there
- Discounts handed out without oversight
Individually? Minor.
Multiplied across locations? Millions in lost profit.
Three margin leaks most operators underestimate:
- Spoilage – Over-ordering, poor rotation, or stranded inventory from menu changes.
- Overtime creep – Paying for hours without matching revenue because schedules aren’t tied to live sales.
- Discount misuse – Loyalty programs gone unchecked, inconsistent application, or unauthorized comps.
The real problem? The Visibility Gap.
If you see it in a month-end report, the money’s already gone.
Case in point:
- A 15-unit casual dining chain was losing 6% of food cost to spoilage.
- Within weeks of getting real-time margin monitoring, they found the top 3 offenders, fixed ordering processes, and retrained managers.
- Result: 18% spoilage reduction in three months.
Margins don’t fix themselves.
They respond to attention, discipline, and speed.
Which leak costs you more — spoilage, labor, or discounts?
See the full breakdown below!