The Demand
Before your next pre-opening milestone, audit where your time and money have actually gone in the last 30 days — toward the visible and exciting (design, name, logo, menu font) or toward the hard and uncomfortable (numbers, legal structure, site fundamentals, capital stack). Name the one hard, uncomfortable decision you have been avoiding, and schedule the specific day this week you will make it, because pre-opening decisions cannot be undone once the lease is signed and the capital is spent.
The Work
Days until you open, or days since you opened if this is retrospective:
Percentage of your pre-opening time spent on visible/exciting work versus hard/uncomfortable work, your honest estimate:
The hard, uncomfortable decision you have been avoiding:
What happens if you keep avoiding it past this month:
The lease, capital commitment, or six weeks you cannot undo if you get this wrong:
Who — CPA, attorney, contractor, tenant rep — you have not yet engaged but should have by now:
The one decision you will make this week that still has options attached to it, before those options close:
44 years. 200+ independent operators coached. 34 restaurants opened from scratch.
I work with restaurant operators who know something is wrong and are ready to find out what it actually is — and with leaders who are ready to build something that lasts.
The complete framework is in my new book: The Operator’s Playbook
Call or text: +1-817-797-2929 Email: Jeffrey@JeffreySummers.com
