Make Restaurants Profitable

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1 in 4 restaurants ran at a loss last year.And if you’re honest?You’ve probably felt just one bad month away from being part of that stat.I’ve recorded a few episodes for this podcast now and after speaking with some of the best restaurant owners in Australia … nearly every single one of them has been through the same stuff that you’re facing right now.Whether it's finding staff, 80 hour weeks, rising supplier costs, struggling to balance family, no money left to pay yourself, fires, floods … you name it - the guests I’ve spoken to have seen it all.Some of them are now industry leaders and experts, with successful restaurants, franchises, turning over millions in revenue, and even stocking their products in supermarketsThis podcast is about what really made the difference.The stuff no one talks about.The mindset shifts, the messy moments, and the moves that actually worked.So if you’re: Sick of grinding with nothing to show for it Ready to finally pay yourself properly Wanting a business that runs without you there 24/7Then this is for you.Every week, we’ll break down how to make restaurants profitable againNot just with theory, but real strategies that are working right now.If you need help right now head over to foodiecoaches.com and book a call with our team otherwise hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re tuning in and I’ll see you every WednesdayCheck out the behind the scenes over at @foodie_coaches and @tim.kummerfeld

  1. 1 day ago

    Australian Hospitality Is Heading for a 100,000 Worker Shortage (Visa Changes Explained)

    Wes Lambert from the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association (ARCA) says Australian hospitality could be 100,000 workers short in the next 12 months. The reason is the new visa rules. Open hospitality jobs have already gone from 45,000 to 68,000 in just two months. In this update, hospitality experts explain how the new visa rules for skilled workers, students and working holiday visitors are creating this gap. They also talk about what owners can do about staff and prices. Plus, they cover what happened after the surcharge ban, the trust tax changes and the Michelin Guide launch in Adelaide. ▶ Book a Profit Finding Session: https://foodiecoaches.co/yt-bac 0:00 Hospitality visa changes in Australia: 100,000 worker shortage 0:39 Credit card surcharge ban: menu prices and service charges 4:37 Trust tax changes in Australia: restructure costs and stamp duty 7:09 Why migration is the bigger issue for hospitality 8:30 482 skilled visa processing times for chefs and cooks 9:30 Student visa partner ban explained 11:40 Working holiday visa delays and the new ballot 13:20 Hospitality jobs on SEEK: 68,000 open jobs 14:00 Should you sponsor your staff? 16:54 Michelin Guide South Australia: Adelaide launch and NSW reusable cups ▶ Book a Profit Finding Session: https://foodiecoaches.co/yt-bac DISCLAIMER Update on the NSW reusable cup legislation: This episode was recorded before the NSW Government changed its position. On Wednesday 28 October 2026, the NSW Environment Minister announced that the reusable cup requirements discussed in this episode would be changed in response to small business concerns. The proposed rules to ban single-use cups for dine-in customers and make cafes provide free reusable cups are no longer going ahead. Some changes remain: from 2028, single-use takeaway coffee cups will need to be recyclable, and cafes and fast-food outlets will need to accept customers’ own reusable cups. The rest of the episode reflects the situation at the time of recording. Always check current regulations for your state before making changes to your business. https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/news/epamedia/261028-statement-of-regulatory-intent-on-reusable-cups

    Australian Hospitality Is Heading for a 100,000 Worker Shortage (Visa Changes Explained)

  2. 4 days ago

    How to scale a restaurant business without scaling chaos: the systems behind 400 Gradi

    How to scale a restaurant business: Johnny Di Francesco, 2014 World Pizza Champion and owner of 400 Gradi and The Gradi Group, shares what he learned going from one Melbourne restaurant to seven restaurants in Australia, plus licensed sites in the Middle East and the US. ▶ Book a Profit Finding Session: https://foodiecoaches.co/yt-bac  Tim sits down with Johnny to talk about why opening a second restaurant too early means you scale chaos, and why he asks every owner how many hours they work in their site before he gives advice. They also cover turnover vs profit, when a central kitchen helps or hurts, how restaurant licensing differs from franchising, and how he got his food into Coles and Woolworths. People Power, Johnny's HR and payroll service for hospitality: [add link] 00:00 Intro 00:25 Johnny's restaurant group: Italian restaurants, manufacturing and HR 02:27 How to build an Italian restaurant concept (and survive the early years) 07:33 How restaurant licensing started: from Melbourne to the Middle East 11:50 Restaurant licensing vs franchising explained 16:10 Why opening a second restaurant too early scales chaos 21:55 Restaurant turnover vs profit: why a second site can lose money 23:42 How to sell restaurant food to supermarkets 30:10 Restaurant central kitchen: when it helps and when it hurts profit 37:46 Personal brand for restaurant owners 45:10 How to choose a restaurant business coach 53:29 Restaurant numbers, culture and where hospitality is going 56:00 Restaurant culture: why you need a learning and development role 1:02:00 Restaurant HR and payroll support ▶ Book a Profit Finding Session: https://foodiecoaches.co/yt-bac Subscribe for more hospitality business coaching content. #scalearestaurant #opensecondrestaurant #restaurantbusiness #restaurantlicensing #400Gradi #FoodieCoaches

    How to scale a restaurant business without scaling chaos: the systems behind 400 Gradi

  3. 27 Oct

    How to scale YOUR restaurant business (and the mistake Fricken Chicken almost made)

    How to scale a restaurant business: Mo Saad, co-founder of Fricken Chicken, explains how he went from one food truck to four locations across two states. ▶ Book a Profit Finding Session: https://foodiecoaches.co/yt-bac  Mo nearly built a central kitchen just before the move interstate. He explains why he's glad he didn't, and what moving to contract manufacturing did to his food cost, his rosters and his quality control. He also covers choosing a location, rebranding, training, managing a team across four sites, and running the back office with AI. 00:00 Intro 00:40 How to choose a restaurant location and expand interstate 06:13 Supply chain, central kitchen and food cost when you expand 11:29 Restaurant branding that fits your customer 16:49 How to train restaurant kitchen staff and keep food safe 23:03 How to build a high performing restaurant management team 29:19 How to use AI in a restaurant business 48:04 Uber Eats commission and delivery strategy 55:23 Advice before you open a restaurant ▶ Book a Profit Finding Session: https://foodiecoaches.co/yt-bac  Subscribe for more hospitality business coaching content.

    How to scale YOUR restaurant business (and the mistake Fricken Chicken almost made)

  4. 21 Oct

    How Tara Saved Her Business, Rebuilt Her Identity, and 5Xed Her Revenue

    At one point, Tara felt like she had completely lost control—not just of her business, but of who she was. Burnt out, drowning in debt, and facing bankruptcy, she found herself isolating, second-guessing every decision, and questioning everything. But what she did next changed everything. This episode is a raw look at what it takes to come back stronger: the brutal self-talk, the wrong advice, the fearless decisions, and the one shift that 5Xed her revenue almost overnight. Tara also shares how she rebuilt her culture, transformed her food costs, and built a team that lives and breathes the experience she dreamed of. You’ll hear: 00:00 – Feeling like a failure (and what came next) 06:00 – Why your worst-performing venue is draining more than just cash 09:30 – How Tara found the right plan (after 3 wrong ones) 14:00 – The $600K mistake and the decision that changed it all 18:30 – What 5Xed her weekly revenue instantly 22:00 – Choosing the right partner—in life and business 27:30 – How Tara dropped her food cost from 32% to 20% 30:00 – Building culture through “Meraki Impact Days” 35:00 – What real customer experience actually looks like 38:00 – The advice that could’ve saved her $100K (and 6 months of stress) 41:00 – What to do when everything’s “fine” but you’re bored 43:00 – Why your next venue is probably a bad idea 44:30 – The number one thing every new owner should do before signing a lease If you’re in deep—or just don’t know what the next move is—book a free call with the Foodie Coaches team at foodiecoaches.com. 📱 Behind the scenes + more tips: @foodie_coaches | @tim.kummerfeld

    How Tara Saved Her Business, Rebuilt Her Identity, and 5Xed Her Revenue

  5. 12 Oct

    The Accounting Mistakes That Send Restaurants Broke: With Tim Niesler from The FC Accounting Co

    How to run a profitable restaurant comes down to your numbers, and most restaurant owners are being let down by the people meant to look after them. For restaurant owners, café owners, and anyone in a hospitality business, the right accounting setup is the difference between building wealth and quietly going backwards every week. Tim Niesler is the director of The FC Accounting Co, the accounting firm built specifically to service hospo owners, and he's seen exactly where the industry gets failed. For years, accountants told hospitality owners not to bother with tax planning because they probably wouldn't be around next year. Tim built something different. An accounting firm that sets owners up for the future, not just the next tax return. In this one, the two Tims go deep on the stuff most owners were never taught. Why your business structure matters more than you think. How putting GST, PAYG and super aside weekly gives you an early warning system. Why, in hospitality, you almost never have a cash flow problem, you have a profit problem. And the Division 7A trap that quietly snowballs into a tax bill you can't pay. If you've ever told yourself "I've just got a cash flow issue," this episode is for you. You'll hear: → What a hospo-specialist accountant does differently from a traditional firm  → Why the right business structure protects your personal assets  → The weekly habit that flags trouble in your first three weeks, not five months later  → Cash flow vs profit, and why hospitality owners confuse the two  → How to handle ATO debt without going further backwards Key takeaways: Put your GST, PAYG and super aside weekly from day one. It becomes your red flag.In hospitality you get paid every day, so a cash flow problem is usually a profit problem.Your real break-even includes loan repayments and ATO debt, not just your P&L.Pay yourself a wage and your super. Your business sale is not your retirement plan.Ready to build a restaurant that makes money and runs without you? Book a Profit Finding Session: https://discover.foodiecoaches.com/bac Follow Foodie Coaches:  @foodie_coaches  @tim.kummerfeld New episodes every Wednesday.

    The Accounting Mistakes That Send Restaurants Broke: With Tim Niesler from The FC Accounting Co

  6. 28 Sept

    Why Beautiful Restaurants Go Broke (And Ugly Ones Thrive): With Gerrick Numan from Restaurant Design Academy

    How to design a restaurant that actually makes money is a question most owners never ask until it's too late. For restaurant owners, café owners, and anyone in a hospitality business, the design of your space either sets you up for profit or quietly drags you under. Gerrick Numan has been involved in 500+ venue designs through his studio Millé, owned four of his own venues, and now runs Restaurant Design Academy, teaching hospo owners to take control of the process themselves. He's seen it both ways. The stunning fit-out sitting empty while a dingy bar next door is packed and pumping. The two-million-dollar build doing twenty grand a week in sales. A beautiful space that takes fifteen years to pay off and needs renovating in six. Gerrick's point is simple and uncomfortable. Winning a design award means nothing. What matters is whether the space is comfortable to be in, whether it grabs attention from the street, and whether it's laid out to make money instead of forcing an extra two staff on every shift. This one will have you auditing your own venue by the end. Because most of the fixes cost a few hundred dollars, not a few hundred thousand. Key takeaways: Get clear on who you are and who you're for before you touch a single material.Great street presence can pull in 5 to 15 more people a day without a full renovation.Product and experience come first. A phenomenal fit-out won't save bad food.Design is a financial decision, not a decorating one.Ready to build a restaurant that makes money and runs without you? Book a Profit Finding Session: https://discover.foodiecoaches.com/bac Check our Restaurant Design Academy: https://www.restaurantdesignacademy.com/ Follow Gerrick: @restaurantdesignacademy Follow Foodie Coaches: @foodie_coaches @tim.kummerfeld New episodes every Wednesday.

    Why Beautiful Restaurants Go Broke (And Ugly Ones Thrive): With Gerrick Numan from Restaurant Design Academy

  7. 8 Sept

    The Bookkeeping Habit That Fixes A Struggling Restaurant: With Kylie Patch

    How to run a profitable restaurant starts with knowing your real numbers. For restaurant owners, café owners, and anyone in a hospitality business, weekly bookkeeping is the difference between guessing and knowing. Kylie Patch runs the bookkeeping division at FC Accounting Co, and she's built the reporting rhythm that gives hospo owners accurate numbers every single week. Most owners are making decisions from numbers that are flat-out wrong. Bank accounts that aren't reconciled. Expenses landing in the wrong week. A P&L pulled on the wrong basis that tells a story that isn't true. Kylie has seen it hundreds of times across the 75 businesses her team services. And she's watched what happens when an owner finally sees their real position for the first time. One client cried happy tears when the report went up on screen, because she could finally see where she actually stood. This one is about confidence. The kind that comes from trusting your numbers enough to act on them. You'll hear: → Why your numbers are almost certainly wrong (and the reconciliation habit that fixes it)  → Cash vs accrual explained in plain English, and why it changes everything you see  → The weekly reporting rhythm that makes accurate numbers possible  → Kylie's honest take on POS systems and what actually integrates well  → The real return on outsourcing your bookkeeping, in time and in decisions Key takeaways: If you don't like numbers, don't do your own books. Stick to your genius.Numbers with your feelings beats feelings alone, every time.A reconciled bank account is the difference between real numbers and fiction.Accurate weekly reporting buys back roughly a day a week for owners already doing the work.Ready to get clear on your numbers and build a restaurant that runs without you? Book a Profit Finding Session: https://discover.foodiecoaches.com/bac Follow Foodie Coaches:  @foodie_coaches  @tim.kummerfeld New episodes every Wednesday.

    The Bookkeeping Habit That Fixes A Struggling Restaurant: With Kylie Patch

  8. 1 Sept

    How They Built A Coffee Brand From A Garage To 120 Cafés: With Richard Corney and Nick Clark from Flight Coffee

    How to scale a coffee business is one of the hardest questions in hospitality, and few have done it like Flight Coffee. For café owners, roasters, and anyone in a hospitality business, this is a real look at what it takes to grow a brand from a home garage to national distribution. Richard Corney and Nick Clark co-founded Flight Coffee in a garage in Napier back in 2009, and today they supply around 120 cafés across New Zealand plus a growing retail and ready-to-drink range. The story is anything but smooth. A roaster crammed into the middle of a café because there was nowhere else to put it. Six months building out an old car park on the smell of an oily rag. Outgrowing the space before they'd even finished it. Taking on investment in 2018 so the business could grow without their houses on the line. Along the way they learned what actually drives growth. Nick winning the 2013 NZ Barista Championship. Roastery tours that turned into brand goodwill with international guests. Deliberate decisions to diversify products and channels as a new generation of coffee drinkers arrived. If you make coffee, sell coffee, or dream of building a brand that scales beyond your four walls, this one is for you. You'll hear: → How Flight went from a garage roaster to supplying 120 cafés  → Why putting a roaster inside your café looks great but doesn't scale  → How competition wins and roastery tours built the brand  → Why they took on investment, and what it freed up  → Diversifying products and channels for the next generation of coffee drinker Key takeaways: Growth is hard and growth is expensive. Plan the facilities to grow with production.A great story and brand goodwill can do more than any ad spend.Taking on the right investment can grow the business without risking your home.The coffee drinker is changing. Meet them with new products and channels.Ready to build a hospitality business that makes money and runs without you? Book a Profit Finding Session: https://foodiecoaches.co/fc-bac-yt Follow Flight Coffee:  @flightcoffee Follow Foodie Coaches:  @foodie_coaches  @tim.kummerfeld New episodes every Wednesday.

    How They Built A Coffee Brand From A Garage To 120 Cafés: With Richard Corney and Nick Clark from Flight Coffee
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About

1 in 4 restaurants ran at a loss last year.And if you’re honest?You’ve probably felt just one bad month away from being part of that stat.I’ve recorded a few episodes for this podcast now and after speaking with some of the best restaurant owners in Australia … nearly every single one of them has been through the same stuff that you’re facing right now.Whether it's finding staff, 80 hour weeks, rising supplier costs, struggling to balance family, no money left to pay yourself, fires, floods … you name it - the guests I’ve spoken to have seen it all.Some of them are now industry leaders and experts, with successful restaurants, franchises, turning over millions in revenue, and even stocking their products in supermarketsThis podcast is about what really made the difference.The stuff no one talks about.The mindset shifts, the messy moments, and the moves that actually worked.So if you’re: Sick of grinding with nothing to show for it Ready to finally pay yourself properly Wanting a business that runs without you there 24/7Then this is for you.Every week, we’ll break down how to make restaurants profitable againNot just with theory, but real strategies that are working right now.If you need help right now head over to foodiecoaches.com and book a call with our team otherwise hit follow or subscribe wherever you’re tuning in and I’ll see you every WednesdayCheck out the behind the scenes over at @foodie_coaches and @tim.kummerfeld

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