Annual Business Goals Review Checklist

Pull theoretical vs. actual food cost from MarginEdge or R365 by category — proteins, produce, dairy, dry goods, paper. A gap above 2% on any single category usually points to portioning, pricing, or receiving discipline. Note the top three drivers in writing for the planning meeting.

Break labor down by daypart and by FOH/BOH from 7shifts or Toast. Brunch and slow weeknight dinners are the usual offenders. Flag any daypart where labor exceeds 30% on a recurring basis.

Export the year's reviews from Google Business Profile, Yelp, OpenTable or Resy, and TripAdvisor. Tag each by theme — service, food, noise, wait time, value — so the trend is visible rather than anecdotal.

If review themes are unclear or NPS is trending down, a structured post-visit survey via Toast, SevenRooms, or a QR-code form on the check presenter gives sharper signal than passive review monitoring.

Keep it under six questions: arrival/seating, server attentiveness, food quality, pace of service, value, likelihood to return. Pilot through SevenRooms or a Google Form linked from the receipt before rolling out chain-wide.

Break the year's spend down by channel — paid social, Google, influencer, print, sponsorships, third-party delivery promos. Tie each to attributable covers or online orders where possible. Channels under 3x return get cut or tested differently.

Pull DoorDash, UberEats, and Grubhub margin reports. After commissions, third-party orders often run negative on contribution. Decide which channels to keep, which to deprioritize, and whether to push first-party online ordering through Toast or ChowNow.

Compare theoretical vs. actual inventory from MarginEdge or R365 across the year. Recurring variance on high-cost proteins points to receiving, portioning, or shrink. Recurring 86s point to par-level discipline with the chef and prep lead.

Pull pricing from Sysco, US Foods, PFG, and Restaurant Depot on the top 25 SKUs by spend. Quarterly creep is normal; year-over-year creep above 8% on a non-volatile category is worth a rep conversation or a second-source bid.

Walk through ServSafe, allergen, and TIPS or ServSafe Alcohol cert expirations from the staff binder. Note any gaps in line-cook station competency, wine knowledge for servers, or new-hire ramp time.

State ABC license renewal is annual or biennial depending on jurisdiction. Confirm the renewal date is on the GM's calendar with at least 60 days of lead time; an expired license posted on the wall is an immediate suspension on inspection.

Confirm at least one ServSafe-certified manager per shift and, in MA, IL, MI, NY, or RI, at least one allergen-aware (PCFP or AllerTrain) manager. Pull cert cards and log expiration dates in the staff binder.

Pull the past year's health department reports. Repeat critical violations — cold-holding, handwashing, cross-contamination — go on the line-check and weekly walk so they don't recur. A repeat violation in the new year typically escalates the citation level.

Confirm every tipped employee signed the FLSA tip-credit notice on hire. Review the tip-pool distribution against state rules — CA, OR, WA, NV ban the tip credit entirely. Missing notices have driven seven-figure class actions; this is the single most common wage-and-hour gap.

Pull every tipped employee without a signed notice on file, generate the acknowledgment from the payroll system (Gusto, Toast Payroll, ADP), and have it signed before the next pay period closes. Retroactive collection does not cure prior periods, but it stops the bleeding.

Plot every menu item on the stars/plowhorses/puzzles/dogs grid using sales mix and contribution margin from the POS. Stars stay; dogs come off; puzzles get repositioned or repriced; plowhorses get margin work with the chef.

If the existing location is consistently above 70% capacity at peak dayparts and labor is stable, expansion is on the table. Pressure-test rent assumptions, build-out cost per square foot in the local market, and the GM bench depth before committing.

The owner-operator and GM lock the document together. Targets cover prime cost, sales growth, retention, guest satisfaction, and any concept moves. Distribute to chef and AGM the same week so the team starts the year aligned.