Karen Blacik is a CPA and fractional CFO who works with restaurant and retail operators on profitability. In Pennies in the Couch – Part 1, host Jason Pace talks with Karen about the first and biggest place to look: labor.

Karen explains why a cost that looks small at one store becomes real money across every location and every month. She walks through building a minimum labor model and flexing it hour by hour, why sales per labor hour tells you more than a labor percentage, whether your first and last hours of the day actually pay for the people on the clock, and why overtime and training labor deserve their own lines on the general ledger. She also covers getting labor numbers during the week instead of waiting for the month-end P&L.

Key takeaways:

1. Watch the multiplier — a small per-store cost adds up across every unit and all twelve months.

2. Start from a minimum labor model, then flex hour by hour.

3. Look past labor percentage; use sales per labor hour with the model.

4. Check whether opening and closing hours cover the labor you’re paying for.

5. Get labor numbers mid-week, not only at month-end.

6. Separate overtime and training labor on the general ledger.

This episode’s tool: the Labor Cost Savings Calculator on the episode page.

Episode page: https://multiunitmaster.com/episodes/3/

Thank you to ContinuServe, the exclusive sponsor of Multi-Unit Master. Built for the pace of possibility. Learn more at continuserve.com.

Louis “Dusty” Profumo spent 18 years as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Church’s Texas Chicken, after a 23-year career in public accounting. In Building Infrastructure for Independence – Part 2, host Jason Pace continues his conversation with Dusty, who explains how the CFO role changes as a multi-unit business grows: from hands-on work with restaurant operations at 20 units, to lender relationships, systems, and growth capital at around 200, to time with analysts at a public company.

Dusty and Jason cover the systems a 20–30 unit operator needs, how an owner’s growth goals should shape a CFO hire, debt versus equity for growth, and why customer satisfaction is the first metric to watch.

“Growing too fast. That’s clearly my number one.”

Key takeaways:

1. Growing too fast is the number one mistake. Before you grow, ask: “Do we have the people and systems to support the growth that we’re planning?”

2. Customer satisfaction is the leading indicator. If new units trail existing ones, “you shouldn’t add another restaurant until you fix the problem in the one you just opened.”

3. The weekly P&L matters, but only if it reconciles to your monthly close.

4. People are the job. “The whole people relationships and managing all those personal relationships was by far the most important measurement of success.”

This episode’s download: the Daily, Weekly, Monthly Reporting Checklist — what to track daily, review weekly, and include in your monthly close, with scaling notes for 5-unit to 50-unit operators. Get it at multiunitmaster.com/episode1b.

This wraps up our two-part series with Dusty. If you missed Part One, on building infrastructure and outsourcing, start there.

Presented by ContinuServe. Full disclosure: Jason Pace has been an advisor and customer of ContinuServe, never an employee. Learn more at continuserve.com.

Episode page: https://multiunitmaster.com/episodes/2/