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/

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