Restaurant Leak Review: Seven Measures to Check Before Buying Software
Before buying a tool, identify the operating question you need it to answer. A baseline should help you test that decision. It should not turn every variance into a loss or require a vendor to promise savings before the evidence exists.
These seven measures provide a practical starting point. Use consistent periods and keep unavailable data visible. The time required depends on the condition of your records.
1. Scheduled versus actual labor
Compare hours and cost by location and shift. Separate rates, additional hours and legitimate coverage needs. A variance deserves an explanation; it is not automatically avoidable.
2. Overtime exposure
Use the actual payroll workweek and calculation, with the relevant employee and location mapping. Review the cause and future coverage options. Do not assume a high percentage proves poor management.
3. Voids by count, value and reason
Use your POS definitions and a stated denominator. Compare similar service periods. Preserve approval and transaction detail. Avoid a universal acceptable rate or treating an employee-level pattern as proof of wrongdoing.
4. Comps and authorization records
Check whether the approval trail is complete and matches the policy. A missing record is a control issue to investigate, not proof that the entire comp value was lost without a business purpose.
5. Cash reconciliation
Follow expected cash through drawer counts, paid-outs, deposit documentation and bank posting. Separate counting differences from deposit timing. Keep unresolved records on the list until supported by evidence.
6. Actual versus theoretical food cost
Check counts, receipts, recipes, units, waste and transfers before interpreting the gap. Apicbase's official CoGS documentation explains why these inputs matter. A variance can include data errors as well as operating issues. Apicbase CoGS dashboard.
7. Follow-through on exceptions
Track detection, review, assignment, action and result separately. An alert delivered is not an issue resolved. Use response times appropriate to the decision rather than one deadline for every type of finding.
Turn the baseline into vendor questions
Ask which records the vendor needs, how it treats missing data and how a user traces a finding to its source. Request a demonstration using a representative example. Check capabilities already available in the existing system before adding another tool.
Ask how outcomes will be measured. Identified exposure, an action taken and cash actually recovered should not share one savings total.
Baseline worksheet
| Measure | Record and period | Readiness / status | Next owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labor and overtime | Schedule, verified time and payroll workweek | Complete, mismatched or unavailable | Operations/payroll |
| Voids and comps | Transaction detail, reason and approval for same service | Explained, unresolved or missing evidence | Authorized manager |
| Cash | Close, deposit reference and bank posting | Matched, in transit or unresolved | Finance |
| Food cost | Counts, invoices, recipes and sales for same period | Supported or provisional | Inventory/accounting |
| Follow-through | Issue, action, due time and result record | Open, acted on or verified | Named action owner |
Use the worksheet to request missing evidence before comparing totals. A complete-looking report is not a complete baseline if a key source is absent.
Use the food-cost variance checklist when counts and invoices disagree. Compare the process with source-backed review findings, where missing records are separated from actual recovery.
Turn the baseline into agreed controls
Marty is a managed profit-control layer: Find → Assign → Follow up → Verify. The paid Cash Recovery Plan establishes what to watch first, with evidence, owners, actions and a 30-day plan. Delivery is seven business days after required access is complete; read-only access and the flat fee are confirmed first.
The Review fee is refunded if the Review does not identify a quantified, source-backed cash or profit issue with a location, recommended action and owner. Current Review terms.
Optional Managed Profit Control continues the agreed checks, manager alerts, follow-up, escalation and verification. Start the Cash Recovery Plan.