Restaurant analysis is one of the most misunderstood parts of running a hospitality business. Many owners think they have a handle on their numbers, but industry data shows otherwise. A surprising number are making decisions based on flawed financial assumptions that can quietly sink a business. Joyce Turchetti knows this story well. With more than forty years in hospitality, she has spent her career helping restaurant owners see the real picture behind their operations. Her work goes beyond spreadsheets. She focuses on uncovering the hidden truths about how restaurants actually perform and putting practical systems in place that keep them healthy for the long run.
Finding Purpose in Hard Lessons
Turchetti’s drive to help restaurant owners comes from a deeply personal place. “The feeling you get when you have to tell a staff of 30 to 60 people that they no longer have jobs. And when you’ve done that a few times, it stings. It really does,” she recalls. Those moments stayed with her. For Joyce, the numbers on a spreadsheet have always represented something bigger. They reflect people’s lives and livelihoods. “These people that are dishwashers and servers, they’re living paycheck to paycheck. It’s not like they have a huge savings account to draw on when things get tough,” she explains. After more than four decades of working alongside restaurant workers, she feels a responsibility to give back to the industry that has been part of her life since she was 14. That sense of purpose did not come overnight. “I feel when you do arrive at that place, you should give back,” she says about reaching a stage in her career where she can finally make a real difference.
Uncovering False Confidence in Numbers
Here’s what happens all the time. An owner sits down with Turchetti for a consultation, confident that their numbers are solid. In one recent case, she started with the basics: what’s your food cost, what’s your labor cost? “He gave me some great figures. And I thought to myself, this is going to be an easy job because he already had good numbers.” Then she opened the actual books. “He was 30 percent off in the wrong direction. His labor was actually around 55 percent when it should be about 28 to 32.” The owner was stunned. He had no idea. As Turchetti puts it, “If you don’t audit your establishment, no matter what it is, any food and beverage or any business for that matter, if you don’t do audits, you’re not going to know what is really happening. And if you allow your staff to say, ‘I got that, boss’ or ‘I’ll take care of that,’ it doesn’t work because the buck stops with you.”
The truth is, most owners create budgets that look perfect on paper. They might set aside four percent for equipment maintenance, convinced that will cover unexpected repairs. But what happens when your $28,000 coffee machine dies on opening night? “I’ve had all kinds of issues happen on opening night,” Turchetti says. The problem is in the initial planning. “They don’t plan for reality,” she explains. “They don’t plan for the manager to quit on opening night. They don’t plan for equipment failures. And they don’t plan for the city coming in and saying, your registration isn’t in order.” When things go sideways, owners lose their bearings. Plan B as Turchetti puts it, would save their behinds! “They were on a path to what they thought was success. Opening a restaurant, is a piece of cake. Let somebody else run it, no problem. But when they get derailed, they’re lost in the forest. They don’t know how to get back.”
Leveraging AI to Train and Save Sales
Her AI system, Clara, takes that pressure off by handling the phones and doing something even more valuable. It trains staff when they actually have time. “I love the fact that she can be programmed to train,” Turchetti says. She uses the example of wine pairing knowledge. “Can you imagine if you went to a restaurant and instead of just asking if you want a drink or suggesting one, they had the knowledge to tell you what goes well with the dish you’ve selected?” In most restaurants, training like this never happens. Managers simply do not have the time. “I could train maybe two or three people and they would be really good. And then the rest of the staff would fall by the wayside because you just don’t have the time.”
For owners struggling to stay afloat, her advice often sounds counterintuitive: shrink before you grow. “Instead of putting extra tables on the floor, take some off. Take that little corner of your restaurant, six to ten tables, and do that well. Do that exceptionally well.” Once that foundation is strong, then expand. “What worked when we had 10 tables? What was working well, then just repeat it on a larger scale and be prepared. Have plan B.” Turchetti learned most of these lessons the hard way. “Most of these lessons I learned because I fell on my face,” she admits. One memory that still stings comes from her time at Stringfellows in New York, when she accidentally double-booked a party of 93 people on the same night her boss’s wife had already booked the room. “It was horrible. And we had to end up buying about 20 dinners to make up for our mistake. So, what profit did we make? very little if your having to buy meals and drinks to make up for the error”
Connect with Joyce Turchetti on LinkedIn to learn how she helps restaurant owners uncover the truth in their numbers and build lasting success.
