How we get paid (the honest version)
"Free audit" makes people suspicious, and it should. Here's exactly how the money works, so you can decide before we ever talk.
The audit is genuinely free
You send one month of statements — delivery payouts, merchant processing statement, utility bills. I benchmark every line against what comparable restaurants pay and send you a written savings plan: what you pay now, what you should pay, and how to close the gap. That document is yours regardless of whether we go further. No invoice, no card, no obligation.
If you implement, I'm paid two ways
1. Shared savings
For renegotiations and audits (processing markup, utility rate fixes, billing-error recovery, marketplace plan changes), my fee is a percentage of the verified savings — measured against your own before/after statements — for a fixed period. The split and period are agreed in writing before any work starts. If the savings don't show up on your statements, there's nothing to share and you owe nothing.
2. Partner arrangements
When you switch to a partner company (zero-commission ordering platforms like Town, payment processors, energy brokers), the partner may pay me a referral fee. That fee never gets added to your price — you pay the same as going direct, and I disclose every arrangement up front. You're always free to take my plan and shop it elsewhere.
What you'll never see
- Retainers or monthly minimums
- Hourly billing
- Long-term contracts that outlive the savings
- Fees on "projected" savings that never hit your bank account
Pricing FAQs
What's the catch with the free audit?
The catch is that some audits find savings and turn into paid work for me. That's the business model. If yours doesn't, you've lost an hour of gathering statements and gained a benchmark report.
Can I just take the audit and do it myself?
Yes. Some owners do. Most find that the implementation — the renegotiation calls, the processor paperwork, the energy bids — is exactly the work they don't have time for, which is why the shared-savings option exists.
How are savings "verified"?
Against your own statements: same month-type, before versus after, line by line. You see the same numbers I do. No models, no estimates.
What does a typical engagement earn you?
It scales with what you save. On a typical $25,000–$50,000/year savings result, my share usually works out to a few hundred dollars a month for the agreed period — paid out of money you weren't keeping anyway.