Level Up (Restaurant Edition)

SBDC Level Up (Restaurant Edition) is a program presented by the OCIE SBDC Network to assist food and beverage-based small business owners in identifying when they are ready to expand and drive their food business to the next level. Through this program, business owners will work on putting together their path toward growth as they evaluate and develop their metrics, benchmarks, teams, financials, triggers, and strategies to reach the next level of growth. Trainees will learn how to de-risk expansion and get involved in proactive growth.

The program will focus on the following categories of growth:

• Identifying New Revenue Streams
• Entering New Market Segments/Expanding Customer Base
• Expanding Teams
• Acquiring New Equipment (POS, Touch Screen Ordering, Kitchen…)
• Contemplating New/Additional Locations

This program is recommended for food operators who meet ALL the following requirements:

• In business
• Positive in revenue
• Brick & mortar/food trucks
• Minimum of 4 full-time equivalent employees + business owner for brick & mortar / Minimum of 2 full-time equivalent employees + business owner for food trucks
• Participant must be the business owner and/or manager

Program Outline:

The Level Up – Restaurant Edition program covers the following topics with a focus on building growth strategies for your food operations:

Week 1: Plan to Grow Your Food Business – Every business faces a series of challenges on its path toward growth. Having a variety of successful approaches is key. This module covers how to grow your business as you learn about successful growth opportunities, identify failure in growth and pitfalls to avoid, and which actions to take to set your growth plan in action as aligned with your vision. Are you ready to grow?

Week 2: Manage Your Cash – Cash is king. But the question is: cash for growth or growth for cash? To grow your food business, you need to maintain adequate cash flow. In this module, you will learn about your numbers through your P&L and build your financial projection to support your growth plan. This class will also teach you how to accurately project growth, model it, and stress test it to make sure capital will work effectively with your growth plan.

Week 3: Grow Your Customer Base – There is only one boss: CUSTOMERS! Growth in your food business is all about attracting new customers and/or expanding what your existing customers are buying from you. This module will take your growth plan and help you hone your efforts on bettering the outcomes of your current marketing and sales efforts, defining your target areas, and developing a strategy to grow your customer base.

Week 4: Develop Your People – In this module, you will learn about actionable steps you can take to assess and develop your human capital talent into a formidable all-star force for your food business. Utilizing individual skill sets and training to personal strengths ensures all individuals are functioning within the overall team at their highest and best use, creating a competitive edge not easily duplicated.

This program is offered through four mandatory Zoom group sessions. Participants will get the opportunity to be assigned to one of our food-based business consultants for no-cost 1:1 consulting sessions to assist with the development of their growth plans.

*Registration closes Tuesday, April 25 at 2 p.m.

**Emails regarding how to access the course will be sent to registrants after registration has closed.