Stories & resources

Chicago offers restaurant operators access to a large consumer market, established tourism activity, and diverse neighborhood economies. Evaluating an expansion requires a closer look at customer demand, labor costs, competition, and the infrastructure available for each operating model. Chicago is a market worth examining for restaurant owners and foodservice operators considering a new location or …

A practical guide to meal prep business expansion: how to check readiness, validate a new market, choose between a larger delivery area and a second kitchen, and keep quality and margins steady as you grow. Expanding a meal prep business means serving customers in a new city, neighborhood, or delivery zone while keeping the meals, …

A practical guide to building a restaurant market entry plan, from evaluating a new region and estimating costs to choosing an operating model and preparing the launch. A restaurant that performs well in its current market does not automatically perform the same way in another one. Customers, competitors, rents, labor costs, and delivery distances change …

A practical guide to planning space, equipment, and services for a new location, and to comparing the options before you sign a contract. A restaurant that plans a new location often discovers that opening is only part of the work. Someone has to find the space, prepare the utilities, buy and install equipment, arrange maintenance, …

Learn how a café can use outside production to expand its menu, reach delivery and pickup customers, and keep margins healthy as sales grow in New York City. Many cafés already have loyal customers but a limited menu, a small kitchen, and a team that is fully occupied at the counter. Café food production can …

A practical guide to measuring what your kitchen can produce, comparing it with your demand, and finding the step that limits your output. Calculating food production capacity means estimating how many units, portions, meals, batches, or kilograms a kitchen can produce in a defined period, based on the resources and conditions of the real operation. …