Car dealers have compared their books with each other for decades. Your restaurant never got the invitation.
Prime Table is a 20 Group for independent restaurants: twelve to fourteen owners, one per city, a ranked monthly comparison of everyone’s real P&L, and a facilitated meeting to close the gaps. Founding seats in Group One are $199 a month.
Fig. 1
Group One: fourteen seats, one per metro
Legend
- Open seat
- Your application (after you pick a state below)
- One group, many cities
To the owner who closes the books and still wonders,
Every month your bookkeeper sends you a profit and loss statement. You read the bottom line, maybe food cost, maybe labor. Then you’re left with the question nobody can answer for you: is that good?
Industry reports give you averages. The National Restaurant Association’s latest operations data puts the median full-service restaurant’s income before taxes at 2.8% of sales. The same data shows the difference hiding inside that average: full-service operators who made a profit spent a median 34.2% of sales on labor, and those who lost money spent 42.9%. An average can’t tell you which side of that line you’re on, or why.
Car dealers solved this a long time ago. They call it a 20 Group: a dozen or so dealers from different towns, so nobody competes, who send their monthly financials to one place, get back a composite that ranks every line against the group, and meet to talk about the gaps. The National Automobile Dealers Association lists its standard 20 Group at $480 a month per dealership. Tire dealers, firearms retailers and veterinary practices run the same format.
Restaurants never got one, I think for a boring reason: every restaurant’s books are organized differently, and turning fifteen different charts of accounts into one comparable report used to take a bookkeeper days every month. That part is now software. Prime Table reads the profit and loss from QuickBooks Online, maps each of your accounts once onto the standard restaurant chart of accounts (your bookkeeper confirms the mapping), and builds the composite automatically.
Fig. 2
What lands in your inbox on the 10th of every month
| Line | You | Group median | Best quarter of the group | Your rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net sales | ||||
| Food cost | ||||
| Beverage cost | ||||
| Hourly labor | ||||
| Salaried labor | ||||
| Payroll taxes and benefits | ||||
| Prime cost | ||||
| Occupancy | ||||
| Controllable expenses | ||||
| Net operating profit | ||||
| Sales per labor hour | ||||
| Average check |
Your three biggest gaps, in dollars a month
- line · gap vs best quarter · $ / month
- line · gap vs best quarter · $ / month
- line · gap vs best quarter · $ / month
The numbers matter because the gaps are big. A restaurant coach writing in FSR last November argued that a full-service restaurant should aim for prime cost of 55%, not the 65% many owners accept. On a million dollars in sales, that’s “10 points on the table, or $100,000.”
So I’m forming Group One. Fourteen seats, one per metro, matched by service style and check average. The seat map at the top of this sheet is the group, and the report above is what you’d get. If it’s for you, the reply slip is at the bottom.
Alek
Founder, Prime Table
I’m a software developer. I build the composite. The meetings are run by a facilitator who has run restaurants or kept their books, and you’ll know who before your first meeting.
Strip map
The route from here to your first meeting
-
Apply.
Fill in the reply slip below. I read every application and match groups by metro, service style and check average.
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Connect.
Sign the mutual confidentiality agreement, connect QuickBooks Online, and your bookkeeper confirms once how your accounts map to the standard restaurant chart.
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Compare and meet.
Your composite arrives on the 10th of each month. The group meets for 90 minutes on video to dig into three members’ biggest gaps.
What a founding seat includes
Symbols
- A monthly composite ranking every line of your P&L against eleven to thirteen non-competing peers, by name, inside the group
- Your three biggest gaps versus the best quarter of the group, in dollars a month
- Your trailing twelve months, side by side with the group’s
- A 90-minute facilitated video meeting every month
- A quarterly half-day deep dive, where one member puts their whole operation on the table
- An optional yearly in-person meeting at a member’s restaurant (you cover your own travel)
- A mutual confidentiality agreement signed by every member
- The $199 founding price, locked for 24 months, with no set-up fee
Two ways in
Road classification
Founding seat
$199 / month
Locked for 24 months. No set-up fee.
- Monthly ranked composite and gap report
- Monthly 90-minute facilitated meeting
- Quarterly half-day deep dive
- Optional yearly in-person meeting
Composite only
$99 / month
The numbers without the room.
- Monthly ranked composite and gap report
- Trailing twelve months
- No meetings
Nothing is charged when you apply. Founding dues start only when your group’s first meeting is on the calendar.
Questions owners ask first
Who sees my numbers?
The other members of your group, by name, and nobody else. Every member signs the same mutual confidentiality agreement. Your restaurant’s numbers are never sold and never shown outside your group.
Why would I show my P&L to strangers?
Because they aren’t your competitors. Each group has one restaurant per metro, so the owner across the table can’t take your guests or your cooks. Dealers have shared their books this way for decades because the person most likely to know how to fix your labor line is someone who already fixed theirs.
What do I need to join?
An independent restaurant (full-service to start), books in QuickBooks Online closed each month, and a bookkeeper or accountant who can confirm one account mapping. If you’re on another accounting system, apply anyway and tell us which one.
Does it work with Toast, Square or Clover?
Yes. Each month you upload your POS sales and labor summary as a CSV or PDF export, and the composite picks up net sales, average check and sales per labor hour from it. Direct connections come later, starting with Square.
Does Prime Table change anything in my books?
No. Prime Table only reads your profit and loss report and your list of accounts. It never writes to your books.
Is this financial or tax advice?
No. The composite is information about your own books next to your peers’, and the meetings are peer discussion led by a facilitator. Decisions stay yours. For tax, legal or investment questions, talk to your own accountant or attorney.
What does it cost, and when am I charged?
Founding seats are $199 a month, locked for 24 months, with no set-up fee. Composite only is $99 a month. Applying costs nothing. If you’re accepted, you’ll get the membership terms and confidentiality agreement to read before anything is billed, and founding dues start only once your group’s first meeting is scheduled. You can cancel any month.
What if someone in my city already applied?
Then we’ll talk about the next group. Seats are one per metro per group, and as more groups form, each city can have a seat in each group.
Reply slip: apply for Group One
Two minutes. No payment. I’ll reply by email within two business days.
Your reply is in the mail.
Thank you. I read every application myself and will email you within two business days, usually with two or three questions about your restaurant and how your books close. Nothing has been charged, and nothing will be until you’ve read the membership terms and the confidentiality agreement.
Alek