The Riddle of the Restaurant (And Why I Tell You Everything)
My life's greatest accomplishments were conceived during periods of spaciousness. Conversely, ruin was typically preceded by periods of fraught compression. Spaciousness is my strategy for absorbing the lessons of 2025 and setting a path forward for 2026.
Before we get started, I want to share a riddle: "Why does David share all of this inside information about the restaurant; to what end?".
Truth is, I’m not sure, other than the fact that Janet and I feel like many of our customers are our partners. When people ask me, "How are things going?" they don't want to hear, "Fine". They want to know what’s what, and I believe the truth resonates.
Keeping Promises
For example, beef prices recently leapt 20%. There’s a story in it. One vendor offered to replace our selection with cuts from Swift—a company whose practices represent the worst of the industry. We are not going there. It costs what it costs, so the price of your favorite humanely raised tenderloin jumped $4.35 per pound. I looked up our purchase volume in December, 180 pounds, so a $780 cost increase in one month on a single menu item.
Maybe I’m vying for sympathy, or maybe I just want you to know we keep our promises, even when it’s hard. Oh, and the price of tenderloin just went up.
The Math of the Hockey Stick
Business has been great and customer satisfaction is at an all-time high. As we launch into the first of the year and graph for our strategic planning, it looks like a hockey stick. "As far as we can see, it ain't so good. But after that, we feel pretty positive".
Winter is frightening because restaurants are saddled by high fixed expenses. We don’t make or lose money proportionate to sales—it’s a "Binge & Purge" cycle.
• The Target: A restaurant equipped to sell $200,000 in a month nails it when labor is 30% of sales, $60,000.
• The Reality of Profit: That restaurant will break even with sales of $170,000; all the profit is made on the last $30,000 of that target.
• The Danger Zone: If sales fall to $150,000 there is a big loss and that 30% labor factor jumps to 40%. If sales fall to $100,000, it’s a bloodbath.
A Concept of a Plan for 2026
Do you ever wish you could simply lower your standards and improve your average? It is tempting, but it is not in our DNA. Instead, we have a plan for overcoming our bulimic cycle—or maybe it’s “a concept of a plan.”
• Merging Radii Pi: We haven't found the standalone demand for takeout pizza we expected. In 2026, we launched Radii Pi into Bethany’s Table and bolstered Pi’s takeout and delivery by adding Bethany’s Table select menu items to the to go menu while offering pizza in the Bethany’s Table dining room full-time.
• Simple Sundays: We are moving back toward a seven-day week. Sunday dinner will hit a casual note: family-style pizza and pasta designed for easy, family dining. Devon will send you all the details.
Your Mission (Should You Choose to Accept It)
We’ve done the math, and the strategy is set—but the final ingredient is you. To bridge the gap and complete this turnaround, we need your presence. We need you and we need you now. Just do it!
• The Basics: Come in for a bite, grab a quick pizza, or just drop by to say hello.
• The Professional: Tell your admin to schedule that meeting here, or convince your boss the team needs a steak-and-pizza dinner.
• The Personal: Finally ask that girl out, tell your husband you’re feeling the winter blues and need a night out, or have that dinner with the neighbors that you’ve been putting off.
• The Ambitious: Write your congresswoman, or hey, start a GoFundMe and raise us a cool million.
The Q1 losses we saw in 2025 are something we can't repeat in 2026. Every reservation is a vote for our success.
