Build the core. Fill the seats.Stay remembered.
Short, practical reads for people opening their first cafe or restaurant, plus hands-on help with suppliers, costs and revenue.
Three things every owner has to get right.
Increase revenue
Learn how top F&B brands attract more customers and drive repeat sales.
See what's working
Source suppliers
Choose the right suppliers and manage sourcing more effectively.
Explore supplier insights
Manage expenses
Learn how to price smarter, reduce costs and improve profitability.
View cost strategies3 Minute Reads
Short enough to finish between services.
The 3 costs most restaurant owners underestimate
Most owners have a clear picture of the obvious costs: rent, staff wages and food supplies. The numbers that quietly drain profitability are rarely the ones on the surface.
3 ways to use PR and social media to honour your restaurant's nostalgic traditions
Before the Christmas lights go up on Orchard Road, customers are already thinking about Starbucks' holiday drinks. Here's how that ritual was built.
Why some campaigns succeed while others burn money
Spending on marketing but not seeing revenue, while 1-for-1 promotions seem to work? It comes down to the value underneath the campaign.
Stop wasting ad dollars: strengthen your online brand reputation first
Thousands spent on ads and influencers, yet customers aren't showing up. The exposure is there. The conversions aren't.
Growth is never built in silos.
Every successful food business you admire didn't get there alone. Behind the packed tables and the loyal regulars is a web of shared knowledge: suppliers who tipped them off, peers who warned them about what didn't work, mentors who cut the learning curve in half. The restaurant industry has a reputation for being cutthroat, but the operators who actually scale know the truth. The people willing to trade insights almost always outpace the ones hoarding them.
That's what F&B Growth Hub is built for. Not another place to read generic business advice dressed in food photography. A space where operators talk to operators, where the conversation moves from “how do I survive this month” to “how do I build something that lasts.”
Whether you run a single cafe or a growing chain, the next breakthrough rarely comes from working harder inside your four walls. It comes from the right idea, at the right time, from someone who's already been there.
Strategy, served one course at a time.
A three-part series by Benjamin Chan on Richard Rumelt's Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, and what it means for a restaurant.
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The appetiser
Diagnose before you decide
New menus, new campaigns, new promotions, and the results still don't match the effort. You might be treating the symptom, not the sickness.
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The main course
The guiding policy playbook
Knowing the problem is only half the equation. The real question comes next: which direction will you commit to?
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The dessert
The discipline of coherent action
Once the direction is clear, one question is left. Are your actions actually reinforcing the strategy you've chosen?
“A cheaper supplier who delivers inconsistently will cost you more than one who charges slightly more but shows up on schedule.”
Road Map
Where is your business actually at?
Three questions, about sixty seconds. Find your biggest bottleneck and where to start.
Good questions to ask early.
Which costs should I be watching that I probably am not?
Three usually hide in plain sight: day-to-day food waste, the real cost of staff turnover, and dependence on delivery platforms. Even a manual two-week waste audit tends to surprise owners.
Read the 3 costsAre delivery platforms worth signing up for?
They bring instant reach, but commission of 20 to 30 percent on every order lands on a margin that was already thin. High order volume can still mean very little profit. Use them, but don't build all your off-premise revenue on them.
I'm spending on ads. Why aren't people walking in?
Diners research before they eat. If they search your name and find few reviews or an inconsistent presence across platforms, the ad has already lost them. Fix your reputation first, then pay to amplify it.
Read about ad spendDo 1-for-1 promotions actually work?
Only when there is real value underneath them. A campaign with a strong base gets amplified by good marketing. Without one, no amount of advertising will save it.
Read about campaignsHow often should I review my suppliers?
Treat it as a recurring review, not a one-time setup. A quarterly check on cost, reliability, lead times and payment terms gives you both the leverage to negotiate and the data to act on it.
Read about sourcingI have a dozen ideas and no time. Where do I start?
With a diagnosis, not a new campaign. Name the one real problem underneath the symptoms before you change the menu or run another promotion.
Start the strategy seriesTell us what you need.
Pick the kind of help you're after and send us the details. Prefer email? Write to chat@fnbgrowthhub.com.
Supplier request
Select the type of supplies you need and send your details. We'll send you the relevant supplier information.
Consult on your expenses
Tell us about your business and your expenses. We'll share practical insights for your situation and talk through ways to manage costs smarter.
Get in touch
A question, an idea, or a problem that doesn't fit a box. Tell us about it.
What happens after you send it
- You tell us the problemIn your own words. No brief, no deck, no jargon needed.
- We look at it properlyWe read what you've sent and work out who or what can actually help.
- You decide what's usefulSupplier contacts, a conversation, or a straight answer. No pressure either way.