The state of play
Why does running a restaurant feel harder than ever?
Because it is. Food costs spiral, labour needs constant watching, and marketing either eats your evenings or doesn't happen at all. Meanwhile, the way customers discover restaurants has changed more in the last eighteen months than in the entire previous decade. Being good is no longer enough, you have to be visible and well-run. Most owners are brilliant at one or the other. Almost nobody has time to be both. That's not a character flaw; it's two full-time jobs.
The trap
The trap every owner knows
You've got two options, and they both only solve half the problem.
A marketing agency
- ✓ Runs your social and website
- ✗ Touches your P&L
- ✗ Knows food costs
- ✗ Builds your SOPs
US agencies charge $100 to $149 an hour Source: Clutch, July 2026, dataset of 106,043 firms.
An ops consultant
- ✓ Fixes margins and systems
- ✗ Runs your marketing
- ✗ Designs your menus
- ✗ Posts a single reel
Priced by the day or by the project. Colin's own market observation from twenty five years in hospitality: operators are typically quoted several thousand a month. We have not found an independent published benchmark, so treat it as observation, not a statistic.
The F&B Partnership
- ✓ Full marketing department
- ✓ Fractional operations director
- ✓ P&L, GP and break-even, monthly
- ✓ SOPs, HACCP, procurement, people
Bulgaria €1,500/mo · UK & US €2,000/mo, both halves, one team
For scale: at the middle of the Clutch range, roughly $125 an hour, twelve hours of a US agency's time comes to about $1,500. Our Bulgaria floor is 1,500 euro a month, a number of similar size, for a whole month rather than a day and a half of someone's attention. And a salaried director of restaurant operations averages about $104,000 a year in the US, one person, one discipline, no marketing. Sources: Clutch, July 2026 (106,043 firms). ZipRecruiter, July 2026. This is both halves, for less than what you'd pay a skilled bartender. When we do our job, the fee pays for itself in margin and bookings.
Numbers
Your numbers, finally working for you
- ☐ Your P&L, built or rebuilt, reviewed with you every month
- ☐ Food and beverage GP tracked separately, so you see where margin leaks
- ☐ Break-even analysis, the exact day each month you start making money
- ☐ All costs monitored: food, beverage, labour
- ☐ Annual budget and forecast
- ☐ A GP calculator built for your menu, whatever your POS can't do
Monthly, together, in plain English. Numbers you understand are numbers you can act on.
Operations
Operations that hold when you're not in the building
- ☐ Full SOP set for food safety and hygiene, localised properly, FDA Food Code for your US county, EHO/FSA standards in the UK, HACCP principles throughout
- ☐ Opening and closing procedures, prep lists, line checks, cleaning and temperature logs
- ☐ Allergen management that protects your guests and your licence
- ☐ Menu engineering, your menu is a profit tool, not a list
- ☐ Procurement support, paying the right price for what comes in the door
- ☐ People, hiring structure, training plans, retention (the hardest part of hospitality, and the part Colin cares most about)
Marketing on top
And the whole marketing department on top
Everything in the Marketing Partnership, tuned for hospitality: the annual marketing plan, a Google Business Profile that actually works (still the highest-converting tool a restaurant has), social built for 2026's algorithms, a website built to be found in Google and AI search, reviews actively driven and answered, and every menu, poster and sign designed in-house by Neli. You film with your phone, we send scripts and shot lists, then edit and publish.
See the full Marketing Partnership →
The team
Who actually does the work?
Colin Rooney, your operations director
Twenty-five years in hospitality, from trainee chef to running global operations: Head of F&B for Generator (11 properties, 9 countries, opened Amsterdam, Rome and Stockholm), Head of Country for Selina Ecuador (5 hotels), and Global F&B Manager for Mad Monkey, a $7M+ operation across 25+ properties in 6 countries with 300-500 staff, where his work cut food costs by 10% across the group. Four venue openings, two rebrands, one book on the subject (THE NO-BS F&B PLAYBOOK). He's done the 2AM walk-in fridge. He's seen your Tuesday.
Neli Rooney, your design department
Every brand, menu, website and post in the partnership goes through Neli's hands, the same designer behind the brands on our portfolio. Bulgarian-born, detail-obsessed, allergic to templates.
The method
Can you really run this remotely?
Yes, remote is the method, not the compromise. Colin ran F&B across 25+ properties in six countries; the job was systems, numbers and coaching local teams, not standing in one kitchen. That's exactly what your partnership looks like: weekly calls, monthly P&L reviews, video walkthroughs of your site, SOPs written for your operation, and a team that answers messages like partners do, because we work with you, not for you.
Why the cap
Why only five?
This is the heaviest thing we do, your numbers, your systems and your marketing, every month. Five partnerships is where the quality lives.
We're currently taking on new F&B partnerships.
Proof
We already do this. Watch it working.
The Brasserie at Darleys (Derby, UK)
Full rebrand, new website with AI chatbot, menus, events and live music programme. Six months in: Facebook impressions up 229%, website visitors up 316%, all organic.
darleys.com →Read the case study →Пекарна „Като Едно Време“ (Sofia)
Scope: full F&B Partnership. Brand, social engine and website plus P&L modelling, GP and menu economics, SOPs, B2B outreach and Bake Pro, a bespoke GP costing tool we built for them. Launched from zero to over 1M+ organic views in five and a half months, 90% organic.
Read the case study →Straight answers
The things every owner asks first.
How much does the F&B Partnership cost?
It depends on where the restaurant is, not where you are reading. Sofia and the rest of Bulgaria: from €1,500 a month. UK and US: from €2,000 a month. Every partnership is scoped and agreed before we start, and the price stays what we said.
Why are Bulgaria and UK or US priced differently?
Bulgaria is our home market, on the doorstep. UK and US work carries overnight timezone cover and a higher cost to serve, plus we work in dollars and pounds where markets are more expensive. The floor is different, the work and the standards are the same.
Do you have any restaurant clients in Bulgaria on the full partnership?
Yes. Пекарна „Като Едно Време“ in Sofia is a full F&B Partnership client: brand and social engine plus the operational side, P&L modelling, GP and menu economics, SOPs, B2B outreach, and a bespoke GP costing tool we built for them called Bake Pro. Darleys in Derby (UK) is a full F&B Partnership client on the same footing. Colin's wider F&B credentials come from Head of F&B for Generator across 11 properties in 9 countries, plus Global F&B Manager for Mad Monkey across 25 plus properties.
What's included?
Everything in the Marketing Partnership (social, web, design, reviews, menu design) plus fractional operations leadership: monthly P&L reviews, GP tracking, break-even analysis, budgeting, SOPs, HACCP based food safety systems, allergen management, menu engineering, procurement and people support.
What does a fractional operations director actually do?
The job a full time Director of Operations would do, at the hours a single site needs. Owns your P&L review each month, tracks food and beverage GP separately so you see where margin leaks, sets and audits SOPs, coaches your head chef and floor lead, sits in on menu changes and supplier calls. Not there every day, present for the work that actually moves numbers.
How does it work remotely?
Weekly calls, monthly number reviews, video walkthroughs of your site, SOPs and systems built for your operation, and your team coached to run them. Colin ran F&B across 25 plus properties in six countries this way. The method scales down to one great restaurant beautifully. In Sofia we can also meet in person when it helps.
Can you help with menu pricing and food cost?
Yes. Menu engineering, food and beverage GP tracked separately, break-even by day, and a GP calculator built for your menu when your POS cannot. We look at what each dish contributes, not just what it costs, and we rewrite the menu around the plates that pay you.
Do you work in Bulgarian and English?
Yes. Colin works in English, Neli works in both. Meetings, SOPs, supplier calls, staff training and menus can all run in Bulgarian for a Sofia venue, and in English for UK and US clients. Reporting is bilingual on request.
Do you help with new openings?
Yes. Colin has opened venues in Amsterdam, Rome, Stockholm and Ecuador. Concept, menu, brand, staffing structure, SOPs from day one, marketing built to fill week one, not just month six. Openings are scoped separately on top of the monthly partnership.
We only need the marketing, or only the ops. Can we split it?
Yes. The Marketing Partnership exists on its own (from €1,500), and ops only scopes can be agreed. But the magic is the combination: the person watching your GP is the same team filling your tables.
Are we locked in?
No long lock ins. Monthly partnership, and if it isn't paying for itself, we're the first to say so.
Who is it for?
Independent restaurants, bars and cafés. In Bulgaria, mainly Sofia and the rest of the country. Also UK and US owner run places that want their marketing handled and their numbers finally under control. Not for groups with head offices; you already have this in house.
Let's look at your numbers.