Hospitality management
Hospitality management: we run your establishment for you
Some owners do not need advice — they need someone to run the place. Under a management engagement, HGA takes day-to-day operational command of your restaurant, bar, bistro or coffee shop while you keep ownership and the profit. One written standard, a named manager on site, senior oversight above them, and a monthly report you can actually trust.
What full management covers
We assume the operating seat. That means the daily decisions an owner or a strong general manager would make — who works Friday, what gets ordered, what the food and pour cost are allowed to be, how a bad table is recovered — are made by us, to a standard agreed with you in writing before we start.
Nothing is improvised. Every part of the operation runs off documented systems: recipe cards, prep sheets, ordering guides, opening and closing routines, cash controls and a weekly scorecard. If we hand the building back tomorrow, the systems stay behind.
- Day-to-day floor and kitchen command: opening, closing, service standards, guest recovery
- People: hiring, scheduling, payroll oversight, training and performance management
- Money: purchasing and vendor contracts, inventory and counts, prime-cost control, cash handling
- Compliance and admin: licensing, health and safety, insurance renewals, POS and systems
- Reporting: a weekly scorecard and a monthly owner report on sales, labor, food and pour cost and profit
How the arrangement works
We start with a diagnostic and handover: two to three weeks reading the P&L, the POS export, the schedule, supplier invoices and the current team, and observing live service. That produces the operating standard — the written document that defines targets, controls and decision authority for the engagement.
Decision authority is explicit. Day-to-day operating calls sit with us: rostering, ordering, menu pricing within agreed margin bands, hiring and managing hourly staff. Owner-level calls stay with you: capital spend above an agreed threshold, lease and licensing decisions, concept changes and anything that alters the entity itself.
A named on-site manager runs the building, with a senior HGA advisor above them reviewing numbers weekly and visiting on a set cadence. You get a monthly owner review — numbers, decisions taken, what changes next month. If you decide to return to daily control, there is a defined handback: thirty days' notice, a documented systems pack and a transition period with your incoming GM.
Who this is for
Absentee and investor owners who bought a venue rather than a job. Owners stepping back for health, family or another business. Multi-site owners without a general manager bench deep enough for the next opening. Estates, lenders and new owners who have inherited a trading venue and need it stabilized before deciding what to do with it.
We manage restaurants, bars, bistros and coffee shops. We work on site across Texas, Florida and South Carolina and take management engagements worldwide where the numbers and the travel make sense.
Fees and term
Management runs on the same structure as our other ongoing work: a fixed setup fee covering the diagnostic and handover, then a monthly management retainer against a written scope. No hourly meter, no surprise line items, and the scope names exactly what we are accountable for.
Terms are set per venue based on size, format and condition. See the engagement pricing page for the current fee structure, or ask on the first call — it is free, and if the honest answer is that you need a strong general manager rather than a management company, we will say so.
What operators get
- A venue that runs to one written standard instead of the memory of whoever is on shift
- Prime cost held to an agreed target and reviewed weekly, not discovered at month end
- Owner time freed from daily operations without losing control of the business
- A monthly owner report you can hand to a lender, a partner or a buyer
Common questions
- Do I still own the business?
- Yes. Ownership, the entity, the lease and the profit stay entirely yours. We operate the establishment on your behalf under a management agreement — you can end it and take back control.
- Who employs the staff?
- In most engagements the staff remain your employees and we manage them day to day, including hiring, scheduling and performance. Alternative structures can be discussed where your entity or payroll setup requires it.
- How long is a management term?
- Twelve months is typical, with a two to three week diagnostic and handover first. Shorter stabilization terms are possible where an owner needs cover for a defined period.
- What if I want to take back day-to-day control?
- There is a defined handback: thirty days' notice, a documented systems pack covering recipes, prep, ordering, rostering and reporting, and a transition period alongside your incoming general manager.
- How is performance measured?
- Against the operating standard agreed before we start: prime cost, labor percentage, sales per labor hour, food and pour cost variance, and net profit — reported weekly to you and reviewed formally each month.
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