Six Ways We
Go to Work.
Our team has run resorts, opened independents, managed multi-location groups, and operated F&B programs inside stadiums. Every person at this table has done the job — not studied it.
Purchasing & Contract Warfare™
Most operators don't lose money on the menu. They lose it on the invoice. Broadliner pricing drifts, contracts expire without anyone noticing, rebates sit unclaimed, and the people running the floor don't have time to audit a 300-page price book. We do. Through our partnership with Clear Hospitality Network — a procurement network managing over $30 billion in annual spend across 1,500+ suppliers and 300,000+ benchmarked SKUs — we walk into operations spending $1M+ a year with Sysco, US Foods, or GFS and show you exactly what you're leaving on the table. No vendor changes. No disruption. Just real dollars back.
We guarantee 4–8% cost recovery — any size operation. No vendor changes. No disruption to your daily operations. Ever. If you spend $1 million or more annually with broadline distributors like Sysco, US Foods, or GFS, we'll run a complimentary audit to show you exactly what you're leaving on the table.
4–8%
Cost Recovery
1,500+
Suppliers
300K+
SKUs Benchmarked
Concept, Launch & Turnaround
Concepts don't die in the dream phase. They die in the open — in the gap between the pitch deck and the first dinner service. And operations don't slip overnight. They slip because nobody who's actually run a floor is still looking at the books.
We close both of those gaps. Going in, we build the concept, design the operating model, run the pre-open, and walk the opening with you. Coming back, we walk into a struggling business, find what's broken, and don't leave until it runs right again. Same operators, same hands, same eyes on the floor either way.
- Concept ideation & positioning — what kind of venue, who it's for
- Menu development, pricing, margin strategy
- Service model & guest experience design
- Operating model — FOH/BOH staffing, labor, hours
- Pre-opening timeline, training, soft open & launch
- Operational diagnostics & turnaround plans
- Menu engineering & margin recovery
- Operator-on-site interventions until the business is back on its feet
Design & Build
Every restaurant build runs into the same problem. Architects don't know service. Contractors don't know equipment. And the owner is left holding the bag when the kitchen can't do dinner on opening night.
We're the operator that should have been in the room before the first line was drawn — programming the space, engineering the kitchen, drawing the hoods, specing the stainless, and riding the contractors so you don't get value-engineered into a kitchen that can't run service. From custom stainless and refrigeration to fully engineered hood drawings and HVAC, we know how to build restaurants because we've been the ones running them.
- Space programming & flow — how guests and staff move
- Kitchen design, line layout, equipment specs
- Custom stainless fabrication & refrigeration systems
- Fully engineered hood drawings, exhaust & HVAC
- FOH design — bar, dining room, host stand
- Owner's rep through construction — GC selection, vendor management, change orders
- POS, inventory, scheduling, accounting systems
- Back-of-house SOPs and operating documentation
Recruitment & Culture
The hardest problems in hospitality aren't on the line. They're in the people. Bad GMs sink concepts. Burned-out chefs walk out mid-service. Owner-operators carry it all and burn out themselves.
We don't pretend to be the smartest people in the room on every part of this — that's the whole point. We're members of Gravity Executives, the network that connects us to some of the strongest minds in hospitality talent, executive search, and leadership development in the country. The network handles top-end search, leadership coaching, and HR architecture. We handle the operator work ourselves — hands-on training, team development, and showing up on the floor until the team can run without you in the building.
- Executive search & hospitality leadership recruitment (via Gravity Executives and partner network)
- HR systems, policy, and compliance setup
- Coaching for owners, GMs, executive chefs, and emerging leaders
- Team development & leadership programs
- Hands-on training — front of house, back of house, service standards
- Culture audits and turnaround
- Performance management frameworks
- Compensation and incentive structure design
Brand & Creative Build
Restaurants and hospitality brands today don't usually fail because the food is bad. They fail because nobody finds them online, the website looks nothing like the dining room, and the diner with money in their pocket is asking ChatGPT where to eat tonight — and the answer isn't them.
R.A.A.D. doesn't pretend to be an agency. We're operators who built relationships with the people who actually solve this — hospitality-specific designers, marketers, and developers who understand the rhythm of a service, what a private dining inquiry looks like, what GEO means for a steakhouse with six locations. Two of those partners we name openly: Funnelpot, the hospitality-focused digital agency — "The Soul of Service. The Science of Search." — whose track record includes work with brands like Lettuce Entertain You, Maple & Ash, Danny Grant's restaurants, Wildfire Steaks, and the Chicago Bulls. Design is led by Blake Oliver out of Nashville. Behind them is a deeper bench we plug in based on what your brand actually needs. You get the work of a top-tier hospitality agency at the operator's cost — because we orchestrate the network ourselves instead of paying through agency markup.
One piece worth pulling forward: SEO + GEO. Most diners don't search your restaurant's name anymore — they ask Google or ChatGPT "where should I eat tonight." If you're not optimized for traditional search and AI search, you're invisible at the exact moment the decision gets made. We bring you the people doing this right now, not the ones still learning on your dime.
- Brand identity systems & brand books
- Visual identity, photography, and art direction (led by Blake Oliver)
- Full website design, development, and hosting (via Funnelpot)
- SEO + GEO — visibility on Google search and AI engines (ChatGPT, Gemini, AI Overviews)
- Paid and organic social media
- Premium video and photography production
- Packaging, menu, and collateral design
- Lifecycle marketing, CRM, and retention strategy
- Thought leadership, content authority, and strategic storytelling
Activations & Distribution
We rep specialty food and beverage brands because at our own venues, we are the buyer. We know what a country club chef will actually put on a menu. We know what a cruise line needs to clear procurement. We know which broadliners return calls and which don't. And we move volume into all of them — Cheney Brothers, US Foods, Sysco, FSM Foods, and more — plus the country clubs, hotels, fine dining rooms, catering houses, and cruise lines where premium products live or die.
On top of distribution, we activate brands live: through sporting and entertainment partners, broadcast and event reach, music and entertainment platforms, and on-premise activations that put product in glasses and on plates in front of the people who matter. One such brand we work with is Life Cider. If you have a product worth fighting for, we know how to get it on shelves and into glasses.
- F&B brokerage across hospitality and on-premise channels
- Go-to-market strategy & channel sequencing
- Co-packer sourcing and production introductions
- Broadliner and distributor relationships (Cheney Brothers, US Foods, Sysco, FSM Foods, and more)
- Country club, hotel, cruise line, fine dining, and catering placements
- Live event activations across sports, entertainment, music venues, and festivals
- Sampling, regional sales blitzes, and on-premise activations
- Trade marketing and buyer education
