Food & beverage development · Gulf and international
Everything between a good idea and a business that runs.
We find the site, build the concept, write the systems, open the doors and structure the expansion. One partner across the whole lifecycle — with the chefs, operators and capital relationships already in place.
Our bench has held roles at KFC, Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Krispy Kreme, Americana, Majid Al Futtaim, Alabbar Enterprises and Rotana, among others — in the course of their careers, not as Back of House clients. The full record →
The shape of the work
Five stages, and the one that cannot be undone
Everything before the doors open is still a decision. Everything after is a consequence. The lease is signed at stage 01 and paid for until year five — which is why we start there and not with the menu.
RISING LINE — THE VALUE OF THE BUSINESS AS AN ASSET. ILLUSTRATIVE.
Where to start
Three ways to work with us
Most firms give you one door and a contact form. You can take as much or as little of this as you want, and the first one costs nothing and asks for nothing.
01 · Free
Run your own numbers
Eight calculators — what a rent demands in covers, break-even in covers, delivery commission, menu margin, labour, cash to open, franchise payback. No sign-up, nothing stored. Eight free working files if you leave an email.
Free · no sign-up for the calculators
Open the calculators →02 · Buy the workbooks
Do it yourself, properly
The seven working systems we build to: P&L model, recipe costing with yield, menu engineering, daily reporting, 27 concept-specific checklist packs, pre-opening and franchise readiness. Yours to keep, no subscription.
USD 49 – 349 · one payment
See the workbooks →03 · Engage us
Have us do the work
From a five-day menu profitability audit to turnkey development, site to open. Fixed scope, fixed fee, agreed before we start — and you receive the working models and manuals at the end, not a presentation.
From AED 3,500 · fees published in full
See what it costs →The discipline
Everything gets built to the numbers
Creative work that ignores the model produces beautiful businesses that close. Every concept we develop is costed against these figures before a supplier is appointed, and reviewed against them every week after opening.
Plus six more, with the benchmark range for each and what to do when one is out of line — in the free health check.
First look
The firm in three lines
Back of House is a food and beverage development company based in Dubai, working across the Gulf and internationally. Businesses in this industry rarely fail creatively — the food is usually fine; they fail on the site that was signed, the model nobody stress-tested, or systems written after opening instead of before. Every one of those is solvable, and every one of them is solved before the doors open, or not at all.
Services
Seven areas of work. One accountable partner.
Most projects fail in the gaps between suppliers — the site nobody stress-tested, the concept nobody costed, the systems written after opening. We hold all seven, so there are no gaps to fall into.
- 01 Site search and location study
- 02 Concept creation and menu development
- 03 Operational structure and brand readiness
- 04 Pre-opening and launch
- 05 Franchise, territory and market entry
- 06 Models, formats and ongoing advisory
- 07 Due diligence, audit and standards
Each one below says what is delivered, not what it is called. Fees for every area are published in full on Engagements.
01 · Site
Site Search & Location Study
The rent you sign is the one decision you cannot operate your way out of. We search, shortlist and study locations against the model — catchment, footfall pattern, competition and access — and above all what that rent does to your break-even before you commit to it.
What this covers
- Site search and shortlisting against a defined brief
- Site visits and on-the-ground assessment
- Catchment, footfall and competition study
- Rent-to-sales viability and break-even at that specific address
- Commercial review of lease terms before signature
02 · Concept
Concept Creation & Menu Development
Concept and menu built to a costed model from the first draft, led by chefs who have created brands now trading across the region. The margin target is set before the recipes are written, not discovered afterwards.
What this covers
- Concept, positioning and format — build your concept from A to Z
- Full menu creation across cuisines: food, bakery, pastry, desserts and coffee
- Recipes, specifications and yields
- Item-level costing to a target margin
- Supplier strategy and sourcing
03 · Systems
Operational Structure & Brand Readiness
For new builds, and for existing brands that grew faster than their paperwork. This is the work that makes a business sellable, franchisable and survivable without its founder standing in it. Scoped and priced against the size of the business, so a single site and a twelve-site group are not quoted the same way.
What this covers
- Standard operating procedures, front and back of house
- Company policies and the human resources framework
- Point-of-sale configuration and reporting structure
- Financial and operational reporting formats — the full weekly and monthly suite
- Cost controls, stock and wastage discipline
- Organisation chart and staffing model
04 · Open
Pre-Opening & Launch
The critical path from handover to a business that trades. The real cost of a late opening is rarely the extra rent — it is the six months of weak trading that follows a bad launch.
What this covers
- 90-day opening critical path
- Recruitment against the staffing model
- Onboarding and training to the written procedures
- Trial service, soft launch and snagging
- Structured performance review at day 30, 60 and 90
05 · Expand
Franchise, Territory & Market Entry
Both sides of the table — brands ready to franchise, and investors looking for the right brand. Never both sides of the same deal.
What this covers
- Franchise feasibility, unit economics and investment modelling
- Franchise structure — fees, royalties, territory sizing and agreements
- Operations manual and brand standards for franchise release
- Franchise rights available — GCC and international territories
- Operator matching — vetted operators in each market for brands seeking partners
- Gulf market entry and ongoing brand representation
06 · Tools
Models, Formats & Ongoing Advisory
For operators who want the model rather than the meeting — and for groups that need senior food and beverage leadership without carrying the salary.
What this covers
- Café & Restaurant P&L Model — unit economics, break-even and scenario tabs, in Excel
- Operational reporting formats — the weekly and monthly suite, ready to use
- Menu Profitability Audit — item-level margin, engineering matrix and repricing plan
- Open Your First Café — self-paced, twelve lessons, built from real openings
- Fractional Head of Food & Beverage — two days a week, ongoing
07 · Assurance
Due Diligence, Audit & Standards
Before you buy a business, and after you have franchised one. Independent verification that the numbers are what the seller says and the outlet is running the brand it promised — carried out by people with no stake in the answer.
What this covers
- Acquisition and franchise due diligence — trading history, margin quality and what the lease and supplier terms do to it
- Financial audit, budget construction and cash-flow restructuring
- Brand standards audit against the operations manual, with an enforceable corrective plan
- HACCP-based food safety and compliance audit, to the municipal requirement of the market
- Franchisee network audit programmes — scheduled, scored and reported to the franchisor
The sequence
How a project runs
A single-site development from first conversation to full trading. Each phase produces something you own — a model, a manual, a trained team — not a slide deck.
Site and location study
2–4 weeksShortlisting against the brief, site visits, catchment and competition assessment, and what the proposed rent does to break-even. Where a site is already signed, we start at phase 01 and work with what you have.
Feasibility and model
2–3 weeksInvestment model, payback, break-even converted into covers, and an honest view on whether the concept survives this rent and these salaries. Some projects should stop here, and we will say so.
Concept and menu
6–8 weeksChef-led concept and menu development, costed item by item against the model. Recipes, specifications, supplier strategy and target margins.
Systems and structure
4–6 weeks, overlappingProcedures, policies, point-of-sale configuration and reporting, organisation chart, staffing model and cost controls — written while the fit-out runs, not after.
Hiring and training
6–8 weeksRecruitment against the staffing model, onboarding, and training to the procedures already written. The team learns the system, not one manager's habits.
Launch and stabilise
4 weeks, then 90 daysTrial service, soft launch, snagging, then structured review at day 30, 60 and 90 against the model. Whatever has drifted gets corrected while it is still cheap to correct.
Expansion, once it is earned
from month 6A second site or a franchise structure only after site one holds its numbers for a full quarter. Replicating a business that does not work yet is the most expensive mistake in this industry.
The firm
Who you would be working with
Back of House is a food and beverage development company based in Dubai, working across the Gulf and internationally.
We were built around one observation. Businesses in this industry rarely fail creatively — the food is usually fine. They fail on the site that was signed, the model nobody stress-tested, the systems written after opening instead of before, or an expansion attempted before the first location actually worked. Every one of those is solvable, and every one of them is solved before the doors open, or not at all.
So we cover the whole lifecycle. We find and assess the address. We develop the concept and the menu with chefs who have built brands people already know. We write the operating architecture — procedures, policies, reporting, people structure. We open it. And when it is earning what the model said it would, we structure the franchise or the second site.
We are a small core with a standing network of specialists engaged per project, all contracted by us. One agreement, one scope, one party accountable for the result.
- Based
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Markets
- GCC, wider MENA, international
- Sectors
- Specialty coffee, quick service, casual dining, bakery & pastry
- Model
- Small core, specialists engaged per project
- Contracting
- Principal, not agent
- Engagements
- Fixed scope, fixed fee
Free tools
Eight calculators. No sign-up to use them.
These are the first checks we run on any business before we say anything useful about it. Use them on your own numbers. Everything is worked out inside your own browser — your figures never leave this page, nothing is stored, nothing is sent to us, and you do not have to give us an email to get an answer.
01 · Rent
Rent Reality Check
Turns a rent into the revenue it demands and the covers per day behind it, then shows where the site you already trade in actually sits.
Open the calculator →02 · Survival
Break-Even Calculator
The guest count below which today loses money, expressed as covers rather than as a sales figure nobody can act on.
Open the calculator →03 · Delivery
Delivery Commission Calculator
What an aggregator order leaves you after commission, food, packaging and labour, against the same item sold in your dining room.
Open the calculator →04 · Menu
Menu Item Margin Calculator
Item cost against price, and the price or recipe cost you would need to reach your target food cost.
Open the calculator →05 · Labour
Labour Cost Calculator
Fully loaded labour against net sales, sales per labour hour, and the hours you can actually afford this week.
Open the calculator →06 · Opening
Cash to Open Calculator
The build, the contingency, and the reserve that keeps you trading until sales find their level.
Open the calculator →07 · Franchise
Franchise Payback Calculator
Your franchisee’s return and payback period, and what your royalty does to both before you commit to it for ten years.
Open the calculator →08 · Systems
Which Checklists Do I Need?
Pick your concept and see exactly which records it needs. Twenty-seven concepts, from 33 checklists to 46.
Open the calculator →Free editions
Every free edition, in one email.
Every paid system has a free edition. They are real working files, not watermarked samples — each one does a job end to end, it is simply smaller. Use one on your own numbers and you will know within an afternoon whether the full version is worth it to you.
- Cafe & Restaurant P&L Model — the 12-Number Health Check, as a guide and as a working scoring sheet
- Recipes and Costing — 40 ingredients, 8 recipe cards, one delivery platform
- Menu Engineering — 12 item rows and the four-box classification
- Operations SOP Pack — three full checklists for a cafe and bakery
- Operational Reporting — a fortnight, day by day and week against week
- Pre-Opening System — the last fourteen days before opening
- Franchise Readiness — 25 questions and a verdict
Every one of them ends on a What Comes Next sheet: your own figures read back to you, what the file cannot see, and what building the same thing yourself would cost in your own hours. It is worth reading even if you never buy anything.
Send me the free editions →One email. No list, no spam, unsubscribe any time.
Free editions
Take the working files with you
A calculator answers one question on one screen and forgets it the moment you close the tab. The free editions are real working files you keep — costing, menu engineering, daily reporting, checklists, pre-opening and franchise readiness, plus the 12-Number Health Check as a guide and as a scoring sheet.
Every workbook ends on a What Comes Next sheet that reads your own figures back to you and says plainly what the file cannot see. The paid systems they lead into are on the Workbooks page.
Form not loading? Email hello@backofhouseco.com and we will send them straight over.
Email not arrived within a few minutes? Check your spam folder, or open the download page and take the files straight from there.
Free tools · 01 · Rent
Rent Reality Check
Whether a rent is affordable is not a property question. It is a revenue question. This turns the rent into the revenue it demands, then into covers per day — because a landlord quotes you a figure per year and your team can only deliver guests per shift. Enter your current revenue as well and it tells you where you actually sit today.
Where this should land. Property cost at 8–12% of revenue for cafe and casual dining, and up to 15% on a prime high-street or mall address where the rent is buying footfall you would otherwise pay to market for. Above 15% the rent starts deciding what the business is allowed to do. Service charge and chilled water belong inside the figure, not beside it.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
Revenue the rent implies = (rent + service charge) ÷ target percentage. Per trading day = that figure ÷ trading days. Covers per day = daily figure ÷ average spend. Your property cost today = (rent + service charge) ÷ your revenue.
A rent you can carry this year is not a rent you can carry through a review. Most leases step the rent every year or two, and your average spend does not rise on its own to meet it. The full model runs twelve months side by side with rent, price and volume scenarios, so you see the answer before the landlord asks the question.
See the Café & Restaurant P&L Model →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Free tools · 02 · Survival
Break-Even Calculator
The number almost no operator knows by heart, and the only one that tells a shift manager whether today mattered. We convert it into covers, because “we need 190 guests a day” is something a team can act on and a sales figure is not.
Where this should land. Contribution margin of 60–70% is normal for full service and 65–75% for a cafe or beverage-led site. Below 55% the model is carrying too much cost per sale for volume to rescue it. The break-even cover count matters more than the sales figure, because a team can count guests.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
Contribution margin = 100% − food cost % − other variable %. Break-even sales = monthly fixed costs ÷ contribution margin. Per day = ÷ trading days. Covers = ÷ average spend.
This is one month at one price. The full model runs twelve months side by side, with scenarios for rent, price and volume — so you can see what a 6% rent increase does to your break-even before your landlord asks for it.
See the Café & Restaurant P&L Model →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Free tools · 03 · Delivery
Delivery Commission Calculator
What an aggregator order actually leaves you, after commission, food, packaging and the labour to build it — against the same item sold in your dining room. Most operators price both the same and discover the difference a year later.
Where this should land. Aggregator commission runs 25–30% of menu price in this market, packaging 3–6%, and the picking and packing labour is real. After all four, a delivery order that leaves you less than 20% of menu price is being sold at a price set for a different channel.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
You keep = menu price − commission − food cost − packaging − order-handling labour. Dine-in comparison uses the same food cost percentage applied to the dine-in price, with no commission and no packaging.
This is one item on one platform. The model runs your whole delivery channel against your dine-in channel, month by month, so you can see whether delivery is adding profit or just adding turnover.
See Recipes and Costing →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Free tools · 04 · Menu
Menu Item Margin Calculator
Item-level cost against price, and the price you would need to hit a target food cost. Run it across your ten best sellers and you will usually find two that are being sold at a loss.
Where this should land. Food cost of 25–32% is normal for full service, 28–35% for quick service, and 18–24% on a beverage-led menu. A single item outside the range is a decision, not a problem. Three or more and the menu is costed against the wrong price.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
Gross profit = price − recipe cost. Actual food cost = recipe cost ÷ price. Price needed = recipe cost ÷ target food cost. Recipe cost needed = price × target food cost.
Doing this for your whole menu? The workbook costs every item, plots the engineering matrix — stars, plough horses, puzzles and dogs — and gives you a repricing plan with the margin impact of each move.
See the Menu Engineering Workbook →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Free tools · 05 · Labour
Labour Cost Calculator
Labour is the only major cost you can change this week, and the one most operators measure wrongly — by looking at the wage bill rather than at what an hour of roster actually costs once visas, end-of-service and accommodation are in it. Sales per labour hour is the fairest way to compare two weeks, because it does not care whether the week was busy.
Where this should land. Labour at 22–30% of net sales fully loaded, meaning end-of-service, visa, insurance, accommodation and transport inside the hourly rate, not alongside it. Quick service should sit at the lower end. Food plus labour together — prime cost — should hold around 60%.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
Labour cost = paid hours × fully loaded hourly cost. As a percentage = ÷ net sales. Sales per labour hour = net sales ÷ paid hours. Hours affordable = (net sales × target percentage) ÷ loaded hourly cost.
This is one week, measured after the fact. The reporting pack logs it daily for a full year, splits sales by dine-in, takeaway and delivery, and runs an hour-by-hour labour curve against the sales curve — which is where you find the two people standing in an empty room every weekday afternoon.
See the Operational Reporting Pack →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Free tools · 06 · Opening
Cash to Open Calculator
Almost everyone budgets the fit-out and forgets what comes after the doors open. Sites rarely fail because the build cost too much — they fail because month three arrived before the sales did and there was nothing left in the account. This adds the reserve to the build.
Where this should land. Contingency below 10% of the build is optimism rather than a budget, and 12% is the safer number on a fitted shell you have not opened up. Carry three months of running cost as a minimum reserve and six if the format is new to the market. Pre-opening and reserve together commonly reach 15–25% of total project cost.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
Build subtotal = fit-out + property + licences + stock + pre-opening payroll + launch. Contingency applies to the build subtotal. Cash to open = subtotal + contingency. Reserve = monthly running cost × months. Total = cash to open + reserve.
This is the total. It does not tell you when each payment falls due. The pre-opening system runs eighty-five tasks from 120 days before opening to 90 days after, every one dated off a single cell — move the opening date and the whole plan moves — with a fifty-three line budget against actual so you catch the overspend while it is still recoverable.
See the Pre-Opening System →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Free tools · 07 · Franchise
Franchise Payback Calculator
This one models the franchisee’s economics, not yours — because that is the page their lawyer reads twice, and because a franchisee who does not make money stops paying you and starts telling people why. Set your royalty here and you will see what it does to their return before you commit to it for ten years.
Where this should land. A franchisee payback of 2–3 years sells. Three to four is workable but loses candidates to brands offering less. Beyond four years you are competing on faith. Your own support cost per unit is the line nearly every franchisor leaves out, and it is what decides whether scale pays you.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
Royalty to you = franchisee net sales × royalty percentage. Your net = royalty − support cost. Their earnings = (net sales × operating margin) − royalty − marketing fund. Payback = their investment ÷ their earnings after your fees.
This is one unit in one market, at one sales level. The readiness pack audits you across eight domains before you grant anything, compares twenty-five markets on trademark position, agency law, ownership rules and remittance, and models the franchisee’s profit and loss over five years rather than one.
See the Franchise Readiness Pack →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Free tools · 08 · Systems
Which Checklists Do I Need?
Most checklist packs sold online are one generic document with everything in it, and the buyer spends an afternoon deleting the lines that do not apply — then misses a few, and the shift learns to ignore the sheet. Pick your concept and see exactly which records yours needs. No email, no sign-up.
Every line is written to one standard for temperature, cooling and reheating, and every sheet prints to a single page with room to sign.
How to read this. The range across the twenty-seven concepts runs from 33 checklists to 46. A number at the low end is not a lighter operation, it is a narrower one: no bar, no fryer, no delivery dispatch. What matters is that every line on every sheet applies to your site, because a team that crosses lines out stops reading the sheet.
The arithmetic behind these numbers
No arithmetic. Each concept is mapped to the operating records it actually generates, and the Required count is the subset a food-safety inspection asks to see.
Show every checklist
The free edition carries three of these at full depth — opening, closing and cleaning for a cafe and bakery — so you can see what the pages actually look like before deciding. The full pack is twenty-seven separate files, one per concept: you open the one with yours on it and every line on every page applies to you.
See the Operations SOP Pack →A calculator answers one question and forgets it when you close the tab. Every paid system has a free edition — real working files you keep, not watermarked samples.
Every free edition, in one email →Team & network
A small core, and the specialists a project actually needs.
We do not carry a permanent bench of twenty people, because overhead is paid for by every client whether they need it or not. We keep the core tight and bring in the specialist the project actually requires — all contracted by us, all working to one model.
The collective record
What the people on this bench have actually done
Not one person’s CV. The figures below are what the seats on this page have carried between them, across the Gulf, Egypt, Morocco and international franchise networks.
Where this bench has operated
KFC · Pizza Hut · Hardee’s · IHOP · Applebee’s · Costa Coffee · Krispy Kreme · TGI Fridays · Baskin-Robbins · Starbucks · Tim Hortons · Nestlé Professional · Americana · Majid Al Futtaim · Alabbar Enterprises · InterContinental · Rotana · Phoenicia Beirut
Senior operating, finance, culinary, training and standards roles held by the people on this bench in the course of their careers — across the Gulf, Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the wider MENA region. These are not Back of House clients or engagements, and we do not present them as such. They are where the experience was earned.
Who leads the work
The firm, not a personality
Founded to close a gap visible from both sides of the table: brand owners with a concept and no operating system behind it, and investors with capital and no independent way to judge whether the numbers are real.
Commercial strategy and development
Leads the feasibility and the commercial model on every engagement personally, and stays on the project through launch. Thirteen years in food and beverage operations and development across the Gulf and international markets, at multi-unit level: café and quick-service operations, profit and loss ownership, pre-openings, brand development and franchise expansion.
- Leads
- Every engagement
- Based
- Dubai
Worked personally, not delegated
On every engagement
Feasibility and unit economics. Franchise structuring, fees and territory. Operating structure and pre-opening. Everything else is matched to the specialist the project needs.
- Model
- Principal-led
- Contracting
- Fixed scope, fixed fee
The bench
Engaged per project, contracted by us
Each seat is filled from a standing network. Which individual joins depends on the project — a pastry-led bakery and a quick-service rollout do not need the same chef, and you should not pay for both.
Chief Financial Officer — Commercial
Owns the model — investment case, payback and break-even before a lease is signed, then the reporting that tells you whether the business did what the model promised. Filled at group chief financial officer and country general manager level, from careers covering portfolios above AED 3 billion and networks beyond 800 restaurants.
What this seat covers
Protects you from signing a ten-year lease against a model that was never going to work, and finding out in month nine.
- Leads
- Phase 01
- Matched by
- Deal structure
Executive Chef — Concept & Menu
Creates the concept and the menu. The pastry and chocolate seat is filled at executive chef level — eighteen years across five-star hotel kitchens, boutique patisserie and retail, in Lebanon, Kuwait and the UAE. Savoury and category chefs are matched to the concept rather than assigned by default. Every recipe is costed to its margin target before it reaches a supplier.
What this seat covers
Protects you from a menu that cannot make money at the price your market will pay — discovered after the printing.
- Leads
- Phase 02
- Matched by
- Category
Real Estate & Site Acquisition
Finds and assesses the address. Shortlists against the brief, runs catchment and footfall, and tests what the proposed rent does to break-even before anything is signed. Brokerage is executed through licensed brokers; our role is the search and the commercial view.
What this seat covers
Protects you from six points of occupancy cost for the length of the lease, because the rent was agreed before break-even was known.
- Leads
- Phase 00
- Matched by
- Market
Operations & Training Lead
Turns the concept into a system somebody else can run. Writes the procedures, configures the point-of-sale and its reporting, then trains the team to the written standard through soft launch and the first ninety days of trading.
What this seat covers
Protects you from a business that only runs when you are standing in it.
- Leads
- Phases 03–05
- Matched by
- Format
People & HR
Organisation chart, staffing model, contracts and policy, with recruitment run against the model rather than a manager’s instinct. Also the visa, payroll and labour-compliance groundwork that delays more openings than any kitchen ever has.
What this seat covers
Protects you from an opening pushed back three weeks by visas and paperwork nobody owned.
- Leads
- Phase 04
- Matched by
- Scale
Franchise & Market Entry
Structures the expansion. Fees, royalties, territory sizing and the operations manual on the brand side; independent assessment of the numbers on the investor side. Never both on the same deal.
What this seat covers
Protects you from granting a territory on terms you cannot change for ten years.
- Leads
- Phase 06
- Matched by
- Market
Financial Due Diligence & Audit
Independent review of the numbers before money moves: acquisition and franchise due diligence, audit, budget and cash flow — including whether reported profit survives contact with the lease schedule and the supplier terms. Led by finance executives from multi-country restaurant groups, not audit practice alone.
What this seat covers
Protects you from buying a business whose reported profit does not survive the lease schedule and the supplier terms.
- Leads
- Due diligence
- Matched by
- Deal type
Brand Standards Audit
Measures whether the outlet is running the brand it promised. Unannounced visits, scoring against the manual, and a corrective plan a franchisor can enforce — because a standard nobody audits is a suggestion. Written by trainers who have had to deliver it from behind the counter. UAE and Egypt.
What this seat covers
Protects you from a network drifting from its own standard until the brand is worth less than the day you franchised it.
- Leads
- Post-opening
- Matched by
- Market
Food Safety & Compliance Audit
HACCP-based audit of the kitchen and the supply chain against the municipal requirements of the market you actually trade in. Gap report, corrective actions and re-audit — before the authority arrives, not after. Led by practising certified lead auditors. UAE and Egypt.
What this seat covers
Protects you from a closure notice, a fine, and the photograph that follows it.
- Leads
- Pre-opening and post-opening
- Matched by
- Market
IF A SPECIALIST CHANGES MID-PROJECT, YOUR AGREEMENT DOES NOT.
Two markets
The Gulf and Egypt, under one agreement
Gulf brands want Egypt for its size; Egyptian brands want the Gulf for hard currency and margin. We hold delivery capability on both sides of that corridor, so a client crossing it signs one agreement rather than appointing two firms who blame each other.
Gulf desk — Dubai
Primary contracting office
Feasibility and modelling, site search, pre-opening, franchise structuring and territory strategy across the UAE and wider GCC. All client agreements are held here, in USD or AED.
- Covers
- UAE · GCC
- Contracting
- USD / AED
Egypt desk — Cairo
Delivery and market access
Country finance and operational leadership, brand standards and food safety audit, supplier and landlord access, and route to market for brands entering Egypt. The operating seat is filled from careers that grew one branded network from thirty outlets to more than a hundred and eighty. Also the origin side of the corridor: Egyptian brands ready to grant rights abroad.
- Covers
- Egypt
- Contracting
- Through the Gulf desk
The network
Chefs, franchise principals and capital
Beyond the delivery bench, we hold relationships on three sides of this industry. The terms on which we use them are worth stating plainly.
Chefs and brand founders
Named under NDA
Creators of recognised regional concepts, engaged under our contract and to our costed model.
Franchise principals
Named under NDA
Brand owners holding live territory opportunities, and franchisees looking for the right brand rather than the loudest one.
Vetted operators by market
Named under NDA
Established operating groups in each target country, for brands needing a partner who can run the business rather than only fund it.
Investors and finance
Named under NDA
Investor and senior finance relationships in regional food and beverage, introduced to projects that are ready to be shown. Not before.
Opportunities
Brands seeking partners. Operators seeking sites.
We hold a small number of live briefs at any time — brands looking for a master franchisee or territory partner, owners releasing territory rights, and fitted premises coming available by assignment in locations that rarely reach the open market. We work the Gulf and Egypt in both directions: international brands entering these markets, and established regional brands ready to grant rights abroad. Briefs are anonymised here and released in full to registered parties under a non-disclosure agreement.
Current briefs
What is open now
Each brief carries enough to self-qualify — the format, the size, the commercial range and what is on offer. Identity, exact address, photography, financial detail and the agreement itself are released once the non-disclosure agreement is signed.
Fitted F&B premises — Downtown Dubai
Ground floor with street frontage and a licensed terrace, on a prime pedestrian retail address. Trading today, and offered as fitted premises for an incoming brand by assignment of the lease. The existing trading name is not part of the sale — you bring your own concept.
The rent is AED 261 per square foot and runs for the remainder of the term, materially below what comparable Downtown street-front space lets at now. Building the equivalent unit from a shell costs AED 2.05m to 3.2m once fit-out, the rent payable across a six to nine month build and licensing are counted — and it earns nothing while it is under construction.
Master franchise — Middle East and North Africa
A British dessert-led cafe brand is granting territory rights across the Middle East and North Africa. It trades all day — speciality coffee and breakfast through to a chocolate-led dessert menu — so a site earns across more of the day than a dessert-only format, which is what makes the rent work on a prime address. Unit sizes and fit-out cost by format are set out in the full brief.
This is a system that has already been handed to other people and worked. Twenty-two units are trading in the home market, five more are in fit-out, and a further five agreements are signed and waiting on sites. Outside the home market it is already trading in North America, Türkiye and the UAE, with a further market secured and the design approved. Two cafes are open in the UAE and a third site is under search, so the brand arrives in this region proven rather than cold.
Register
Request the full briefs
Tell us what you are looking for and we will send the current briefs that fit, with the non-disclosure agreement. If nothing fits today we will tell you, rather than send you a list.
Brands seeking a Gulf partner are welcome to approach from the other side — we take a limited number of representation mandates each year.
What happens after you send it
- We read it and check it against the mandates we currently hold. Usually same day.
- If something fits, you get the mutual non-disclosure agreement and the full brief — territory, term, investment and the numbers behind it.
- If nothing fits, we say so plainly and keep your brief on file for the next one. You are not added to a mailing list.
Partner with us
Some of the best work arrives through someone else.
A project usually starts with a person, not a search. Somebody knows who is opening, who is expanding, who has a unit standing empty. If that is you — or if you are a specialist we should be putting on projects — there is a straightforward way to work together, and it is written down before anything moves.
Five ways in
Which one is you
01 · Introduce
You know the deal before it is a deal
You hear who is taking space, who is releasing territory, who has just lost their operator. You make the introduction. If it becomes paid work, you share in the fee. You are not asked to sell anything, attend meetings, or explain what we do — that is our job.
02 · Deliver
You are the specialist a project needs
Chefs, operations managers, trainers, food safety, designers. You work on a project under our contract, on defined scope, and you are paid for the work rather than a share of an introduction. Your name goes to the client on engagement, not before.
03 · Co-deliver
Your firm and ours, on one mandate
Design studios, fit-out, legal, accounting, recruitment. Reciprocal referral both ways, and joint delivery on mandates that neither of us would win alone. One contract with the client, clear division of scope, no confusion about who owes what.
04 · Split a deal
You hold the opportunity, we hold the network
You have a brand looking for a market, or a mandate you cannot place inside your own contacts. We bring the partner from ours. You keep the relationship you started, and the fee is split on terms agreed in writing before either of us picks up the phone.
05 · Brand owners
You have a brand and want a Gulf partner
That is a different conversation and it has its own page. Briefs are released under a mutual non-disclosure agreement and nothing is named before that point. See Opportunities →
How it works
Five steps, and none of them are a surprise
Register
Tell us what you bring
Individual or company — both are welcome, and the form is the same. Leave the company field blank if you are independent. You will not be added to any mailing list: this goes to one inbox and you will get a reply from a person.
Email hello@backofhouseco.com with your name, your company if you have one, what you bring and which markets you cover, and we will come back to you.
Engagements
What you get, then what it costs.
Every engagement below lists exactly what is delivered before it names a fee, because a number without a scope means nothing. Every figure is a starting point. We agree the scope with you first and set the fee against it — fewer phases or more markets move the number in both directions. Once it is agreed it is fixed: no hourly billing, no variations invoiced afterwards. You receive the working models and manuals, not a presentation.
Before the numbers below
What a fee is actually being compared against
Every figure on this page is a starting point. Scope decides the fee, so the package is built around what the brand actually needs — fewer phases, more markets, a longer runway after opening. Book a call and we will scope it with you →
A fee only looks expensive next to nothing. Set against the cost of the decision it exists to get right, the proportions change. One worked example, using the rent figures published on this site.
AT AED 300,000 MONTHLY TURNOVER: RENT AT 17% OF SALES INSTEAD OF 11%. BARS TO SCALE.
At a glance
Every engagement, on one screen
Scan this, then read the one that fits. Every figure is a starting point for a single site — scope, size and market move it, and the detail below says exactly what is delivered for it.
These are starting figures, not quotations. Each fee is adjusted to the requirements of the project — the number of phases, the number of markets, how long we stay after opening. Tell us what you are trying to do and we will scope it with you before anyone commits to anything. Figures shown in AED and excluding VAT; use the currency selector above to read them in your own.
Development · Complete
Turnkey Development — site to open
For an investor or operator who wants one accountable partner from the first conversation to a business that trades on its own.
What you receive
- Location study and shortlist against your brief
- Investment model, payback and break-even in covers
- Chef-led concept and full menu, costed to target margin
- Recipes, specifications, yields and supplier strategy
- Complete operating procedures, front and back of house
- Point-of-sale configuration and the reporting pack
- Organisation chart, staffing model and recruitment
- Training delivered to the written standard
- The 90-day critical path, run week by week
- Trial service, soft launch and snagging
- Structured review at day 30, 60 and 90
- Every model and manual handed over, yours to keep
The alternative is five suppliers, five contracts and nobody accountable when the concept nobody costed meets the lease nobody stress-tested. Most of what goes wrong in this industry happens in the gaps between those five — and the gaps are free to create and expensive to close.
Development · 01
Site Search & Location Study
Before anything else, the address. It is the one decision you cannot operate your way out of.
What you receive
- Search and shortlist against a written brief
- Site visits and on-the-ground assessment
- Catchment profile and footfall pattern by daypart
- Competition mapping within the catchment
- Rent-to-sales viability modelled at each address
- Break-even in covers, at that specific rent
- Commercial review of lease terms before signature
- A written recommendation, including “none of these”
A lease at 17% of sales instead of 11% costs roughly AED 216,000 a year on AED 300,000 of monthly turnover — every year, for the length of the lease, with no operational fix available. The study costs a fraction of one month of that difference.
Development · 02
Concept Creation & Menu Development
Chef-led concept and menu built to a costed model from the first draft, rather than priced after the fact.
What you receive
- Concept, positioning and format definition
- Customer proposition and daypart strategy
- Full menu architecture across all cuisines
- Recipes, specifications and tested yields
- Item-level costing against a target margin
- Menu engineering matrix at launch
- Supplier strategy, sourcing and price benchmarking
- Kitchen flow and equipment implications
A menu costed after opening is a menu you have to reprice in front of customers who already know the old price. Costing it before means the margin is designed in rather than negotiated later.
Development · 03
Operational Structure & Brand Readiness
For new builds, and for existing brands that grew faster than their paperwork. Scoped and priced against the size of the business.
What you receive
- Standard operating procedures, front of house
- Standard operating procedures, back of house
- Company policies and the human resources framework
- Employment contracts and onboarding structure
- Point-of-sale configuration and menu build
- Financial and operational reporting formats
- Weekly and monthly reporting pack, ready to run
- Cost controls, stock counts and wastage discipline
- Organisation chart and staffing model by cover count
- Opening and closing checklists, by station
Systems are what let you leave the building, open a second site, franchise the brand or sell it. Without them you do not own a business, you own a job that stops paying the moment you stop standing in it.
Development · 04
Pre-Opening & Launch
The critical path from handover to a business that trades without you standing in the middle of it.
What you receive
- The 90-day opening critical path, run weekly
- Recruitment against the staffing model
- Onboarding and induction structure
- Training delivered to the written procedures
- Supplier onboarding and opening orders
- Trial service and menu tasting rounds
- Soft launch, snagging and correction
- Day 30, 60 and 90 review against the model
The real cost of a bad launch is rarely the extra rent. It is the six months of weak trading that follows, in a market where the first eight weeks decide whether a place becomes somebody’s regular.
Expansion · 05
Franchise Feasibility & Market Entry
For brands entering the Gulf, and for investors evaluating a franchise offer. We work one side of a deal, never both.
What you receive
- Full investment model and capital requirement
- Payback period and break-even analysis
- Territory sizing and unit potential by market
- Rent, salary and supply-cost reality for this region
- Franchise fee and royalty structure reviewed
- Comparable benchmarking against similar formats
- Risk register and the assumptions that break it
- A written verdict, including when it is no
A feasibility study is a rounding error against a master franchise fee. Skipping it is how people discover, eighteen months in, that a concept which works at European rents and European wages does not survive Dubai.
Expansion · 06
Franchise Structuring & Release
Turning one business that works into a system somebody else can buy, run and be held to.
What you receive
- Fee and royalty structure design
- Territory design and exclusivity terms
- Full operations manual for franchisees
- Brand standards and compliance framework
- Franchisee training programme and materials
- Unit economics pack for prospective partners
- Support model and ongoing obligations defined
- Selection criteria for the partners you want
Franchising an unfinished system is the most expensive mistake in this industry. Every weakness in your operation gets copied into every unit, and then it belongs to somebody who paid you for it.
Expansion · 07
Gulf Market Representation
Ongoing representation for international brands entering the region, and for owners releasing territory rights.
What you receive
- Market entry strategy and territory sequencing
- Partner and operator identification, vetted
- Anonymised briefs prepared and circulated
- Introductions handled under non-disclosure
- Commercial negotiation support
- Local operational oversight during launch
- Ongoing performance reporting to the brand
- A single point of accountability in the region
Brands usually discover the Gulf through whoever approached them first. That is not the same as whoever can actually run it — and the wrong master franchisee costs a brand its market for a decade.
Operating · 08
Menu Profitability Audit
For sites already trading, where the sales look fine and the margin does not.
What you receive
- Item-level cost and margin, every line
- Menu engineering matrix by popularity and profit
- The items to keep, fix, reposition or cut
- Repricing plan with the psychology considered
- Portioning and specification corrections
- Supplier and sourcing opportunities
- The working model, handed over
- A one-page action list, ranked by impact
Two points of food cost on AED 300,000 of monthly sales is AED 72,000 a year. The audit costs less than one month of that difference, and the model stays with you afterwards.
Operating · 09
Fractional Head of Food & Beverage
Senior operational leadership two days a week, for groups that need the expertise without carrying the salary.
What you receive
- Weekly operating review against the model
- Cost control and margin management
- Team structure, hiring and performance
- Supplier negotiation and sourcing
- New site assessment and expansion planning
- Monthly reporting to owners or board
- Escalation point for the operations team
- Continuity, not a project that ends
A full-time head of food and beverage at this level costs a multiple of this, plus visa, accommodation, gratuity and the risk of the wrong hire. Two focused days a week covers most of what a multi-site group actually needs.
Models and formats
The tools, without the engagement
For operators who want the model rather than the meeting. Same files we build every project on.
Café & Restaurant P&L Model
Excel. Unit economics, break-even in covers, scenario tabs and the reporting structure that sits on top. The model behind the free calculators, complete.
Operational Reporting Formats
The full weekly and monthly suite — sales, cost, labour, stock and wastage — ready to run across a single site or a group.
Pre-Opening System
Standard operating procedures, staffing model, the 90-day critical path and the full checklist set, as editable templates.
Workbooks
The workbooks we build for clients, ready made.
Every one of these started as work we did for an operator who was paying us. They are the same files, cleaned up, with the sample data left in so you can see the method before you replace it. Each one is built to be used on a Tuesday afternoon by somebody who is busy — not admired, and not configured for a week first.
01 · Workbook
Café & Restaurant P&L Model
Twelve months, three years, break-even and scenarios — on your own numbers, in your own currency. The model you should have built before you signed the lease, and the one you will open every month after.
Who it is for. An owner deciding whether a site works. A manager defending a budget. A partner who wants the numbers before the pitch.
Not ready? Start with the free edition: 12-Number Health Check
What is in it
- Twelve months side by side, every line as a figure and as a percentage of net sales
- Break-even in sales, in covers per day, and in the month it is reached
- Investment and payback, with the month the site pays for itself
- A three-year view and a scenario engine — rent, price, volume, wages, all at once
- Ten markets: pick yours and the currency, tax and end-of-service figures follow
- 1,848 live formulas. Nothing is typed twice
02 · Workbook
Recipes and Costing
Cost a whole menu properly, with yield. Yield is the line most costings skip, and it is why most food costs are wrong by five to eight points in the owner’s favour.
Who it is for. A chef who is tired of guessing. An owner who suspects delivery is losing money and cannot prove it.
Not ready? Start with the free edition: Recipes and Costing — Free Edition
What is in it
- 500 ingredient slots with supplier, pack price, minimum order and yield
- 20 sub-recipe blocks — cost a sauce once, every dish that uses it follows
- 50 recipe cards across core, sides and beverages, 14 ingredient lines each
- Live selling price on every card: margin as a figure and as a percentage
- Five delivery platforms side by side, with the full working shown
- Platform takes, your costs and what you keep — the three add to exactly 100%
04 · Workbook
Operations SOP Pack
Twenty-seven separate files, one per concept. You open the one with your concept on it and every sheet inside belongs to you — no bar sheet unless you have a bar, no fryer line unless you have a fryer, nothing crossed out.
Who it is for. An operator who needs a system tomorrow morning. A brand that cannot hand a new manager a drawer full of nothing.
Not ready? Start with the free edition: Operations SOP Pack — Free Edition
What is in it
- 27 concepts: quick service, cafe and bakery, chocolate boutique, fine dining, cloud kitchen, hotel and banqueting, food truck and twenty more
- Between 33 and 46 checklists per concept, 500 to 750 lines
- Opening and closing pairs for every station you actually run
- Every line carries a measurable standard, and says whether it is law or practice
- Built to be printed and marked with a pen — one sheet covers a full week
- Two blank rows on every sheet for whatever your outlet does that ours does not
05 · Workbook
Operational Reporting Pack
The reporting a single outlet actually needs, in one file. One line a day feeds everything else — the Monday meeting, the monthly P&L, and the dashboard that tells you whether the month was any good.
Who it is for. An owner who wants one page that answers whether the month worked, and eight tabs underneath that say why.
Not ready? Start with the free edition: Operational Reporting — Free Edition
What is in it
- A daily log that strips VAT and feeds every other sheet
- Fifty-three weeks, twelve months, actual against budget
- Labour against sales hour by hour — where the hours are and where they should be
- Stock and real cost of sales: opening plus purchases less closing, not purchases alone
- Wastage with a reason on every line, cash reconciliation, supplier price tracking
- A dashboard measured against your targets, not ours
06 · Workbook
Pre-Opening System
Everything between signing a lease and handing over a working business. Set your opening date and eighty-five tasks date themselves backwards from it.
Who it is for. Anyone who has signed a lease. The cost of one missed sequence is larger than this file by three orders of magnitude.
Not ready? Start with the free edition: Pre-Opening System — Free Edition
What is in it
- Eighty-five tasks on a critical path, 120 days before opening to 90 days after
- A dashboard: days to opening, what is overdue, what is blocked, what is due this fortnight
- An eighteen-line licence tracker
- A roster costed fully loaded — end-of-service and social security included
- A sixteen-module training matrix and a fifty-three line budget against actual
- The trial sequence and the three reviews that decide whether there is a second site
07 · Workbook
Franchise Readiness Pack
Before you grant rights to anybody. Fifty-two questions across eight domains, then the work the answers point at — the franchisee’s economics, your own, and what the law requires where you are going.
Who it is for. A brand owner being asked for rights. Say yes to the wrong person and it costs you a country.
Not ready? Start with the free edition: Franchise Readiness — Free Edition
What is in it
- A fifty-two question readiness audit, scored, with an honest verdict
- The franchisee’s profit and loss, return and payback — after your fees
- A five-year franchisor model with the real cost of supporting a network in it
- Territory capacity, a candidate scorecard, a twenty-five section manual framework
- The franchise and commercial agency law position in twenty-five markets
- A dashboard: are you ready, does the deal work for them, does it earn you anything
Together
Three bundles, because these files were built to feed each other
Costing feeds menu engineering. Both feed the P&L. The pre-opening system hands over to the reporting pack on opening day. Buying them one at a time works; buying the set works better, and costs a good deal less.
The Operator Bundle
P&L Model · Recipes and Costing · Menu Engineering · Operational Reporting
For a site that is already trading and wants its numbers right. Costing feeds menu engineering, both feed the P&L, and the reporting pack keeps it honest every week.
USD 266 USD 179
Buy The Operator Bundle →The Opening Bundle
Pre-Opening System · Operations SOP Pack · P&L Model · Recipes and Costing
For a site that has not opened yet. The model before the lease, the costing before the supplier, the systems before the doors, and the critical path holding all three to a date.
USD 376 USD 249
Buy The Opening Bundle →Everything
All seven files, including all twenty-seven SOP concept packs
Every file we have built, at half the sum of its parts. If you are opening more than one site, or advising people who are, this is the one.
USD 713 USD 349
Buy Everything →Before you buy
What these are, and what they are not
- They are Excel workbooks. They open in Excel, in Numbers, in Google Sheets and in the free LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ins, nothing to install, nothing to log into.
- Every one opens on a How to Use sheet that says in plain words what it is, who it is for and what it does not do. Then a Settings sheet, which is usually the only sheet you need to touch.
- Yellow cells are where you type. Black figures are calculated. You cannot break the arithmetic by filling in the yellow.
- They are not accounting software, not a food safety management system and not legal advice. They are the discipline layer between what your till says and what your accountant sees.
- Download links are permanent. When a file is updated you get the new version at no charge.
Next step
Twenty minutes, no pitch.
Tell us what you are building, or what is not working. If we can help, we will tell you how, who we would bring in, and what it costs. If we cannot, we will say so and point you at whoever can.
Or just write
Three lines is enough
Not everybody wants to put a meeting in the diary with a firm they found ten minutes ago, and there is no reason you should. Tell us in a sentence what you are trying to fix and we will reply with a straight answer — including whether it is something we should be doing at all.
- Usually a reply the same day, from a person.
- No mailing list, no sequence, no follow-up chasing.
- If it is not work for us, we say so and point you at who it is for.
What actually happens in the twenty minutes
- You talk for most of it. What you are building, or what stopped working.
- We ask about four numbers — rent, covers, average spend and what the food costs you. Rough figures are fine; we are sizing the problem, not auditing you.
- You get our read on which of the seven areas it actually sits in, who we would put on it, and a fee range. Out loud, on the call.
- If it is not work for us, or you do not need anybody yet, we say that instead. It is a cheaper conversation for both of us than a proposal nobody wanted.
No deck, no slides, nobody calling you back a week later to ask if you have thought about it.
Form not loading? Email hello@backofhouseco.com and tell us what you are trying to fix.
Free · eight files
Start with the free editions
Before you talk to anyone, run your own numbers. Eight free working files — costing, menu engineering, daily reporting, operating checklists, pre-opening and franchise readiness, plus the 12-Number Health Check as a guide and as a scoring sheet. Real files that do a job end to end, not watermarked samples. Useful whether you are opening in ninety days or trading now and unsure where the margin went.
Form not loading? Email hello@backofhouseco.com and we will send them straight over.
Email not arrived within a few minutes? Check your spam folder, or open the download page and take the files straight from there.