SyntraOS — Today

Lincoln Park Hospitality Group is running smoothly. Two things want your eye this morning.

Act today Wicker Park

Food cost at Wicker Park jumped to 34.8% this week — up 5.6 pts from your 29.2% norm.

Mostly proteins. Beef invoices ran ~22% higher and portioning on the short-rib special drifted. ~$2,400 of margin at risk this month if it holds.

Why this answer?

Pulled Wicker Park's week-to-date COGS from Toast and matched it to $48,900 in net sales → food cost landed at 34.8%.

Compared against your trailing-8-week baseline of 29.2% — this is 2.4 standard deviations above normal, so it's not noise.

Decomposed by category: protein up $1,810 (beef +22% unit cost from Sysco), produce & dairy flat. Short-rib special is running 11% over target plate cost.

Sources Toast POS QuickBooks Sysco invoices as of 6:02 AM

Worth a look River North

The new Hot Honey Chicken is outselling forecast by 38% at River North — and it carries a 71% margin.

Strong attach rate and repeat orders. Rolling it to your other 5 locations could add roughly $6,800/mo in contribution.

Why this answer?

Hot Honey Chicken sold 312 units in 18 days vs. a forecast of 226 — a +38% beat, accelerating week over week.

Plate cost is $4.10 on a $14 menu price → 71% margin, well above the menu average of 64%. It also lifts attach: 41% of tables that order it add a drink.

Modeled across your other 5 locations at 60% of River North's mix → ~$6,800/mo incremental contribution, before any menu re-pricing.

Sources Toast POS MarginEdge as of 5:58 AM

All clear Group-wide

Everything else is normal — cash, labor, and sales are all green across the group.

Labor at 31.0%, cash runway healthy at 5.8 months, and sales are tracking +4% ahead of last month. No payroll or AR risk this cycle.

Why this answer?

Labor ran 31.0% of sales group-wide (target ≤33%); scheduled hours for next week are within 2% of forecasted demand.

Operating cash is $214,800 with 5.8 months of runway. Friday payroll of $61,200 is fully covered; no overdraft risk.

Comps & voids at 1.8% of sales (normal), and accounts receivable shows nothing past 30 days.

Sources QuickBooks Gusto Payroll Toast POS as of 6:03 AM