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Find the money hiding in your operation.

Operations & Profitability

Plenty of plants are busy and still don't make money. The margin usually hides in labor schedules, portioning, yields, contracts and the way managers run the shift. We find it, fix it and put in place the routines that keep it fixed.

Signs you need this

  • 01

    Volume is steady or growing, but margins are flat or shrinking.

  • 02

    Overtime and double time have become normal.

  • 03

    Food cost drifts, and nobody can say exactly why.

  • 04

    You don't have a reliable P&L or cost per item for what you make.

What we do

Labor & scheduling
Production and hourly schedules that match labor to demand and remove unnecessary overtime and double time.
Portion control & yield
Portion control programs and yield tracking on high-cost ingredients such as cooked proteins.
Costing & P&L
Item-level cost sheets, forecasting and budgeting, and a P&L you can manage from.
KPIs & management systems
Department KPIs and a management system that builds accountability and productivity into the leadership team.
Contracts & overhead
Renegotiating packaging, linen and corrugated contracts, and lowering insurance costs through safety programs.

What you get

  • Operations and cost diagnostic
  • Labor and production schedule redesign
  • Portion control and yield program
  • Item-level COGS sheets
  • KPI dashboard and management routine

Relevant experience

Done before, at scale.

At Del Real Foods, Nacho delivered $9.4M in net income within 12 months after two and a half years of negative trend. At Real Mex Foods he took plant EBITDA to 12%.

  • Del Real Foods · 2010–2012

    A turnaround in twelve months

    Vice President of Operations

    • Over $1M saved on labor, overtime and double time with new schedules
    • Food cost cut by more than 5.2% through portion control of cooked proteins
    • Over $300K saved on workers' compensation premiums through safety training

    Read the full record: Del Real Foods

  • Real Mex Foods · 1999–2010

    Built the plant, then its outside sales

    Senior Vice President of Operations, Sales and Research & Development

    • Designed, opened and managed the entire operation
    • Outside manufacturing sales grown from $80K to $128M a year
    • Plant EBITDA taken to 12% and sustained

    Read the full record: Real Mex Foods

  • Tomatek · 2013–2015

    A union plant at full seasonal scale

    General Manager

    • 380 full-time employees and 1,600 during fresh-pack season
    • Total incident rate cut from 2.70 to 1.40
    • Negotiated the 2015 union contract with Teamsters DC 2

    Read the full record: Tomatek

Results achieved by Nacho Varela in executive roles.

Common questions

Where do savings usually come from?

In Nacho's experience: labor schedules, portion control, contracts and safety costs. The mix is different in every plant, so we measure before we recommend.

Will you cut our team?

The goal is a productive operation, not a smaller one. At Del Real Foods, for example, the management team was kept intact while productivity improved.

How soon will we see results?

Some changes, like scheduling, show up in weeks. Larger ones depend on your operation, and we'll tell you honestly what to expect after the diagnosis.

  • 01

    Food Manufacturing

    Build better. Operate smarter.

    Plant design, equipment layout and start-up for USDA and FDA facilities, plus the quality, sanitation and compliance programs that keep them running.

    • Plant design
    • Equipment layout
    • Start-up
    • QA & sanitation
    • USDA / FDA

    Explore Food Manufacturing

  • 03

    Product Development & Commercialization

    From recipe to production line.

    Industrial formulation, batch sheets, COGS, nutritional analysis and packaging, so a recipe that works in the test kitchen works at production scale.

    • Formulation
    • Scale-up
    • COGS
    • Nutrition & labeling
    • Packaging

    Explore Product Development & Commercialization

  • 06

    Training & Leadership

    Better systems. Better people.

    On-site coaching for managers and front-line teams, food safety training, and the management routines that build accountability and keep good people.

    • Management coaching
    • Food safety training
    • Safety programs
    • Accountability

    Explore Training & Leadership

Tell us what you're trying to accomplish.

Share a few details about your operation and the outcome you need. We'll suggest the right starting point.