October at a glance
This month in one paragraph
A good month that got better as it went. Revenue came in at $135,400, up 6% on September, from 4,102 covers at a dine-in check of $32.75. The fall menu did the heavy lifting: the lamb shank is now your best seller and people are booking for it by name. Food and labour together came in under 60% of sales for the first time this year. The one sore spot is Fridays, where 11% of booked parties did not turn up; that is about 55 empty seats a night, and the fix starts Nov 8.
What we are doing next
- 1Switch on $25-a-head deposits for parties of six or more on Friday and Saturday from Nov 8, and watch no-shows for two weeks.
- 2Open Thanksgiving pre-orders (whole lamb shoulder, sides) on Nov 10 and launch the office catering page the same week.
- 3Film the tahdig reel: the rice crack clip reached three times more people than anything else in October.
Covers by week
What this means
The blue line is people at tables; the orange line is delivery orders. Dine-in climbed every full week of October and the last week (three days) is short on purpose. Delivery is flat at about 200 orders a week, which is fine: it fills quiet nights but costs 22% a plate, so we would rather grow the blue line.
Where bookings came from
- OpenTable388
- Google (Maps and search)246
- Instagram link142
- Phone104
- Email68
What this means
Google is now one in four bookings and it costs you nothing per table, which is why we keep the profile photos fresh and answer every review. Instagram went from 90 to 142 bookings in a month on the back of the fall menu reels. The 217 bookings the ads produced are inside these numbers (mostly in Instagram and OpenTable), not on top of them.
Connected sources
Why this is here
So you can see where each number comes from. If a connection breaks, the card turns red and we fix it before the next morning. Every figure on this page can be traced to one of these twelve systems.
Busiest hours
What this means
Hover any square for the number: an average night, so the seven columns add up to the "Covers by day" chart below. The two red squares are the only times you turn people away, which is why the deposit rule and the waitlist matter most on Friday and Saturday at 7. Tuesday and Wednesday early evenings have room for about 40 more guests, so that is where the email offers and the "early table" Instagram posts point.
Busiest hour
Why this is here
Posts go out at 4:30 pm, when people are deciding where to eat tonight, and the weekend ads run Wednesday to Friday evening. If the peak moves, the schedule moves with it.
Reservations in numbers
What this means
Average party is 2.5 people, so the 948 bookings were about 2,370 of your 3,210 seated guests; the rest walked in. 150 of the 212 waitlist parties got a table, usually within 25 minutes. The 62 who left are the ones the deposit rule is meant to win back.
Covers by day
What this means
Friday and Saturday (in red) are 41% of the week. October had five of each, which flatters the month a little; November has four. Monday to Wednesday are where a $5 bump in average check or 10 extra covers a night shows up fastest, because the staff are already there.
No-shows by day
What this means
22 Friday parties out of 200 booked is 11%, against 5% on weeknights. At 2.5 people and $32.75 a head, Friday no-shows cost about $1,800 in October. Deposits go live Nov 8 for parties of six or more, which were 14 of the 22. We will report the new rate here in December.
Top sellers
- 1Braised lamb shank, saffron rice$12,400
- 2Chicken joojeh kebab$9,850
- 3Saffron tahdig (crispy rice)$7,200
- 4Mezze board for two$6,900
- 5Charred branzino$6,300
- 6Pistachio rosewater cake$3,100
What this means
The lamb shank was on the menu for 31 days and still out-sold everything, at a 29% food cost. The tahdig is the surprise: a $14 side that sells on 1 in 4 tables because the reel showed the crack. We suggest the Thanksgiving pre-order is built around these two.
Delivery apps
| App | Orders | Sales | Commission | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DoorDash | 540 | $14,900 | $3,280 | 4.7 |
| Uber Eats | 352 | $9,600 | $2,110 | 4.6 |
| Total | 892 | $24,500 | $5,390 | — |
What this means
Delivery is 18% of sales but about 4% of profit once commission, packaging and the quieter kitchen are counted. We are not trying to grow it. The plan is to move regulars to ordering direct: the "order direct, free tahdig" card goes in every bag from Nov 10.
Campaigns
| Campaign | Where | Spend | Result | Cost per booking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekend brunch | Meta | $640 | 118 bookings | $5.42 |
| Fall menu launch Paused Oct 24 | Meta | $600 | 88 bookings | $6.82 |
| Office catering | $680 | 11 enquiries · 4 orders | $61.82 per enquiry | |
| Review drive | Email + table cards | $0 | 47 Google reviews | $0 |
What this means
"Cost per booking" is what one result cost in ad money. A brunch table for $5.42 that spends $82 is the best money you spend. Catering enquiries cost more because each one is worth about $850; four of the eleven turned into orders, which is $3,400 of revenue from $680 of ads. The review drive costs nothing but a card on the table and a line in the email.
What if we spent more?
What this means
Drag the slider. It assumes every extra dollar works as well as the last one, which is true up to about $1,500 extra; beyond that the brunch audience runs out and the cost per booking climbs. Our suggestion for November: $500 more on brunch, nothing more on the fall menu until the braise cap goes up.
Instagram reach
What this means
Reach is how many different people saw a post, not likes. It rose 42% on September because the two kitchen reels travelled: Instagram shows food being made to people who do not follow you yet. Saves (1,140) matter more than likes; a save is someone planning to come.
What this means
Nearly half your list opens every email, which is twice what restaurants usually see, because we only send twice a month and always with a dish in the subject line. 68 bookings from two emails is the cheapest marketing on this page after Google. The Thanksgiving email waits for your approval on the To do tab.
Best post
| Post | Reach |
|---|---|
| Tahdig crack reel | 12,300 |
| Lamb shank plating reel | 7,900 |
| Fall menu carousel | 4,100 |
Why this is here
So you can see what works and we can make more of it. Both reels that travelled were under 15 seconds, filmed in the kitchen, with real sound. The next one is scheduled for Nov 5.
Google Business Profile
What this means
18,400 people searched for you or for "Persian restaurant Brooklyn" and saw your listing; 1,230 asked for directions, which usually means they came. Searches are up 19% on September because the new photos and the answered reviews push the listing up. This is the most valuable free thing you own.
Where the ad money went
- Meta (Instagram + Facebook)$1,240 · 206 bookings
- Google Ads (catering search)$680 · 11 enquiries
What this means
Meta fills tables; Google finds offices. We keep them separate because a $6 table booking and a $62 catering lead are different jobs. Together they returned about $20,000 in revenue for $1,920, which is why we are comfortable asking for $500 more in November.
Revenue by week
What this means
You are running 10% ahead of last October, and the gap widened each week as the fall menu settled in. The last point is three days, not a drop. If the green line ever dips under the black one we will say so at the top of this page, not down here.
Revenue by channel
- Dine-in (3,210 covers)$105,100
- Delivery apps (892 orders)$24,500
- Office catering (4 orders)$3,400
- Gift cards (31)$2,400
What this means
Tables are 78 cents of every dollar and they are where the margin is. Delivery looks big at 18% but after commission it is worth about $19,100 to you. Catering is tiny today and is the channel with the most room: one office lunch a week would add $3,400 a month at a better margin than anything else here.
Costs that moved
- 1Lamb and beef (fall braises)+$2,140
- 2Labour: second Friday server+$1,260
- 3Delivery commission+$940
- 4Produce (squash and greens in season)−$610
- 5Linen and laundry+$180
- 6Card processing fees+$140
What this means
Red and orange went up, green went down. The lamb and beef line is the fall menu doing its job: it cost $2,140 more and brought in about $9,000 more in sales. The second Friday server cost $1,260 and the Friday check average rose $2.10, roughly $1,350 across the month, so she breaks even before counting the faster turns. Nothing here worries us.
Break-even day
What this means
Everything you sold after Oct 26 was profit: about $19,000, or 14 cents on the dollar. The earlier this marker lands in the month, the safer the business is. Two days earlier than September is a real gain; the fall menu and the lower prime cost both pushed it left.
From the bookkeeper
October closed clean. Sales of $135,400 against about $116,000 of costs left roughly $19,000 in the business, the best month since May. Food cost came down to 30.5% because the braises use cheaper cuts and because waste fell when the lamb cap was set at 60 portions. Labour held at 29% even with the extra Friday server. Three bills are due this week: the produce supplier ($2,840), the linen service ($610) and the Toast subscription ($189); all three are scheduled to pay on Friday. The $3,000 of private-event deposits in Stripe are for December parties and are not counted as revenue until the parties happen. One thing to watch: the sales tax you collected for the quarter is due Dec 20 and will be about $34,000, so it is sitting in the tax account, not the operating one.
Why this is here
So you never have to open QuickBooks to know how the month went. If anything in here surprises you, reply to the Monday email and the bookkeeper will walk you through it in ten minutes.
Google rating
- 5 stars34
- 4 stars8
- 3 stars3
- 2 stars or below2
What this means
Your overall rating moves slowly because 1,284 reviews sit behind it; the donut shows just October, which averaged 4.6. The two low reviews were both about a 40-minute wait on Friday Oct 17, the night the heat went out. Both got a personal reply and one came back and changed it to four stars.
What people said
Why this is here
Numbers tell you how many; these tell you why. We pick one glowing, one that names a dish or a person (so you can tell the staff), and one with something to fix. The "loud" comment came up nine times in October; see the words on the right.
Words people use
What this means
People describe you the way we hoped: the dish, the rice, the staff. "Loud" is new this month and matches the fuller Friday room; soft panels on the back wall would cost about $1,400 and we would mention them in replies. "Pricey" at three mentions out of 65 is nothing to act on.
Response time
What this means
Google shows the reply under the review, and a fast, human reply is the thing a new customer reads second. We went from 31 hours to 9 by taking over the replies in October; you only see the ones that need a decision, like the two low reviews.
What we reply
Why this is here
Every reply is written in your name, so you should see how it sounds. Rules we follow: say what actually happened, never argue, offer something small and real, and sign a name. Replies to five-star reviews are two lines and mention the dish. You can change the rules any time.
Waiting for you
- Instagram post: Thanksgiving pre-orders open · for Nov 10 · caption and three photos ready
- Office catering page · menu, $400 minimum, 48-hour notice, enquiry form · goes live Nov 12
- Thanksgiving email: "The lamb, for your table" · to 3,180 subscribers on Nov 19 · pre-order link, pickup Nov 26, 10 am–2 pm
How this works
Each item opens a preview in the Monday email. Approve here or reply "yes" to the email, either works. If we hear nothing by the Friday before, we hold it and ask again; nothing is ever sent on a guess. Approvals on this sample page are a demo and reset when you reload.
Questions for you
- Deposits for parties of six or more: Friday and Saturday only, or every night?Needs an answer
- Thanksgiving pre-orders: cap at 40 whole lamb shoulders or 60?By Nov 8
- Two offices asked for a $350 catering minimum instead of $400. OK to say yes for a first order?Needs an answer
- "Loud" came up nine times. Should replies mention the quieter back room, and do you want a quote for wall panels?No rush
Why this is here
These are the things we cannot decide for you. Reply to the Monday email with a one-word answer and we take it from there.
Next four weeks
| Date | What | Where | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Nov 5 | Reel: tahdig, the crack, take two (with the lamb) | Scheduled | |
| Sun Nov 8 | Deposits go live for parties of 6+ (weekends) | OpenTable | Needs your answer |
| Tue Nov 10 | Post: Thanksgiving pre-orders open · "order direct" cards in every delivery bag | Instagram · Delivery | Needs approval |
| Thu Nov 12 | Office catering page live · Google search ads resume at $25/day | Website · Google Ads | Needs approval |
| Sat Nov 14 | Email: "Last weeks of the fall menu" · Tue–Wed early-table offer | Mailchimp | Drafting |
| Thu Nov 19 | Email: "The lamb, for your table" · Thanksgiving pre-orders | Mailchimp | Needs approval |
| Sat Nov 21 | Weekend brunch ads: Thanksgiving-weekend push, +$500 | Meta Ads | Scheduled |
| Tue Nov 24 | Post: pre-orders close tonight · pickup times | Instagram · Stories | Drafting |
| Thu Nov 26 | Thanksgiving: closed for service, pickups 10 am–2 pm | — | Confirmed |
| Tue Dec 1 | Gift card push starts: "A table in January" · December review of no-show rate | Email · Instagram | Drafting |
Why this is here
So nothing surprises you. Green is done or scheduled, yellow waits on you. Every item here links to a draft in the Monday email, and the calendar shifts if you change a date; just tell us.