Sample result
Decision Verdict Builder for Restaurants
The owner asked this:«The lease on location 2 expires in six weeks. Do I renew for three years, negotiate just one, or move?»
① The decision, in three lines
The sentence: before October 6, decide whether location 2 renews its lease for 3 years, renews for 1 year, or relocates within the same neighborhood.
The real deadline: October 6. The owner did not set it: the contract requires 60 days' notice, and what rules here is the calendar, not the urge to think about it a while longer.
The type of door: one that closes behind you. Three years of rent cannot be undone on reasonable evidence, so this decision demands hard evidence and location 2's break-even calculated on its own, never the consolidated figure for both.
And one referee's note before scoring: the decision arrived with two options, "renew or move". It is almost never two. Four compete here, and one of them is doing nothing.
② The weighted matrix, with weights fixed before seeing the options
The weights were agreed and written down before a single option was scored. It is the only way to stop the weighting bending toward the favorite.
| Criterion | Weight | A · Renew 3 years | B · Renew 1 year | C · Relocate | D · Let it lapse | Evidence cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Effect on operating margin | 30% | 7 | 6 | 8 | 2 | Location 2 rent over its last 8 weeks of sales |
| Cash at risk over 6 months | 25% | 8 | 9 | 3 | 5 | Quoted fit-out and 3 weeks with no service in a move |
| Execution capacity of the 24 people | 20% | 9 | 9 | 4 | 6 | Neither location has a written opening protocol today |
| Reversibility | 15% | 2 | 9 | 3 | 4 | SUPUESTO: the landlord accepts one year with an adjustment. Unconfirmed |
| Customer and location | 10% | 8 | 8 | 5 | 8 | Neighborhood families, the reason location 2 opened there in 2024 |
| Weighted | 100% | 7.00 | 8.00 | 4.90 | 4.45 |
Verdict: B, renew for one year. It does not win on rent —A is cheaper per square meter— but on reversibility and cash: one year turns a door that closes into one that can be opened again, exactly while the house does the cost work that will say whether location 2 deserves three years.
The criterion that was not declared: B stings this owner because he fears the landlord will raise the rent in 12 months. That is a criterion, not a hunch, which is why it went into the table with a name and a weight instead of sitting underneath it. Confirming the adjustment with the landlord is the week's first task, not its last.
The full example has 1 more part(s): you see them inside the library, with your account.