Sample result
Positioning and Value Proposition Builder for Restaurants
The owner asked this:"Six years in and I cannot say in one sentence why people choose me and not the place on the corner. Two locations in Medellín, 24 people, and lunch is full Tuesday to Friday."
① The sentence and its renunciation
The sentence: "The pot goes on at 6 in the morning, and today's food never comes back tomorrow." Seventeen words no server has to memorise: it is what has been happening in that kitchen since 2020, said out loud for the first time. The old promise —"Home cooking, served like a restaurant"— is not dropped for being ugly, but because the diner on the corner signs it without changing a comma. That is the swap test, and nobody else on the block passes the new sentence: the neighbour does not light the pot at six, and if he did he would have to write the hour on his own door.
| Where it is said | Exact text | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Menu, top of page one | The pot goes on at 6 in the morning, and today's food never comes back tomorrow. | 17 |
| Facade blackboard, handwritten daily | Cooked today. Nothing comes back tomorrow. The pot went on at 6:05. | 12 |
| The server's mouth, first visit | The sancocho has been in the pot since six; whatever does not sell today, we do not serve you tomorrow. | 20 |
| Listing on the delivery platform | Cooked today. The long menu shuts down at 3:00 p.m. | 11 |
Who it says no to. Whoever wants a Bandeja de la casa at nine at night, and whoever orders through the platform after 3:00 p.m.: by then four dishes are left, not eighteen. And whoever compares against the 22,000 COP set lunch down the street, because here the lunch of the day does not go below 32,000 COP and the difference sits in the pot, not in the margin. Three renunciations, and the second one has a price: it is counted in block three.
② The proofs, one by one
A claim without proof is an adjective in a tie. These are the five that were reviewed, with what holds them up and what does not.
| Claim | Proof that holds it | Where the guest checks it | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The pot goes on at 6 | The lighting time, handwritten on the blackboard every day | On the facade, before walking in | Standing |
| The beans in the Bandeja de la casa cook for 5 hours, no pressure cooker | The standard recipe and the shift that starts at 5:30 | By asking at the table: the server gives the hour | Standing with one change: today the kitchen comes in at 7:00 |
| Today's food never comes back tomorrow | The bin weighed at close and written on the sheet | The sheet is shown to whoever asks for it | Standing, and it has a price: 4.0% of the day's food cost |
| The Trucha al ajillo is fresh that day | The supplier delivers Tuesdays and Fridays | Cannot be checked at the table | Borrowed: a third party holds it |
| Home cooking | None | Nowhere | False: anybody signs it |
The first two proofs cost money, so they are counted per cover before they get printed on the menu.
| Dish | Menu price | Cost per cover | Food cost | Contribution margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bandeja de la casa | 38,000 COP | 12,160 COP | 32.0% | 25,840 COP |
| Sancocho de tres carnes | 34,000 COP | 10,540 COP | 31.0% | 23,460 COP |
| Trucha al ajillo | 46,000 COP | 16,560 COP | 36.0% | 29,440 COP |
The first two fit under the 32% ceiling and can head a promotional piece. The trout cannot: at 36.0% it sits four points above it and, at the same time, it is the one that leaves the most margin in money. There the problem is not the offer, it is the menu price —or what the supplier charges on Tuesdays— and it is said just like that: the trout holds the sentence at the table, but it does not head a promotion. The menu average stays at 34%. Illustrative figures, built from the data you gave.
③ What the operation can hold
The verdict is ruled on the fullest day, not on the quiet Tuesday: lunch from Tuesday to Friday and Sunday midday, with the 9 operations people each location keeps.
| What the sentence demands | What exists today | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| The pot lit at 6:00 | The first kitchen shift comes in at 7:00 | Holds with one change |
| Nothing comes back tomorrow | Waste is binned, never weighed or logged | Holds with one change: no scale, no sheet |
| Short menu from 3:00 p.m. | 18 items open until 9:00 p.m. | Holds, and it costs |
| The server knows when the pot went on | Nobody knows it when the shift starts | Falls today: one line on the pass board fixes it |
What the 5:30 shift costs. Five shifts a week per location —Tuesday to Friday and Sunday— of an hour and a half each: 7.5 hours. At 9,800 COP an hour with payroll charges, that is 73,500 COP a week per location, 588,000 COP a month across both. Assumed until you cross it with the real payroll.
What pays for that shift. Each location sells 3,566,000 COP a day, of which 1,212,000 COP is food at 34%. Today's bin weighs 4.0% of that food: 48,500 COP a day. With the cap at 3.0%, 12,100 COP a day per location stay in the house, 726,000 COP a month across both. Measured waste pays the 5:30 shift and leaves 138,000 COP over: the promise is not financed by raising the menu, it is financed with the bin.
What the renunciation costs. Between 3:00 and 9:00 p.m. the platform brings 11 orders a week per location at 39,000 COP: 3,432,000 COP a month that stop being billed and, once commission, food and packaging come off, close to 1,300,000 COP of contribution margin. It hurts at the till, and that is why it is a renunciation and not a greeting.
The full example has 2 more part(s): you see them inside the library, with your account.