1.1Standard recipe cardThe cost of a dish line by line, with each ingredient’s yield. The menu price is worked out from it.
- 1.1Standard recipe card
2026 edition · Srđan Mihailović
RestaurantCODE
Ten mistakes that cost restaurants money — and the system that stops them.
204pages, PDF
10chapters, one per mistake
21forms to print or fill in on screen
10week plan, plus a 14-day quick start
YOUR RESTAURANT’S BILL
know these numbers?
01Food cost?%
02Binned/week€?
03Days of stock? d
04Labour cost?%
05Off-spec?/12
06Days blind? d
07Average spend€?
08Google rating? ★
09Reserve days? d
10Owner’s hours? h
PROFIT / MONTH€?
SOLVEDRESTAURANT CODE
Free · about five minutes
Free check: where is your restaurant leaking money?
Thirty statements from the book, a map of your restaurant and the three places money leaks fastest. Your answers stay in your browser.
What the book covers
Ten mistakes. Ten numbers that expose them.
A restaurant rarely fails because of one big mistake. Money leaks out in ten small places nobody measures. Each chapter takes one of them, gives you the number to measure it by and the form to fix it with. The chapters fall into three parts: money in the kitchen, money and people, and guests, cash and the owner.
| No. | Mistake | The number you measure | Forms in the book |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | You don’t know what a plate costs you | food cost % of main courses | Standard recipe card |
| 02 | Food ends up in the bin | food binned per week, € | Waste log · Weekly usage check |
| 03 | Money stuck on the shelf | days of food stock on hand | Stock count sheet · Par sheet and order |
| 04 | Too many people at the wrong time | labour cost % of sales | Weekly guest and staffing map · Rota and daily labour check |
| 05 | The dish depends on who’s on shift | portions outside ±5% tolerance | Procedure template · Opening and closing checklist · Line check and plate check · Complaint log |
| 06 | You find out at the end of the month | days until you spot a leak | Daily shift report · Weekly review of the eight numbers |
| 07 | You take orders instead of selling | average spend per guest excl. VAT | Price increase plan · Weekly sales by server |
| 08 | Good food doesn’t sell itself | average Google rating | Online presence check · Foot traffic count |
| 09 | No reserve, no plan | days of cash reserve | 12-month cash flow plan · Break-even point and reserve |
| 10 | The restaurant can’t run without you | owner’s hours per week | Owner’s week · Seven-day test and authority limits |
10 mistakes · 10 numbers · 21 formsAcacia: profit €408 → €5,940 a month
Look inside
Written for the kitchen, not the bookshelf.
Every claim has a source at the end of its chapter. Every number is worked out on one fictional restaurant, Acacia, from the first page to the last. After each chapter its monthly P&L shows what that change was worth: from €408 profit before tax at the start to €5,940 at the end of the book. The forms print on A4 and go up on the wall.
Before the first chapter
- Introduction, and meeting Acacia
- How to use the book: every chapter has the same six parts
- Three ways through the book: for a restaurant losing money, for someone just opening, and for a head chef or manager without the owner’s authority
- Self-assessment: thirty statements and a map of your restaurant
Appendices at the back
- Acacia one year later: ten numbers, before and after
- The whole code on one page, to pin up where you see it every week
- Quick start: 14 days, three tools
- The 10-week plan and the 30-minute weekly meeting
- Dashboard with targets
- Getting numbers out of your till — or without one
- Glossary and list of forms
21 printable forms
At least one for each mistake. All of them are in the book and in a separate PDF for printing on A4; the packages also include them to fill in on screen, in A4 and US Letter. Click a form to see it full size.
1.1Standard recipe card
- 2.1Waste log
- 2.2Weekly usage check
- 3.1Stock count sheet
- 3.2Par sheet and order
- 4.1Weekly guest and staffing map
- 4.2Rota and daily labour check
5.1Procedure template
5.2Weekly opening and closing checklist
5.3Line check and plate check
5.4Complaint log- 5.1Procedure template
- 5.2Weekly opening and closing checklist
- 5.3Line check and plate check
- 5.4Complaint log
- 6.1Daily shift report
- 6.2Weekly review of the eight numbers
- 7.1Price increase plan
- 7.2Weekly sales by server
- 8.1Online presence check
- 8.2Foot traffic count
- 9.112-month cash flow plan
- 9.2Break-even point and reserve
- 10.1Owner’s week
- 10.2Seven-day test and authority limits
The full list of forms, with chapter and page, is in Appendix A.8.
Three packages
The same book. Different amounts of work done for you.
Every package includes the whole book, all the forms to print and to fill in on screen, the first Excel tools and the yearly updated edition free of charge. The difference is how much ready-made material you get: workbooks that do the maths for you, and a ready-made system for the whole team.
Starter
For the owner who wants to start right away: the book, the forms and the first tools.
- The Restaurant Code e-book, 2026 edition, PDF, 204 pages
- 21 forms for printing on A4
- The same forms to fill in on screen, in A4 and US Letter
- Plate Cost Calculator and Dashboard, in Excel
- The yearly updated edition free of charge: checked sources, new examples and corrections
- Owners’ community on WhatsApp and Viber
Author’s pick
Master
For the owner who wants the spreadsheets to do the maths.
- Everything in Starter
- 10 Excel workbooks that do the maths, one per chapter: from dish cost and waste to cash flow and the owner’s week
- Acacia Workbook: the whole restaurant from the book in one Excel file, with formulas, the P&L and the dashboard
- Editable Word templates: procedures, opening and closing checklists, line check and pass, review replies, authority limits
- AI instructions: 28 ready-made prompts for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini
- 13 video guides: short clips, one to two minutes each, showing how to fill in every Excel workbook, with captions and no sound
- The workbooks run in Excel, Google Sheets and LibreOffice
Empire
For the owner who wants a ready-made system for the whole team, without writing it from scratch.
- Everything in Master
- A ready-made operations manual: procedures for the kitchen, dining room, bar and cleaning, ready to edit
- A handbook for new staff: the first day, house rules and training by station
- Wall pack: A3 posters with procedures, the allergen matrix, temperatures and the plate check
- HACCP Code: the second book in the series, on food safety under EU and US rules, with 28 forms and a HACCP plan template
- Licence for multiple sites and the whole team
- All future editions and translations at no extra cost
| What you get | Starter | Master | Empire |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-book, 2026 edition, 204 pages | |||
| 21 forms to print and to fill in (A4 and US Letter) | |||
| Plate Cost Calculator and Dashboard | |||
| Yearly updated edition, free | |||
| Community on WhatsApp and Viber | |||
| 10 Excel workbooks and the Acacia Workbook | — | ||
| Word templates and 28 AI prompts | — | ||
| 13 video guides for the Excel workbooks | — | ||
| Operations manual and staff handbook | — | — | |
| Wall pack, A3 posters | — | — | |
| HACCP Code book, forms and HACCP plan template | — | — | |
| Multi-site licence, future editions and translations | — | — |
Checkout is through Gumroad. Once you pay, the download link arrives in your inbox right away.
Who the book is for
For people who run the business. Not for people looking for recipes.
This book is for you if
- you run a restaurant, bistro, tavern or bar and work more than you earn
- you are a head chef or manager responsible for costs and the team
- you are opening your first restaurant and want to avoid expensive beginner mistakes
- you want the restaurant to run even when you are away all day
This book is not for you if
- you are looking for recipes or cooking techniques
- you are not ready to measure what you now do by feel
- you expect things to change without filling in a single form
About the author
Srđan Mihailović
More than thirty years in hospitality: in top hotel kitchens and restaurants and on cruise ships. He has worked and lived on four continents and knows both sides of the business — the one at the stove and the one at the owner’s desk.
He is the founder and owner of Gostíno.ai, an agency that helps hospitality businesses run their work with digital tools.
The same job is bound by the same problems everywhere.
Questions
Before you choose
What format is the book?
A 204-page PDF, 2026 edition. It reads on a phone, tablet or computer. The printable forms are A4; the fill-in forms for the computer come in A4 and US Letter.
What language is it in?
British English. There is also a Serbian edition, Restoranski kod.
Where do I start?
With the self-assessment at the front of the book: thirty statements, three for each chapter, and a map that shows where money leaks fastest. The book offers three ways through the chapters, and if you don’t know where to begin, the 14-day quick start needs only three forms and no change to how the kitchen works.
Are the examples from a real restaurant?
No. Acacia is a fictional restaurant, the same one from the first page to the last. Its numbers are worked out to show the method step by step, not to promise a result. Every fact from research has a source at the end of its chapter.
What does “2026 edition” mean?
The book is updated once a year. Buyers receive the yearly updated edition free of charge: checked sources, new examples and corrections.
Do I need a till system or special software?
No. Scales, a calculator, a pen and a few minutes after the shift are enough. An appendix shows which till report gives which number, and a paper alternative for when there is no till.
Do I need Excel for the Master package?
No. The workbooks also run in the free Google Sheets and in LibreOffice.
How do I get the book after I buy it?
Checkout is through Gumroad. Once you pay, the download link arrives in your inbox right away.
From the same collection
More books from the Gostíno library
The Choice Algorithm · Menu TrilogyMenu psychology and architecture: what research actually proves. Book 1 of the trilogy.
The Code Equation · Menu TrilogyFood cost, standard recipes, pricing and stock — and where the money goes. Book 2 of the trilogy.
The AI Ecosystem · Menu TrilogyQR menu, allergen matrix, POS and KDS as one system. Book 3 of the trilogy.
HACCP CodeFood safety under EU and US rules: seven principles, one plan.
Cult of FireThe Serbian BBQ Bible: 50 recipes, from the Leskovac ćevap to the Leskovac Train.
Pick one number. Start tomorrow morning.
One mistake, one form, one week. The rest follows.