Peak Financial Performance LLC

Restaurant Financial and Operation Systems 
Data Analytics and SaaS Integrations 
POS & Accounting Systems:
Restaurant365, QuickBooks & Xero Accounting Systems Operations
SpotOn POS Systems

Founder & CEO

Bruce L. Nelson

Writer

America's Best Restaurants

Chief Financial Officer

NOVA Restaurant Group

Group CFO

I help restaurant operators take control of their numbers and transform chaos into clarity.

With over 45 years in the hospitality industry—including executive roles, multi-unit management, and entrepreneurial ventures—I now serve as the CEO of Peak Financial Performance, offering fractional CFO services designed to boost profitability, scale operations, and leverage technology.

I’m the author of Restaurant Management: The Myth, the Magic, the Math—a no-nonsense guide for restaurateurs navigating the financial realities of the industry.

Former CFO of Nova Restaurant Group. Board member at Hospitality Minnesota and Hospitality Technology Network. Ambassador for SpotOn POS. I specialize in:

  *Restaurant financial turnarounds
  *Building pro forma business models
  *Strategic lending & investor guidance
  *Technology integration for operational insights

Let’s connect if you're looking to strengthen your financial foundation and scale with confidence.

💔 "Bruce, I want to sell. I'm exhausted."

Got that call last month. Owner doing $4M annually. Hadn't taken home a decent paycheck in two years.

"Great," I said. "Let's get you sale-ready."

Started with the usual prep. Clean up the books. Document systems. Fix the obvious problems. Standard stuff.

But something weird happened.

Week 3: Found $62K hiding in their menu pricing.

Week 5: Cut labor 4% without losing a single good employee.

Week 7: Killed 9 software subscriptions. Saved $3,100/month.

Week 10: He called me. "Bruce... I think I want to keep it."

Happens every damn time.

Turns out, exhaustion isn't about the restaurant. It's about the bank balance. When you're checking your account at 3 AM, everything feels impossible. When you've got 90 days of cash reserves? Suddenly you remember why you started.

Money in the bank = Love your restaurant. Simple math.

I've "prepped for sale" 47 restaurants. Know how many actually sold? Three.

The other 44? Still owned by people who called me exhausted, burnt out, done. Now they're expanding.

Because fixing your finances fixes more than your P&L. It fixes your relationship with your business.

**Still want to sell? I'll help you get ready:**

**Option 1:** Join my Essentials group ($200/month). Learn what buyers actually look for.

**Option 2:** Menu surgery ($1,500). Find the profit hiding in your pricing. Usually pays for a nice vacation.

**Option 3:** Monthly partnership ($300/month). We'll build a business worth keeping. Or selling for top dollar.

**Option 4:** Full CFO prep. Make your restaurant so profitable, you'll either love it again or sell it for twice what you thought.

Fair warning: Most clients fire their broker and keep their restaurant.

Ready to fall back in love? Or at least get paid properly?

Start here: https://lnkd.in/gS-EPZEV

#RestaurantFinance #LoveYourBusiness #ProfitFirst #CFOWisdom

Bruce Nelson

CEO | Fractional CFO for Restaurants | Restaurant Profit Strategist | Author of Restaurant Management: The Myth, the Magic, the Math

🚧 3 restaurants increased sales by adding friction to their tech stack.

Yes, you read that right. Adding friction.

Everyone's obsessed with removing steps. Making everything faster. Frictionless. But sometimes the friction IS the value.

**Restaurant #1: The Steakhouse That Killed Online Ordering**

They removed their online reservation system. Completely.

Now you have to call. Talk to a human. Who asks about allergies, celebrations, preferences.

Results after 6 months:
- No-shows dropped 70%
- Average check increased $34
- Wine sales up 40%

Why? The reservation call became a pre-service consultation. "Celebrating anything special?" turned into custom menus and champagne upsells.

**Restaurant #2: The Bistro That Banned QR Code Menus**

Brought back physical menus. Heavy ones. With stories.

Their server explains: "This forces me to approach the table. Make eye contact. Build rapport before they order."

Impact:
- Appetizer sales up 28%
- Dessert sales up 45%
- Average table time increased 12 minutes (but turns stayed the same)

The "inefficiency" of physical menus created connection opportunities worth $18 per cover.

**Restaurant #3: The Cafe That Disconnected Their POS from Online Reviews**

Instead of automated review requests, managers now hand-write thank you cards. With their cell number.

"Text me directly if anything wasn't perfect."

The friction of handwriting 30 cards daily resulted in:
- 5-star reviews up 340%
- Complaint resolution before posting: 94%
- Regular customer base doubled

One manager told me: "The extra 45 minutes I spend writing cards saves me 10 hours managing online reputation."

**The Math of Strategic Friction:**

These restaurants understood something profound: Efficiency can be the enemy of experience.

Every removed human touchpoint is a lost revenue opportunity.

As their CFO, I ran the numbers:
- Cost of "friction": $2,100/month in labor
- Revenue from connection: $31,000/month
- ROI: 1,376%

Sometimes the best technology strategy is knowing when NOT to use technology.

Your customers aren't looking for the fastest transaction. They're looking for an experience worth their time.

The question isn't "How can we make this faster?"

It's "What friction creates value?"

Still removing every human touchpoint from your operation?

#RestaurantStrategy #HumanConnection #StrategicFriction #RevenueGrowth

💭 50,000 thoughts a day.

 ❌ 80% are negative.

If that’s true, how do leaders ever outperform the norm? Scott Welle, CSP, Keynote Speaker talk last week hit me hard—because the best leaders don’t avoid negativity. 

They reframe it.

Here are the leadership lessons I took away—and how they apply in restaurants and finance 👇

Last week I attended a Financial Executives International event where Scott Welle—author, coach, and speaker—delivered a talk that hit home: Outperfor

Open article: Outperforming the Norm: Leadership Lessons from Scott Welle by Bruce Nelson • 3 min read

Outperforming the Norm: Leadership Lessons from Scott Welle

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