F&B Chain Operations
A Professional Operation Excellence System
Move operations from gut feeling to a data-driven system: from profit and loss reports, daily sales reports, ingredient costs and labor costs to an overall performance measurement system and reporting dashboard. Enough for you to run an F&B chain by metrics, not by instinct.
Struggling with your F&B model?
7 problems F&B chain owners commonly face before having a system.
Not knowing how to manage Finance, not knowing where the profit and loss is
You cannot read a profit and loss report and do not know where the money goes after deducting ingredients and wages. Revenue is high, yet nothing is left at the end of the month.
Revenue without forecasts
There is no daily revenue report and no revenue forecast; promotions run on impulse. Growth and revenue are uneven from month to month.
Operating costs keep rising and you do not know why
You know costs are high but cannot trace which item, shift or branch is eating into profit.
A large menu, but no idea which item groups perform
Items are not classified as Star/Puzzle/Plow Horse/Dog, and slow sellers stay for years. The kitchen is tired, the stockroom is messy and profit falls.
Every branch operates differently
There is no shift checklist and no standard operating procedure. Quality and service are inconsistent between stores, so the model cannot be replicated.
The month-end report is read and then forgotten, with no next step
There is no analysis process and no improvement actions are agreed. Plenty of data, yet decisions are still made by gut feeling.
Not knowing how to build a compensation and bonus scheme to motivate staff
Operating metrics are not tied to pay and bonuses. This is the core problem the course solves with an overall performance measurement system (BSC).
A hands-on training course: move from "running F&B by gut feeling" → building a chain with formulas & systems
From P&L, DSR, COS and COL to a performance measurement system (BSC) and Dashboard. By the end of the course, you have a chain operating toolkit built on your own real data.
The course is led by AAU Academy's core instructors, who have directly built F&B chain operating systems in Vietnam and advised on in-depth case studies for large groups such as Golden Gate, KFC and Popeyes.
60% of the time is hands-on practice on your own F&B business model. Real P&L, real DSR, real BSC: you finish the course with an operating toolkit built from real data.
More than 10 practical form files ready to apply, including tools for managing finance, revenue, operations, training and store performance evaluation.
8 sessions in 3 logical phases: Read the numbers → Control costs → Standardize. The exact order in which an F&B chain develops.
Overall operating performance measurement (BSC) tied directly to the bonus policy. The biggest difference: turning operating metrics into a tool that motivates the team.
Who is this course for?
3 core audiences, and who the course is not yet right for.
F&B chain owners with 3+ branches
You need to standardize operations and have a unified reporting system to replicate the chain and prepare for expansion or franchising. This is the group that needs the BSC + Bonus framework to run a chain by data.
Operations Director / Head of Operations
Operation Managers and Area Managers responsible for P&L who need a professional chain management toolkit. Learn to turn reports into improvement actions within 24-48 hours.
Senior Store Manager
You are preparing for an Area Manager or Operations role and need a systems-thinking framework to keep developing. Learn to prepare properly before taking on a chain role.
You are looking for ideas to open your first shop
AAU Academy encourages you to start with the Winning Concept F&B course; this course fits better once you already have a shop in operation.
Single-store owners operating mainly on personal experience
A better fit for those with more than 1 store, since the course focuses on knowledge and tools designed for chains. It still works well for 1 shop, preparing you to replicate when needed.
New staff with under 1 year of experience
A better fit for staff with real operating experience in a systemized F&B environment, or those already familiar with chain-style work processes.
You are looking for a short-term operating "formula" for fast growth
This course focuses on building a solid operating system rather than short-term tactics. It requires a commitment of 24 learning hours and long-term application.
An 8-Session roadmap in 3 phases
FINANCIAL FOUNDATION → COST CONTROL → STANDARDIZE. The exact order in which an F&B chain develops.
Phase 1: Financial Analysis & Revenue Forecasting
FINANCIAL FOUNDATION: Sessions 1 & 2
Session 1
Operating Structure & Finance in Chain OperationsFinancial Foundation
- F&B chain organization chart: FOH, BOH and the support Back office
- Financial reports for F&B: Profit and loss report (P&L), Balance sheet, Cash Flow statement
- Cost structure: CAPEX / OPEX / COGS, EBITDA, EBIT and other international-standard financial structures
- Break-even point (BEP) & return on investment / payback period (ROI, Payback)
- Practice: Build a profit and loss report file and calculate the break-even / payback point for your own business model
Session 2
Revenue Management & Sales ForecastingRevenue Management & Sales Forecast
- The revenue formula: Revenue = Traffic count (TC) × Average transaction value (TA), and 9 levers to grow revenue
- The Daily Sales Report (DSR) with 6 detailed tables
- Revenue forecasting: the "4 similar weeks" method and analysis by time block of the day (day-part)
- FAS: analysis of factors affecting revenue, cash management
- Practice: Set up the daily sales report (DSR) and revenue forecast for your chain
Phase 2: Operating Cost Management & Control
COST CONTROL: Sessions 3, 4 & 5
Session 3
Local Store MarketingLSM: Local Store Marketing
- In-store marketing & trade area analysis (4-Wall Marketing & Trade Area Analysis)
- Local store marketing (LSM) proposals for Store Managers
- Real profit after promotions (Flow-Thru Profit): calculate actual profit after promotions
- Measuring effectiveness: traffic count (TC), average transaction value (TA), repeat customer rate
- Practice: build 1 local store marketing (LSM) plan for a branch
Session 4
COS Management & Menu MixCost of Sales & Menu Engineering
- Menu Mix: 6 core operating metrics
- Item classification matrix: Star / Puzzle / Plow Horse / Dog
- Product forecasting by day/shift, inventory control
- A 9-step chain-standard process for controlling ingredient costs (COS)
- Practice: Classify the menu & build a product forecast
Session 5
COL Management & Staffing LevelsCost of Labor & Staffing
- Labor cost (COL) structure: Full-time, Part-time, OT, social insurance
- Average Hourly Wage & WPSA
- Staffing by standard working hours: no excess, no shortage
- Plan labor cost (COL) as a % of revenue
- Practice: Calculate staffing & build a labor cost (COL) plan for your chain
Phase 3: Team, Consistent Operations & Data-Driven Management
STANDARDIZE: Sessions 6, 7 & 8
Session 6
Team Development & Building Career PathsTeam Development
- Rolling out internal training: On-the-Job Training
- Standard training materials & programs
- New employee onboarding: a 3-phase process
- A 6-level F&B career path: Staff → Team Leader → Store Manager (SM) → Area Manager (AM)
- Practice: Build a career path for your chain
Session 7
Consistent Operating Standards & Risk ManagementOperational Standardization & Risk Management
- Operating Service Standards: Professionalism, Service time, Cleanliness, Maintenance
- Customer satisfaction management: customer service checklist & Mystery Shopper (6 criteria groups)
- Product quality management, food safety: 9 headings: Receiving & storing goods, Storage, Staff, Sanitation system, FOH, BOH, Restrooms, Product safety, Regulatory compliance
- Cash & Finance management: internal control checklist & camera checklist, 7 control items
- Risk assessment and prevention in 3 groups: Customer / Food safety / Finance, with management tools
Session 8
Balanced Scorecard, Leadership & Monthly ReportingBSC, Leadership & Monthly Planning
- Evaluate the key factors: the 4 BALANCE pillars: Customer, Revenue & Profit, Process, Team
- Set evaluation metrics from: Mystery Shopper, social media complaints, turnover rate, retention rate, % Revenue / Cost of goods sold / Labor cost / Unit contribution, Quality checklist, Internal checklist
- BSC scoring: a conversion factor from % to a 0-5 scale; weights change by business stage
- Set the evaluation policy & bonus pool: bonus coefficient by BSC score; 2 mechanisms by revenue or by profit, allocated separately by level
- Team leadership: the 3F model: Firm, Fair, Friendly & the leader's presence style
- Build the overview report: Month-to-Date/Year-to-Date sales, average daily revenue, average daily transactions, average bill; month/year/2-year comparison
- Analyze & evaluate operating metrics: %YTD against target; consolidate service reports + Cost of goods sold + Labor cost + multi-dimensional revenue
- Handle situations & improve from data: a 5-step month-end Area/Store analysis process: problem → action → owner → deadline
- Monthly planning: integrate the 4-group Shift Calendar: Service, Team, Reporting, System
5 key deliverables you take home after the course
A practical template set comes with the course. Apply it to your chain right away, with no need to build from scratch.
Read & build a profit and loss (P&L) report for your chain
A financial positioning toolkit: P&L template + break-even/payback calculator. Understand the P&L in detail, build one for your model and calculate the break-even point and payback period accurately.
Revenue Forecasting & Management
Daily sales report + Revenue forecast: a forecasting process by day, shift and time block. Manage daily reports, analyze influencing factors and take action, no longer reactive.
★ BSC + Bonus Policy + Dashboard Report
CORE OF COURSE: Build a performance measurement system (4-pillar BSC Scorecard) tied to compensation. The Balanced Score Card tool turns operating metrics into bonus motivation for the team.
Operating Cost Control (COS + COL)
Menu Engineering + Product forecasting + Labor cost (COL). Classify the menu as Star/Puzzle/Plow/Dog, calculate staffing and keep COS + COL within standard thresholds.
Standardizing Consistent Operations
Shift checklist + mystery shopper evaluation + quality control + internal financial control. Build a checklist set to control shifts, customer service, product quality and financial security.
Hands-on Learning Experience
Learn not just from slides, but by "going to the market", "visiting stores" and "doing it for real".
Learn from real practice
Apply to the real experience of each learner's shop. Instructors help "solve cases" for the operating difficulties in learners' shops.
Coach 1-1
Every session includes coaching on the learner's own F&B model. There is also 1 one-on-one coaching session after the course to remove implementation barriers.
Online Learning Platform (LMS)
AAU Academy's own LMS: rewatch all videos, documents and templates for 12 months, with updated versions as they are released.
AAU Learner Community
Connect with the alumni community in F&B: share real cases, ask questions after the course, find business partners and recruit.
Toolkit & Forms
Get 20+ ready-to-use forms: P&L, DSR, Menu Mix, BSC Scorecard, Dashboard Report, Shift Checklist. Take them home and deploy.
Course Instructors
The course is led by AAU Academy instructors, with in-depth case studies from leading Vietnamese F&B chains.
Mr. Tien Tien
Founder AAU Academy & PEACH Consulting
15+ years of strategy & operations consulting for Vietnamese F&B chains. Has led 100+ F&B projects, from small chains to large groups expanding through franchise and central kitchens. Philosophy: "running a chain is not an art, it is a repeatable formula".
Mr. Khanh Long
Training Manager — Popeyes
10+ years of experience in the F&B industry in Training & Human Resources Development. Head of Training & Development, has trained 3,000+ staff for F&B groups. Specializes in building recruitment, onboarding, training and team development systems, from staff up to management.
What do learners say?
Feedback from F&B shop owners and managers who completed the Operations course at AAU.
The course helped me analyze Local Store Marketing for my shop in greater depth and see more specific strategies to improve marketing and sales for each time slot. After the course, I applied BSC and a bonus policy for the branch, and the team became far more proactive.
After the operations course, I learned how to train operations staff more properly and methodically, build a career path for each employee, and stabilize the operating system.
I enrolled my shop's operations manager in the Operations course at AAU Academy to better understand operations and manage COS and COL costs more effectively, and to build a proper team to replicate the chain.
AAU Offers and Commitments
Free one-on-one coaching in every session
Every session includes coaching on the learner's own F&B model, removing implementation barriers directly.
Retake the course for free
You can retake any topics you are not yet confident in at the next Operations F&B course, at no extra cost.
AAU commits to training quality, templates and knowledge you can apply right away. After the course, you optimize operations and build a Professional Operating System.
Frequently asked questions
Answers to common questions before you register.
I have no finance/accounting background. Can I follow along?
The course starts from zero: you only need basic Excel and to be running an F&B model. Instructors teach from the basic concepts of the business results report (P&L) before moving on to overall operating performance evaluation (BSC).
I have run F&B for 10 years. What is left to learn?
Your experience is an excellent foundation. The course helps organize it into a clear operating structure. AAU Academy's knowledge is built on the professional chain operations of major groups such as Golden Gate and KFC, so learners inherit professional operating know-how and apply it to their own F&B chains.
I work in Marketing/R&D in F&B. Is this course suitable?
Suitable if you want to understand operations in order to coordinate with the Operations team. However, the course focuses on the people who make operating decisions for a chain.
I want to move into F&B (no outlet yet). Is this course enough?
Not yet. You should take Winning Concept F&B and R&D first. The Operations course fits once you have at least 1 outlet running and are preparing to open a 2nd or further branch.
What exactly is in the template and tool set?
Over 20 practical templates ready to apply, including tools for managing finance, revenue, operations, training and store performance evaluation.
Can I learn online?
The F&B Operations course is taught offline at AAU Campus (343 Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) and in hybrid format alongside the offline sessions. Learners join via a meeting link and can rewatch the online materials during and after the course.
What support is there after the course ends?
A learner community (a dedicated Zalo group and Facebook Group), plus toolkit updates whenever a new version is released (free of charge).
Is there a certificate?
Yes: an AAU Academy Certificate of Completion. Graduates receive a 20% tuition discount when enrolling in further advanced courses within AAU Academy's ecosystem of 13 courses.
How is this course different from other F&B courses on the market?
Most other courses teach isolated metrics (only P&L or only Menu). This is the only course that directly teaches the full set of operating metrics as part of an overall operating performance evaluation (BSC) and bonus policy, distilled from the real operating models of large F&B groups.
Let AAU Academy walk with you
The journey to building a professional F&B operating system, from gut feeling to data. Leave your details and the AAU team will contact you for a free consultation within 24 hours.
Or call now 056 566 7686 (Mon–Sat, 9h–18h)