The 5 Lenses Self-Assessment | We Know How
We Know How Restaurant Consulting
Free Self-Assessment

The 5 Lenses of Restaurant Strategy

Most restaurant operators run 1–2 lenses well and the others by accident. Find out where your business is aligned — and where it’s leaking.

⏱ 5 minutes · 15 questions · Instant results
1
Brand
2
Guest
3
Team
4
Model
5
Growth
How to score: Rate each statement honestly based on where your business is today — not where you want it to be. There are no right answers, only an accurate picture.
Scale:
1 — Doesn’t exist
2 — It’s in my head
3 — Partially documented
4 — Written & mostly followed
5 — Embedded in how we operate
Lens 1 of 5

Brand

Why you exist, what you stand for, the promise you make

1. Every leader on our team can state our restaurant’s purpose — why we exist — in one clear sentence without prompting.
2. We have a written position statement that names a specific trade-off — something we’ve consciously chosen NOT to be or do.
3. Our brand non-negotiables are written down and actively referenced in hiring, firing, and operational decisions.
Lens 2 of 5

Guest

Who you serve, when they need you, what they’re really buying

4. We can describe our primary guest as a specific, real person — not a demographic average — including what brought them in and what they’re actually hiring us to do.
5. We’ve explicitly named the top 3 “jobs” guests hire us to do — specific occasions, not just food categories (e.g., “fast solo lunch that doesn’t require thought,” not “lunch”).
6. Our leadership team has made a committed, written decision about which dayparts we are NOT competing in — and we act on it.
Lens 3 of 5

Team

What you believe about people, the leaders you build, the culture you run

7. Our team values are written in behavioral language our crew would actually say on a shift — not corporate-speak that lives in a binder nobody reads.
8. There is a clear, written line between decisions ownership makes and decisions our operating team makes without escalating — and both sides know where it is.
9. We have a defined GM or manager profile — the specific skills, behaviors, and decision-making standards we hire and promote against consistently.
Lens 4 of 5

Model

Your economic engine — channels, dayparts, unit economics, where you make money

10. We know, by channel (dine-in, delivery, catering, etc.), what percentage of our revenue and margin each one contributes — and we make decisions accordingly.
11. Any leader on our team can state our unit-level economics from memory — sales, food cost %, labor cost %, and four-wall EBITDA — without looking at a report.
12. We’ve honestly documented what our current model is NOT built to support — and we’ve named what would need to change before we could scale further.
Lens 5 of 5

Growth

Where you’re going, and what you’ll say no to along the way

13. Our leadership team has a written 3–5 year picture of what this business looks like — number of units, channels, what we’re known for, and what role owners play.
14. We’ve chosen one primary growth pathway and explicitly declined others — we are not trying to open new units, franchise, add catering, and launch delivery all at once.
15. We’ve named at least 5 specific things we will say no to over the next 3 years — written down and agreed upon by the leadership team — even when the opportunity looks attractive.
Please answer all 15 questions before scoring.

Your 5 Lenses Score

—
out of 75
What Comes Next

Ready to work through the lenses with your leadership team?

The 5 Lenses is a half-day working session that produces your written strategic foundation — and feeds directly into your 5 Phases Development Program.

Book a Free Consult