You reinvest every dollar back into the business. Nobody's building the structure underneath you.
Restaurant and food business owners work the hardest hours in any industry — and most have no retirement plan, no key person protection, and a tax strategy that's just 'pay what the CPA says.' The margins are thin. The structure should be airtight.
Based on typical client scenarios. Individual results vary depending on your specific situation.
The problems hiding in plain sight.
These are the issues we see most often with food & beverage businesses. Most owners don't know they have them.
You're Not Claiming the FICA Tip Credit on Every Tipped Employee
The FICA tip credit (IRC Section 45B) gives employers a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for the employer portion of FICA taxes paid on tips that exceed minimum wage. The IRS publishes this annually. Published estimates from the National Restaurant Association show that most eligible restaurants leave $2-5K per tipped employee unclaimed every year — simply because their CPA doesn't specialize in hospitality.
Your Entity Structure Was Set Up Day One and Never Touched
Most restaurants start as single-member LLCs because that's what the attorney set up when the first location opened. But once revenue passes $80-100K in net income, the S-corp election changes the math significantly. And for multi-location operators, a holding company with separate LLCs per location isolates liability so one location's problems don't threaten the others.
If You Can't Show Up Tomorrow, the Whole Thing Stops
Food service has the highest owner-dependency of any industry. If the owner is the one making the daily decisions — ordering, staffing, managing cash — then the business has a key person problem. Life insurance and disability insurance for the owner aren't luxury items. They're the only thing between your family keeping the business and losing it.
You Don't Have a Retirement Plan — Or the One You Have Is Wrong
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that restaurant owners have among the lowest retirement savings rates of any business owner category. A Solo 401(k) allows up to $66K+ per year in tax-deferred savings (2026 IRS limits). A SIMPLE IRA is easier to administer for businesses with employees. The right choice depends on your structure — but having no plan isn't an option that ends well.
Want to see what you're leaving on the table? A 30-minute Foundation Review built specifically for food & beverage.
Book Your Food & Beverage Review →What food & beverage owners get wrong.
And what to do instead.
Not claiming the FICA tip credit on tipped employees +
Running a profitable restaurant as a single-member LLC +
No life insurance or disability coverage for the owner-operator +
No retirement plan at all — or using a personal IRA as the only vehicle +
Where the money actually is.
Opportunities we typically identify for food & beverage businesses — and coordinate with your tax and legal professionals to capture.
What a Foundation Review actually looks like.
An anonymized engagement from our work with food & beverage businesses.
Multi-Location Restaurant Group
$3.6M combined revenueA three-location restaurant group was entirely dependent on one owner-operator who worked 70-hour weeks. There was no life insurance, no disability coverage, no key person protection, and no retirement plan. The owner's spouse and children would inherit debt and lease obligations, not a functioning business.
- Zero owner protection: no life insurance, no disability, no key person coverage — if the owner was hit by a bus tomorrow, the family inherits three leases, a payroll obligation, and no income
- No retirement plan of any kind — a Solo 401(k) or SEP-IRA could shelter $66K+ per year, and the owner was leaving decades of tax-advantaged compounding on the table
- No succession or continuity plan: the GM at the flagship location could run day-to-day operations but had no formal role, no ownership path, and no incentive to stay if the owner was gone
- Also identified: FICA tip credit across 35 employees (~$60K/year in unclaimed tax credits) and S-corp election opportunity (~$22K/year in savings) — referred to CPA
The Foundation Review placed life and disability insurance on the owner (through Ash Brokerage), established key person coverage tied to the business's lease and debt obligations, and set up a Solo 401(k). The owner went from zero protection to $2M in life coverage, own-occupation disability, and a retirement plan — all within 60 days.
Details anonymized and modified. Individual results vary — your Foundation Review will be specific to your situation.
We've sat in your chair.
Not just advisors — operators.
Most financial advisors look at your business from the outside. Our team has actually been inside — as internal CFOs, management consultants, and business operators. We've built the financial models, managed the cash flow cycles, and navigated the entity structure decisions firsthand.
That means when we look at your situation, we're not guessing. We've seen the patterns from the operator's seat — and we know which moves actually move the needle.
Good Deals is an independent fiduciary. We don't work for an insurance company or a wirehouse. We work for you. No proprietary products, no sales quotas — just the best path forward for your specific situation.
- CFA charterholder — one of the most rigorous credentials in finance
- Internal CFO experience — we've managed P&Ls, cash flow, and entity structure from the inside
- Management consulting background — financial modeling, growth strategy, and M&A advisory for businesses from startup to $50M+
- Licensed insurance professionals — life, disability, and commercial coverage, not just referrals
- Independent and fiduciary — legally required to act in your best interest
- Austin, TX based — we know the local market, the tax landscape, and the business community
Ready to keep more of what you earn?
30-minute conversation built for food & beverage. No pressure. We'll look at your specific situation and identify the highest-leverage opportunities.
The concepts behind your financial strategy.
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