Little Reds / Restaurant Group / October 2026
Three revenue streams.
One kitchen.
A neighborhood restaurant built around dinner, daytime to-go, and catering. A practical first location, a team with room to grow, and systems that carry into the next one.
The operator
Built from the kitchen up.
Jesse Barber’s career includes Bouchon Bistro, opening The Tasting Kitchen as Chef de Cuisine, Barnyard Venice, The Dudley Market, and culinary leadership at Rustic Canyon Family Restaurants.
Dinner creates the identity and community. Daytime service and catering make more use of the same kitchen. At the center is mentorship—teaching people, sharing responsibility, and giving them room to build lasting careers. The ghost kitchen supports that model as the financial engine, adding volume and reach without another dining room. Together, these pieces create a more stable business for the people who work in it, dine with us, and invest.
The flagship
The dining room is PR, community, and proof.
Dinner gives people a reason to come together. Daytime service and catering keep the same kitchen working. Mentorship gives the people behind it a place to grow.
Financial overview
What one restaurant can do.
Explore restaurant financials
Where the revenue comes from
| Annual revenue | Stabilized |
|---|---|
| Dinner | $1,414,400 |
| Café | $203,840 |
| Takeout | $589,680 |
| Large-format orders / catering | $260,000 |
| Total | $2,467,920 |
Opening-year ramp & operating assumptions
The restaurant ramps at 60%, 75%, 90%, and 100% by quarter, equivalent to 81.25% of stabilized annual activity. Year 1 sales are $2,005,185 and location operating profit is $276,250.
Restaurant 1 pays a 2.5% parent management fee, capped by positive pre-fee operating profit. Future units pay 4%. The cash model allows 1% of sales for maintenance capital expenditure.
Annual cash bridge / Restaurant 1
| Cash bridge | Year 1 | Stabilized |
|---|---|---|
| Location operating profit | $276,250 | $340,000 |
| Parent management fee | ($50,130) | ($61,698) |
| Maintenance allowance | ($20,052) | ($24,679) |
| Cash before tax provision | $206,069 | $253,623 |
| Modeled tax provision | ($76,245) | ($93,840) |
| Cash available to waterfall | $129,823 | $159,782 |
| Investor operating distributions | $77,894 | $95,869 |
Rounded to the nearest dollar. The model deducts a 37% cash tax provision before the waterfall; it is not added again to investor distributions. This is a planning holdback, not a calculation of taxable income. Operating profit and distributable cash are different measures.
Capital & investor economics
Start with one great restaurant.
The first investment opens the Los Angeles restaurant and establishes the kitchen, team, and systems behind Little Reds. It is the foundation for the group we want to build.
Restaurant 1 / Proposed investment
$650,000 for 30% ownership.
Investors receive 60% of distributable operating cash until their capital is returned. After that, they receive 20%.
Ownership stays at 30%. The operating cash distribution changes after repayment.
Investment details
Capital budget / pending revision
Sources and uses will be updated separately.
| Restaurant 1 capital | Amount |
|---|---|
| Opening reserve included | $238,203 |
| Remaining opening budget | $411,797 |
| Total capital | $650,000 |
Remaining opening budget is total capital less the included reserve. The reserve covers the nine-month ramp; it is not a second capital raise.
Restaurant 1 / five-year distributions
Restaurant 1 capital: $650,000.
| Investor view | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating distributions | $77,894 | $95,869 | $95,869 | $95,869 | $95,869 |
| Unrecovered capital, year-end | $572,106 | $476,237 | $380,367 | $284,498 | $188,628 |
Terms for subsequent locations
Future-unit investors provide approved capital for 70% equity, with 30% retained by the parent. Cash first pays an 8% cumulative preferred return, then returns contributed capital, then splits residual distributions 70% investor / 30% parent.
The five-year platform
What the group can do.
The five-year plan brings together three restaurants, three satellites, and one ghost kitchen. Each has a clear role: restaurants build the community and develop the team, satellites extend our reach, and the ghost kitchen is the financial engine.
Explore the five-year group plan
| Group plan | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Satellites | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Delivery kitchens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Systemwide sales | $2.01M | $5.04M | $8.21M | $9.38M | $10.65M |
| Location operating profit | $276K | $708K | $1.16M | $1.34M | $1.60M |
| Consolidated operating profit | $261K | $500K | $927K | $1.07M | $1.31M |
| Consolidated margin | 13.0% | 9.9% | 11.3% | 11.4% | 12.3% |
Consolidated results eliminate intercompany management fees and include parent overhead and founder salary plus burden of $172,500 annually beginning Year 2.
Compare the three operating formats
| Stabilized unit | Restaurant | Satellite | Delivery kitchen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annual sales | $2,467,920 | $702,000 | $1,404,000 |
| Operating profit | $340,000 | $112,320 | $298,350 |
| Operating margin | 13.8% | 16.0% | 21.25% |
| Opening capital | $650,000 | $150,000 | $300,000 |
Satellite sales assume 90 orders a day at $25 across 312 days. Delivery-kitchen sales assume 180 orders a day at $25 across 312 days.
The delivery-kitchen case assumes 28% food cost, 20% kitchen labor including burden, 2.5% packaging, 5.5% occupancy, 1.5% utilities, 2.5% other operating costs, and 18.75% effective platform commissions.
Capital across the rollout
| Location opening capital | Amount |
|---|---|
| Three restaurants | $1,816,014 |
| Three satellites | $450,000 |
| One delivery kitchen | $300,000 |
| Total | $2,566,014 |
Restaurant 1: $650,000. Restaurants 2 and 3: $583,007 each.
Additional satellite, delivery-kitchen, and parent reserves sit outside these location opening amounts. Future openings require separate capital; the first restaurant investment does not fund the whole group.
Third-party management / separate upside scenario
| Management platform | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Managed locations | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Annual management revenue | $120,000 | $240,000 | $360,000 |
| Operating profit | $39,000 | $123,000 | $207,000 |
This scenario sits outside the base restaurant-group forecast. The opportunity is to build a team capable of improving, managing, and partnering with other hospitality businesses.