The Plato Improvement Process

Phase 1: Full Business, Sales, and Operations Audit

An objective review to understand exactly where your business stands.

Starting at $4,995 | 4-8 Weeks | Fixed Fee

The Plato Review is a comprehensive, three-step audit of your brewery's financial health, sales performance, and operational efficiency. It gives you a clear, data-driven picture of where your margins are being lost and a prioritized roadmap for fixing it.

What's included:

Step 1: Business Health Assessment

High-level snapshot of Financial Statements (Margins/COGS), Sales (top performers/pricing health), and Production (current volumes/yields/losses) to determine baseline health of the business, flag initial issues, and high level recommendations of where to focus improvement efforts.

Step 2: Detailed Sales & Financial Review

We dig deeper to reveal detailed trends and variances in financials, sales, and operations; create custom executive KPI dashboards for real-time visibility into the metrics that matter most: margins, yields, revenue per barrel, channel performance.

Step 3: Operational Efficiency and Cost Analysis

In-depth product costing and production efficiency analysis across brewery, kitchen, service, and distribution operations. Includes an onsite visit for direct observation and validation, with bi-weekly check-ins throughout the engagement (avg engagement4-6 weeks).

Deliverables: A clear, prioritized improvement plan, not a binder of data you'll never act on.

Ideal for: Established operations facing cost overruns, margin compression, data silos, or a general sense that money is leaking somewhere but unsure where. Pricing may vary by size/volumes/locations/add-ons (e.g. extra products/sites).

Phase 2: Implementation Partnership

Don't just know what to fix. We help you fix it.

$3,750/month | 3-4 Month Engagement (Avg.) | Monthly Retainer

Most consulting engagements end with a report. Ours doesn't.

After completing Phase 1 of the Plato Improvement Process, we move directly into implementation, working alongside you and your team to execute on every recommendation. We set up the reporting systems, the tracking processes, the operational changes, and the KPI infrastructure that your business needs to run with clarity going forward.

By the end of this phase, your team has better data collection, cleaner processes, and the tools in place to sustain improvement.

What's included:

• Hands-on support executing recommendations from The Plato Review

• Data infrastructure setup: reporting systems, KPI dashboards, cost tracking

• Process documentation and team alignment

• Bi-weekly check-ins throughout the engagement

• Scope finalized after Phase 1 based on your specific findings and priorities

Timeline: Estimated 3 months. Complex operations or multi-location businesses may vary.

Pricing note: Scope and final pricing are confirmed after Phase 1 is complete. The $3,750/month base rate applies to standard single-location engagements. Multi-location or high-complexity add-ons pricing can vary.

Phase 3: Ongoing Compliance & Review

Keep focused on your business, products, and services. We’ll monitor and catch problems before they cost you.

$3,750/month | 12-Month Minimum Commitment | Monthly Retainer

Margins don't erode overnight. They drift. Quietly, gradually, until one bad quarter makes it impossible to ignore.

The Ongoing Compliance & Review engagement is a 12-month retainer designed to keep that from happening. We review your sales, financial, and operational data every month, flag emerging issues and variances early, and meet with your leadership team bi-weekly to keep performance on track.

Think of it as having a seasoned brewery CFO and COO on call, at a fraction of what either would cost full-time.

What's included:

• Monthly Deep-Dive Review: Three-statement financial review, sales and pricing analysis, operational and production review

• Continuous KPI Monitoring: Yield and loss tracking, labor utilization, margin trend analysis, variance alerts

• Bi-Weekly Leadership Check-Ins: Accountability meetings to discuss data and review findings, course-correct quickly, and keep your team focused on what's moving the needle

• Ongoing Process Improvement: Record-keeping upgrades, scalable efficiency tweaks, recommendations as conditions change

• Delivery: Primarily remote with optional onsite visits

Who this is for: Breweries that have completed Phase 1 and Phase 2 and want to protect and build on the gains they've made without losing visibility as the business grows and changes.

12-month minimum commitment required. Pricing may vary based on business size and complexity.

HOW TO WORK WITH US:

1. Book a Free 30-Minute Consultation We listen to your biggest pain points: margins, costs, production, cash flow , etc. and determine how Plato can best help.

2. Receive a Custom Scope & Proposal Within two business days, you'll have a tailored Scope of Work ready for review. Ask questions, make adjustments, we finalize it together.

3. Sign & Start Once the scope is locked, we send a Work Agreement via DocuSign. Then we roll up our sleeves, book a kick off call, and get to work.

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