Cost of goods
Where the margin is leaking, what it is costing you a week, and what it takes to stop it.
Surry Hills, Sydney · Available now
Consulting · Head chef
Alexis Petit
Chef and kitchen consultant. I fix the numbers. I lift the experience.
Co-founder of Atelier, awarded a Bib Gourmand in the inaugural Michelin Guide New Zealand.
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01 / Restaurant
Bib Gourmand
Co-founder of Atelier, K'Road. Awarded in the inaugural Michelin Guide New Zealand.
02 / Experience
10+ years
Leading professional kitchens. High end dining, founder led venues, multi-site.
03 / Numbers
Open book P&L
Pub to bistro turnaround. COGS and labour targets, weekly KPI reporting.
04 / Scale
250+ covers
Touring and event catering. P!nk, The Jonas Brothers, 50 Cent.
About Alexis Petit
About · 01
I have spent ten years running kitchens: co-founding a restaurant and taking it to a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand, leading a pub to bistro transformation, and cooking for touring artists and their crews.
I started in fine arts in Paris and ended up on the pass. Along the way I learned the part most chefs avoid: the numbers. Food cost, labour, systems, hiring. And the room itself, because I design and refit kitchens too.
I did not learn that out of duty. It made sense to me, and I ended up loving it. The numbers tell you whether you are performing or not. Without them you are running a kitchen on feel, and feel is generous with you right up until the month closes.
If there is a thread through all of it, it is this: I spot the real problem, and the fix I reach for is usually not the one people expect. The software I needed did not exist, so I wrote it. The kitchen fought the workflow, so I redrew it and rebuilt it myself.
That is the work I do now, for venues that need it.
Prep · Plate · Service
What I do
What I do · 02
Most kitchens don't have a cooking problem. They have a systems problem. I work with owners and operators to find where the money is going, fix it, and build the structure so it stays fixed.
Kitchen systems
Digital ops platforms, recipe costing, reporting the team will actually use. I have implemented Operandio and Loaded on a live site.
Menu costing and design
Costed to a target, engineered for margin, written so it sells the dishes you want to sell.
Recruitment and structure
Hiring chefs, building a brigade, and setting a structure that fits your site instead of someone else's.
Operational troubleshooting
Kitchens in trouble. Short, direct work to get service back under control. The fix is usually not where everyone has been looking.
Business model feedback
An honest read on whether the model works, from someone who has sat on the owner's side of the table.
And the room itself
Space is as important as systems. I design and fit kitchens, from the plan in 3D software to the build itself. I have also worked front of house and back of house in different venues, which helps me see the bigger picture and fix the handover between the two.
Also available for
Head chef and senior relief placements, plus function and event kitchens. Sydney based, NZ citizen, full Australian working rights.
The software · 03
I built Pleach because nothing on the market did the job.
Ingredient libraries, live food cost percentages, menu level margins. I use it in my consulting work, and I can show you yours in an afternoon.
And if your venue needs something it does not do, I will build that too. Same method as the kitchen: find the real problem, then make the thing that solves it.
Most chefs advise on systems. I write them.
Product shot / 16:10 / recipe costing, live food cost %
Product shot / 3:2 / menu margins
Track record · 04
Three kitchens that made the point.
Co-founder · Nearly four years
Atelier
French wine and tapas on K'Road, Auckland. I co-founded it and ran it for nearly four years. I also built its kitchen from scratch, supervising the construction and doing most of the fitting myself. It was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the inaugural Michelin Guide New Zealand. Founding a venue is where I learned the P&L side of a kitchen properly, because there was nobody else to hand it to.
Head Chef · Apr 2025 to Sep 2026
Twofold Bistro Brewery
Auckland. I led a full pub to bistro concept transition, redesigned the kitchen for a better workflow, and owned the kitchen financials, COGS and labour targets, inside an open book management framework with weekly KPI reporting. Implemented Operandio and Loaded. Recruited and built the team from scratch.
Touring chef · 2023 to 2025
Upbeat Food
Large scale catering for groups of 250 and up, plus bespoke artist meals. Clients included P!nk, The Jonas Brothers and 50 Cent.
Before that: I helped open Daily Bread and worked across its sites through the expansion, designing and fitting the production kitchen for the new site when it grew. Earlier still: Chef de Partie at Soul Bar and Bistro, and a first winter season in Queenstown that took me from dishwasher to commis.
In their words · 05
What owners say.
Bring me the menu and the P&L.
The first conversation is free and honest. I will tell you what I see.