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Building the Systems, Team, & Culture

a Growing Hospitality Company Needs to Scale Without the Founders Running Every Shift

 

Client: Rybread (CafĂ©/Bakery) & Rybrew (Restaurant/Bar) — Philadelphia, PA

Engagement Period: March 2025–Present (ongoing monthly retainer)

Scope: Training Systems & SOPs | Manager Development & Coaching | Financial Literacy & Tools | Hiring & Onboarding

The Situation 

Rybread and Rybrew are two sister locations of a family-run Philadelphia hospitality concept built around carefully crafted food, an approachable beer program, and a culture that cares as much about the people making the food as the customers eating it. The founders, Steph and Ryan, came to the business with backgrounds in architecture and design. They built something real.

By the time LTO Consulting entered the picture in March 2025, they had a loyal customer base, a tenured core team, and two locations generating revenue. What they did not have was a scalable system for training, accountability, or management development. The core challenge: Steph and Ryan were the system.

  • The training process was undocumented. Steph was the primary trainer, and her approach was built on tacit knowledge. There was no written progression, no assessment, and no consistency between locations
  • Store managers were making decisions based on gut feel, not data. They were not checking labor percentages during shifts, not using 7shifts in real time, and not connecting their on-floor choices to profitability
  • A prior manager bonus program had failed because it rewarded tasks, not results. Taking a picture of a completed task is not the same as running a profitable shift
  • The accountability gap was structural, not personal. Managers started shifts without a plan and absorbed chaos rather than managing through it

What LTO Built 

 

The Results 

  • A complete, station-by-station training library that any manager can deliver consistently across both locations
  • A structured hiring and working interview process that evaluates character and coachability, not just kitchen skills
  • A weekly financial rhythm with real-time tools (7shifts, Margins Edge) that connect floor decisions to P&L outcomes
  • A manager coaching framework built on will vs. skill diagnosis, giving leadership the language and confidence to hold people accountable differently based on the actual problem
  • A metrics-based bonus program in development, replacing the failed task-based system with KPIs managers can see and influence in real time

 Stephanie Pollock, Co Founder & CEO

Working with Lucinda has provided me with clarity to really dissect the intention for all the ways that I work.  Before working with Lucinda, I was frustrated working with my business partner because we weren’t able to see eye to eye and our communication had completely broken down.  I was frustrated working with my Store Managers because they weren’t understanding the intention of my ways and I felt like they were wasting the Company’s potential profits.  I felt like I had no idea what I was doing.  I knew where I wanted to go with the business but I had absolutely no idea how to get there.  I was lacking a lot of business knowledge and I was helpless and hopeless. 

 

Kate Deuter, Director of Operations

Working with Lucinda has helped cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters as a leader. Her guidance is practical, honest, and impactful. Her ability to ask the right questions, challenge my assumptions, and hold me accountable helped me gain clarity on both my leadership style and long term goals.

 Ryan Pollock, Co Founder & CEO 

My wife and business partner started our sandwich shop over 16 years ago with little restaurant experience and zero knowledge on how to run a business.  What we did know was how to work hard, attention to detail for our product and how to provide great customer service. What I quickly learned was that's great if you want to work 80 hours a week and have zero energy for things you use to enjoy!  We lacked cohesive systems, confidence in policies, a team that understood our vision and was willing to hold everyone to the same standard. Working with Lucinda we delved into everything aspect of our business from how we interview, train, test, retain and let go of staff. She has also taught us metrics to identify our health, and KPIs me and my wife need to be talking about!

What Made this Framework Different 

  • Documentation-heavy, not theory-heavy: Every coaching conversation produced something the team could use the next day. The training library, the interview guides, the change management tips: these are not frameworks on a whiteboard. They are operational tools built for this specific business.
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  • Built from their language: The word ‘urgent’ appears in these documents in a specific way. The training sequences reference Chef Mike, Ro Ro's, the four-room POS setup, and real conversations from real shifts. That specificity is the product.
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  • Coaching the leadership team as a system: Because LTO works with Steph, Ryan, and Kate in the same sessions and individually, the coaching holds the full organizational dynamic. When Steph's training approach creates friction, the coaching addresses it directly, not as criticism, but as a development opportunity tied to real outcomes
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  • Designed to outlast the engagement: The goal from the beginning was to build something the business could run without the founders doing everything themselves. The infrastructure exists now. The language is in place. The managers have better tools. And the leadership team is having conversations about performance and accountability that they were not equipped to have when this started

Training libraries. Manager development systems. Financial rhythms. Hiring processes. And the coaching relationship that makes all of it actually land.

Interested in Learning More? 

We'd love to hear from you! 

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