Restaurant finance is shifting from back-office reporting to daily operational influence. Learn how modern CFOs drive forecasting, labor planning, and growth.
For years, restaurant finance was viewed as a back-office function. Essential, but mostly reactive… close the books, manage payroll, handle audits, send reports, repeat.
But that’s no longer enough.
In today’s environment of shifting demand, rising costs, and manager turnover, finance has become a strategic operational engine, shaping everything from labor decisions to forecasting to guest experience.
In one of Fourth’s webinars, Lazy Dog Restaurants Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Robert Linder, shared how his role, and finance in general, has evolved. Lazy Dog now operates over fifty locations across eight states, and Linder credits much of the brand’s scalability to a reimagined finance function that is deeply embedded in operations.
Here’s how forward-thinking finance leaders are reshaping the way multi-unit restaurants run.
Lazy Dog’s CFO describes himself as an “ops CFO”, someone with an operator’s mindset and financial expertise. That blend has become a competitive advantage.
Restaurants are awash in data, but not all of it helps managers make decisions. Linder explained that one of finance’s new responsibilities is curation: deciding which metrics matter most at each level of the business.
“Too much data can be harmful,” he said. “If a report makes it in front of a general manager, it’s because we’ve evaluated the impact and the signal it sends.”
This shift reframes finance as a day-to-day enabler of performance, not just the team that reports on it afterward.
One of the most powerful insights from the session: managers can only focus on a handful of things at a time.
Lazy Dog structures performance around:
This prevents managers from being overwhelmed or pulled in too many directions. And it ensures teams focus on the decisions that actually move the business.
Linder shared a great example. Instead of using average ticket time, Lazy Dog tracks % of “red tickets” (meals that exceed a threshold). Averages hide bad experiences. Red-ticket percentage makes them visible.
This kind of KPI refinement is where finance can have an outsized impact.
Forecasting used to be a manual, time-consuming task. General managers digging through spreadsheets, using intuition, or pulling data from multiple systems.
That approach no longer works.
Lazy Dog adopted AI sales forecasting, which Linder says eliminated a huge amount of manual labor. More importantly, managers trusted it because it consistently performed.
This shift reflects a broader trend. Finance is increasingly responsible for ensuring operational data is accurate, trusted, and actionable.
When forecasting connects directly to scheduling, payroll, and labor reporting, managers can:
The best-run restaurants aren’t the ones with the strongest operations or the strongest finance function, they’re the ones where the two work as a unified system.
Linder emphasized the importance of “speaking the language of operations,” encouraging finance leaders to attend regional meetings, visit restaurants, and understand how decisions impact the floor.
When finance understands operators, and operators trust finance, brands benefit from:
This alignment ultimately drives higher margins and more predictable performance, especially during economic uncertainty.
Margins are tighter. Manager turnover is high. Guest behavior keeps shifting.
And operators have more systems, and more data, than ever before.
Which means:
Disconnected data = inconsistent decisions
Manual forecasting = labor inefficiency
Uncurated KPIs = manager overwhelm
This is the exact problem set that modern finance teams are uniquely positioned to solve.
Restaurant brands that elevate finance into an operational engine the way Lazy Dog has, gain clarity, discipline, and scalability that directly impact profitability.
As Linder put it, the CFO’s role is shifting from reporting “what happened” to guiding what should happen.
Finance is no longer about closing the books. It’s about shaping the business every single day.
Brands that embrace this shift will forecast more accurately, execute more consistently, and create better experiences for guests and employees alike.
If you want to hear more about how Lazy Dog uses curated KPIs, AI forecasting, and finance-ops alignment to run more consistent, profitable restaurants, you can watch the full webinar on demand.
For operators looking to adopt similar practices, Fourth can help you get there.
We provide the connected systems and workflows that turn data into action, giving managers clearer insights, reducing manual forecasting and admin work, and helping finance guide better operational decisions across every location.
Christina:
Hey everyone—welcome to our webinar! I’m Christina, your host. As we wait for a few more folks to join and get settled, a couple of quick housekeeping reminders: this session is being recorded, and we’ll email you the recording afterward in case you want to rewatch or share it. If you have questions at any point, please submit them using the Q&A option at the bottom right.
Today’s focus is rethinking the role of finance in restaurants. Our guest is Robert Linder, Chief Financial Officer at Lazy Dog Restaurants, and our moderator is Clinton Anderson, CEO of Fourth. Robert, we’d love a quick overview of your background and Lazy Dog. Clinton, you can share a bit about yourself as well and then take it away.
Robert:
Thanks so much, Christina. I’m Robert Linder. I’ve been with Lazy Dog for over nine years—coming up on my 10-year anniversary. My background is all restaurants. My grandfather was a Big Boy franchisee back in the day, my dad worked in restaurants, and at the ripe age of 14, I started bussing tables. I’m very much an “ops CFO”. I have an operator’s mindset with financial knowledge mixed in. That’s both my secret weapon and my Achilles’ heel because this is the industry I know best. I love it and wouldn’t do anything else. It’s been a fun journey being CFO at Lazy Dog.
Clinton:
Thanks, Robert. I’m Clinton Anderson, CEO at Fourth for almost six years now. I didn’t grow up in the restaurant industry—though I’m envious of those who have that restaurant blood in their veins. Robert is a member of our Customer Advisory Board. We meet with executives from a broad set of concepts and geographies to discuss industry trends and where Fourth should invest in development and innovation. Robert’s a finance leader who knows restaurants more deeply than the average finance person, which makes him a great contributor.
We’re excited to spend time on a topic that’s a little different: finance doesn’t live in the back office anymore. With more data than ever across disparate systems, people can be overwhelmed. The finance team plays a critical role in ensuring effective decision-making—combining good data, clarity on what it means, and the ability to act quickly to impact operations and outcomes.
That’s why we wanted Robert here to talk about the CFO’s perspective.
Our agenda:
1. A bit about Lazy Dog—an incredibly successful concept that started in 2003 in Huntington Beach, California and has grown to 50+ locations across eight states.
2. How finance goes beyond accounting to become a strategic partner in operations.
3. The systems, processes, and technology that make this work.
4. How to drive data-driven decision-making, especially with manager turnover—helping newer managers make smart, fast decisions that drive performance and guest experience while retaining talented teams.
5. What’s happening in the industry—opportunities, challenges, and how to think about them.
Let’s drop the slides and talk. Back to Lazy Dog: you’ve been there nearly a decade—roughly half the life of the company. From your perspective, what’s been the magic in taking a scratch, seasonal-food, dog-friendly, mountain-lodge-feel concept with a Southern California vibe to 50+ stores across eight states?
Robert:
For us, it started with understanding what made us successful in California and who our guests were. We studied our guests and saw we appealed to a broad swath of the population. Our menu has a bit of a barbell—diverse options that attract different audiences. We looked for other markets with similar audiences to demonstrate portability, which led us to Nevada and Texas mid-growth. We found the guests we expected and also discovered new audiences we hadn’t seen in Southern California. That insight encouraged us to expand into places like Colorado.
We built an information base about who our guests were and how they used us. In our warm, mountain-lodge setting, people can relax, connect, and enjoy handcrafted food and drink. It’s genuine and authentic—even down to details like our heavy chairs (I was at a fancy restaurant recently with flimsy chairs, and I thought, “Ours are nicer!”). Those touchpoints matter. We appeal to many reasons to visit: happy hour, the patio with your dog, a big six-top booth for families. Understanding and serving those use cases has been key.
Clinton:
Two things stand out: a deep understanding of the customer and the ability to find and win adjacent segments beyond the historical core. That pattern—know your core, grow your core, then thoughtfully expand—shows up in many success stories.
Culture can be harder to scale than decor. How did you maintain the values and vibe from early California success as you expanded?
Robert:
Our founder and CEO would be the first to say he didn’t always get it right early on. You often hire for skill or résumé, then realize you need to hire for culture. We introduced a cultural interview early in the process to understand the person and their decision-making.
As we moved farther from our home base, we emphasized having a solid depth of cultural knowledge on the ground. We transitioned teammates into new locations to seed culture and help it grow. We even track in HR who’s relocatable, where they have family, and where they’re willing to move. When we enter new markets, we can place those culture carriers there. For external hires, we interview smart and focus on hospitality being in your DNA—hard to teach, but essential.
One thing that impressed me when I joined Lazy Dog: how young some GMs were. We identify talent early and don’t require long tenure if someone demonstrates core abilities. We’re willing to bet on people—trust them—and they step up when they feel that trust.
Clinton:
I love organizations that bet on talent and heart. Let’s transition to finance’s role in a well-run, growing hospitality organization. When people hear “finance,” they think numbers, reports, Wall Street—yet over the last decade I’ve seen finance play a much bigger role in driving operations—getting data into the hands of frontline leaders. How has your CFO role evolved to meet that need?
Robert:
Finance always had more data than most departments. Over the last 10 years, everyone has access to more information, but finance had a head start working with large data sets. A key lesson: too much data can be harmful. One of my jobs is to curate—control how much is in front of which audience so they don’t get bogged down and can stay focused on business goals.
At Lazy Dog, we scrutinize what appears in our BI systems for GMs. If a report makes it into that platform, it’s because we’ve assessed the impact and the signal it sends. Regional leaders get a broader set; C-level gets even more. For each audience, we align on what success looks like—traffic/guest visits, labor efficiency, guest satisfaction—and keep them focused. Don’t distract with metrics that don’t matter.
Clinton:
Curation resonates. High-performing teams will chase whatever leaderboard you show—sometimes at the expense of the guest. For example, I don’t like tracking “reducing comps” as a success metric; it can discourage taking care of a guest after a poor experience. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. Some things shouldn’t be managed that way.
For teams earlier in their curation journey, what are the most important things at the store level?
Robert:
People have a natural limit to what they can focus on. We align around a small set and keep it consistent. For us:
Pick the precious few that matter most and be consistent. Don’t move the goalposts weekly; it’s demotivating and undermines improvement plans.
Clinton:
All right, on the spot: your two favorite metrics for a store manager—and one “worst” metric you’ve seen?
Robert:
Two I love:
A “worst” metric example from earlier in my career: someone proposed eliminating employee meal discounts to “save millions” on the P&L. I used their own data to show employees often spent above the discounted amount, brought larger parties, and purchased items like drinks without discounts. The revenue impact far exceeded the cost, and removing the benefit would have disenfranchised employees. It’s a classic case of attacking a visible cost while ignoring the less visible value.
Clinton:
Three takeaways:
How do you coach your team and operators to go deeper than first-level analysis?
Robert:
I tell my team: don’t trade costs you can see for costs you can’t see. Just because something’s hard to measure doesn’t mean its value is zero—think brand affinity, employee engagement, or long-term guest loyalty. If you always assume those are zero, you’ll always cut the wrong things.
With operators, I try to shift thinking away from rigid percentages. A manager once told me he was proud to hit labor percentage while down 10% in sales. That’s a terrible idea. You need more labor when demand spikes to protect experience, and you shouldn’t mindlessly force a percentage when the situation calls for flexibility.
My job is to show the path—to help good people make the right choices amid complexity.
Clinton:
Restaurant managers have one of the hardest jobs—hiring, training, compliance, forecasting, inventory, guest experience—while operating in a frenetic environment. Numbers matter, but they’re not the whole story. Embrace the unknown with curiosity—keep asking “so what?” and try tools like Toyota’s Five Whys to get to root causes.
Robert:
As a finance leader, you also have to leave space for creativity and innovation. Early in my career, I killed too many ideas with numbers. Now we think in small/medium/large risks. Quantify the large ones; for small ones, experiment. Fast feedback loops help us create, not just optimize.
Clinton:
That’s very aligned with tech principles—MVPs and failing fast. Small tests, quick learnings, pull back if needed, scale if it works.
Robert:
Exactly. And it’s exciting—creating new things, not only optimizing existing ones.
Clinton:
We could do a whole session on driving innovation and creativity. It also ties to engagement—it becomes a virtuous cycle. Even in tough macro moments—flat or down traffic, persistent inflation in food and labor—there’s opportunity. Thoughts on opportunities and challenges right now?
Robert:
There are great examples of disruption in our industry—look at Chili’s “3 for Me” and how they drove growth by answering a guest need. Markets like this shift behaviors and create opportunity. I love Jesse Cole’s Savannah Bananas mindset—obsess about the guest experience.
We’re optimistic. Yes, it’s tough—cost pressures, uncertainty—but shifting dynamics create openings if you solve real guest problems and deliver comfort and care. Someone said, “Next year we might be back to boring”—and honestly, that sounds great. Stability would be welcome. Either way, we see opportunities to serve and grow.
Clinton:
Fantastic conversation. Christina, let’s take a couple audience questions.
Christina:
I’m back—great discussion so far. If you have more questions, pop them in; if we don’t get to yours, we’ll follow up after.
Q1 (for Robert): What new skill has your finance team learned to better partner with operators?
Robert:
Participation—showing up in their meetings and building trust. One of my finance leads started using ops vocabulary—sure sign he’d been to a regional meeting. Learn the language of operations. Get out of your office, visit restaurants, attend regional meetings, and understand the day-in-the-life. That’s how you partner effectively.
Clinton:
When operators trust finance, it becomes a win-win—better outcomes and a more rewarding work experience on both sides.
Christina:
Q2: What’s one tech investment that’s made your life easier as a CFO?
Robert:
A little plug for the guy on screen: AI sales forecasting. Fourth’s Fourth IQ eliminated a lot of manual work. The teams trusted it because it did what it was supposed to do—and the work didn’t just get easier, it disappeared.
Clinton:
Appreciate that. We’ve invested for years in AI forecasting because it removes so much repetitive effort for managers and improves decisions.
Christina:
That’s all the time we have for questions today. If we didn’t get to yours, we’ll follow up separately. Thank you all for tuning in—and a big thank you to Robert and Clinton. We host webinars every month here at Fourth; hope to see you at the next one. Have a great rest of your day, afternoon, or evening—whenever you’re watching.
Clinton:
Thanks, Robert—always fun and insightful. And happy 50th!
Robert:
Thank you! Enjoy the time, everybody.
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