About The Industry Standard
My Mission
I created The Industry Standard in order to preserve and pass on the accumulated knowledge from my generation to America’s up-and-coming chefs.
It’s my belief that cooking is a craft, and at its highest levels, an artisanal trade. There is much to learn–more than a lifetime’s worth, in fact–by cooking in different kitchens over the course of your career.
Becoming and remaining a chef, however, has less than you may think to do with cooking. Ask just about any experienced chef, and he or she will tell you that cooking is the easy part. And that’s where The Industry Standard comes in.
I’ll teach you the following, and much, much more: How to Get a Promotion. How to Deal with Press and Publicity. How to Read, Interpret, and Generate Financial Statements. How and When to Fire Someone. I won’t hold back, and neither will the colleagues that I interview. I want you to stand on my shoulders as a better chef than I’ll ever be.
Download the ultimate restaurant startup kit: customizable business plan, 5-year pro forma, opening checklist & more. Instant download. The Restaurant Launchpad includes, but is not limited to: restaurant business plan template for investors, 5-year pro forma for restaurant, how to open a restaurant budget spreadsheet.
Click the Restaurant Launchpad button to download our templates for restaurant business plan, 5-year pro forma, operating budget, pre-opening budget, and the critical path to opening day countdown. As a bonus, you’ll receive samples of each of these templates that I have used to generate millions of dollars in capital from flesh-and-blood investors. The Restaurant Launchpad will save you days, perhaps weeks, in administrative work. Download it and you’ll be ready to start on your restaurant project in minutes.
The Restaurant Accelerator is our premium package. I’ll meet with you, and once I understand your concept and have the raw data from you, I’ll generate a complete restaurant opening package with all of the documents customized for your project, polished and ready top present to landlords, lenders, lawyers, bankers, and investors. Email me at accelerator@the-industrystandard.com to set up a free, no-strings-attached discovery call.
Stay humble, stay hungry.
About Our Founder
My name is Brandon Sharp. If you are reading this, I created The Industry Standard for you.
I paid my dues in legendary kitchens (and I promise to tell all the blood, sweat, tears, and secrets of those places). I earned seven Michelin stars of my own and have opened four restaurants as a principal between 2014 and today, all of which are still in business.
The strategies and tactics I absorbed from Thomas Keller and Gary Danko and Juan-Maria Arzak and the other padrinos of the previous generation are in real danger of being lost. I’m ready and willing to share all of this information with the cooks and chefs in my own restaurants, but guess what? My shops are living, breathing restaurants, with sick calls, snow days, product shortages, and all the other small fires that you’re no doubt familiar with. But here, at The Industry Standard, I can share these lessons, systems, and ideas with you at your own pace and on your own time.
Have you ever heard one of your guests say “I wish we didn’t have so many great places to eat in this town”? No! America has a need for more good chefs and more good restaurants. I want to contribute to your journey through this profession to which I’ve devoted my working life. Allez allez, Chef!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I sign up?
Click the Restaurant Launchpad button to download our templates for restaurant business plan, 5-year pro forma, operating budget, pre-opening budget, and the critical path to opening day countdown. As a bonus, you’ll receive samples of each of these templates that I have used to generate millions of dollars in capital from flesh-and-blood investors. The Restaurant Launchpad will save you days, perhaps weeks, in administrative work. Download it and you’ll be ready to start on your restaurant project in minutes.
The Restaurant Accelerator is our premium package. I’ll meet with you, and once I understand your concept and have the raw data from you, I’ll generate a complete restaurant opening package with all of the documents customized for your project, polished and ready top present to landlords, lenders, lawyers, bankers, and investors. Email me at accelerator@the-industrystandard.com to set up a free, no-strings-attached discovery call.
Click the Substack button on the homepage to sign up for articles. 90% are free; the other 10% is premium content that will help turbocharge your career, and it’s only $6.86 per month.
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Are emails the only way to access The Industry Standard's premium content?
No. We publish most of the free and bonus content (plus more) on Spotify, YouTube, and Substack. Premium subscriptions are also available on Substack if you prefer to receive your content through those channels.