Fractional CFO Services

Financial Leadership for Every Stage of Your Foodservice & Retail Business

From stabilization to scale to exit, without the cost of a full-time CFO.

JRF Consulting provides hands-on financial leadership to foodservice and retail businesses doing $5M to $60M in revenue. Whether you need to sharpen margins, clean up the books, win competitive bids, or prepare for a capital event, we bring the CFO-level experience your business needs right now.

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25+ Years in Operational Finance

20+ M&A Transactions ($10M - $350M)

$1M to $70M Scaled in 3 Years

Sound Familiar?

The Problems That Slow Growth

These are the issues we see most often in foodservice and retail businesses that are growing faster than their financial infrastructure can support.

Food Cost Running on Feel, Not Data

Menu pricing, plate cost, and ingredient margins are managed by instinct instead of real-time data. Small variances compound into significant profit loss across locations and seasons.

Revenue Is Up, but Margins Are Shrinking

Top-line growth masks the real story. Labor, cost of goods, and overhead are eating into profit faster than the business can adjust. Without clear margin visibility, it is hard to know where to cut or where to invest.

Financials That Do Not Tell the Real Story

Outdated books, inconsistent reporting, or accounting systems that were never built for scale. Decision-makers are flying blind when the numbers they depend on are months behind or unreliable.

Winning RFPs Without Leaving Money on the Table

Competitive bids in contract foodservice and catering require sharp financial modeling. Pricing too low erodes margin; pricing too high loses the deal. The right financial framework changes the outcome.

Multi-Location Complexity Without Visibility

Each new location or concept adds operational layers. Without consolidated reporting and unit-level economics, it becomes impossible to see which locations are carrying the business and which are dragging it down.

A Capital Event on the Horizon With No Financial Infrastructure

Preparing for a sale, recapitalization, or outside investment requires clean financials, clear EBITDA, and a credible story. Most businesses realize too late that their books are not ready for diligence.

What We Do

Built for Operators, Not Accountants

Every engagement is structured around what your business actually needs right now.

Margin Improvement

Food cost optimization, menu and meal pricing analysis, retail margin review, and labor cost benchmarking. We identify where profit is leaking and build the reporting to keep it visible going forward.

Financial Cleanup & Reporting

Accounting system buildout or cleanup, chart of accounts restructuring, and monthly reporting packages that give leadership a clear picture. Designed to scale with the business, not create more noise.

RFP Strategy & Competitive Growth

Financial modeling for contract foodservice and catering bids. We build the cost structures, pricing frameworks, and margin targets that help you win RFPs at the highest sustainable margin.

Transaction Readiness

Preparing for a sale, recapitalization, or acquisition. We clean up EBITDA, build the financial narrative, and get the books diligence-ready so you can negotiate from a position of strength.

Where Most Engagements Start

The Stabilization Sprint

A focused, fixed-fee engagement designed to get your financial house in order. Most clients start here before moving to an ongoing advisory relationship.

Accounting System Setup or Cleanup

Chart of accounts restructured for your industry. Clean, reliable data from day one.

Financial Reporting Framework

Monthly P&L, cash flow, and margin reporting tailored to foodservice and retail operations.

Margin & Cost Analysis

Food cost, labor cost, and unit-level economics mapped and benchmarked. Clear visibility into where profit lives and where it leaks.

Actionable Roadmap

A prioritized set of financial improvements with timelines. Not a binder that sits on a shelf.

Ask About the Sprint

About

Jeff Fearn

I spent 11 years at Compass Group, one of the largest contract foodservice companies in the world, leading finance in the B&I and Healthcare sectors, supporting M&A across all sectors, and serving as part of the finance leadership team for the Foodbuy purchasing organization. Before that, I spent 10 years in grocery retail, building the financial infrastructure that supports high-volume, margin-sensitive operations.

Across 25 years of operational finance leadership, I have sat on the buy side of more than 20 M&A transactions ranging from $10M to $350M. I have seen what well-run financial operations look like at scale, and I have seen what happens when businesses outgrow their financial infrastructure without realizing it.

JRF Consulting brings that experience to small and mid-size foodservice and retail businesses in the $5M to $60M range. Whether you need margin clarity, clean books, help winning competitive bids, or a financial partner to get you through a transaction, I work directly with ownership and leadership to get it done.

Based in Charlotte, NC. Serving clients regionally and nationally.