The typical pre-opening sequence is KRG Roadmap, KRG Method, KRG Ignite or KRG Legacy, KRG Icon, and KRG Alumni.

Roadmap determines whether and how to proceed. Method develops the strategic playbooks. Ignite supports client-led implementation. Legacy provides deeper owner-side project leadership. Icon strengthens the operating business. Alumni provides advanced ongoing support.

Not every client requires every phase. KRG recommends the next step based on readiness, capital, timeline, internal capacity, and project complexity.

No. KRG programs are modular, but they are not intended to be selected randomly.

Most pre-opening clients begin with KRG Roadmap to validate the opportunity and establish the correct decision sequence from there. Operating businesses typically begin with an assessment to identify the problems, priorities, and financial opportunities that require attention.

From there, KRG recommends only the level of support justified by the project. This protects our clients from investing in the wrong decisions before the business model underneath those decisions is sufficiently clear.

Most hospitality entrepreneurs and operators eventually need both.

Consulting develops the strategy, research, financial logic, systems, and operating playbooks. Coaching helps the owner and leadership team execute those decisions, remain accountable, adapt under pressure, and build stronger management habits.

KRG combines both disciplines. Clients do not simply receive a report and get left to interpret it. They receive strategic direction supported by experienced guidance, decision reviews, and implementation accountability.

KRG does not sell generic templates, baseless theory, motivational hype, or disconnected recommendations. Our work is built around real hospitality experience, strategic sequencing, commercial feasibility, and measurable execution.

KRG may use AI to support research, organize data, summarize information, and improve efficiency. Every strategy, recommendation, and deliverable remains confidential and human-led and is reviewed by an experienced KRG consultant. We never outsource judgment, rely on first-pass AI output, or use technology as a substitute for our hospitality-focused expertise.

Since 2009, KRG has supported more than 300 hospitality projects and delivered more than 34,000 hours of consulting and coaching. Our team members bring more than 20 years of real-world hospitality strategy, leadership, development, and operating experience across bars, restaurants, hotels, and nightlife businesses.

KRG’s tracked results include helping clients secure $640+ million USD in start-up funding, opening 94.3 percent of projects on budget, opening 96.1 percent on schedule, boasting a 98.2 percent 5+ year survival rate, and helping clients produce average profit margins of 18 to 24 percent.

Yes. KRG Hospitality works with English-speaking clients throughout Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and other international markets.

KRG Roadmap, Method, Ignite, and Icon can be delivered remotely to clients around the world.

KRG Legacy, on-site assessments, and other travel-dependent engagements are currently limited to Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Yes. Market size alone does not determine whether a hospitality concept can succeed. KRG has worked in communities with populations of approximately 600 people, regional and seasonal markets, resort destinations, growing suburbs, and dense urban centres such as Manhattan.

The analysis changes by market, but the need for feasibility, positioning, financial discipline, operating systems, and strong leadership does not.

KRG evaluates the concept within its actual trade area rather than applying large-market assumptions to every project.

Yes. On-site support is available for select engagements.

Depending on the program and scope, this may include market familiarity tours through KRG Method, two-day assessments and intensives, scheduled Icon operating visits, and deeper project involvement through KRG Legacy.

The purpose of on-site work is not simply to observe. It is to examine the market, property, guest journey, team, service flow, operating conditions, and project decisions directly. Travel requirements, scheduling, and logistics are confirmed within the engagement proposal.

The core KRG Roadmap includes a project readiness assessment, a customized start-up journey, an initial start-up budget, an operational outlook, and an executive summary outlining risks, priorities, and recommended next steps.

It gives the founder a clearer view of the project before more expensive work begins.

Roadmap does not replace a full feasibility study, financial model, business plan, architectural package, or complete operating strategy. Those deeper elements are developed through KRG Method or another recommended phase when the project is ready.

While there is a discovery option that starts at $997 USD, the core KRG Strategic Roadmap starts at $2,897 USD and is completed over five business days following kickoff and receipt of the required project information.

KRG Roadmap+ extends the process to seven business days and adds a deeper Founder Readiness Interview and personalized founder readiness report.

The Roadmap is intentionally bounded. It gives our clients a meaningful strategic answer without requiring them to commit immediately to a large consulting engagement.

There is no obligation to continue with KRG.

You can take the completed Roadmap, follow the recommended sequence, and move forward independently. KRG will review the findings with you during a direct, no-pressure debrief.

When additional support makes sense, KRG may recommend Method, Ignite, Legacy, or another defined engagement. When you continue into an approved next phase, your Roadmap investment is credited toward that work.

If KRG cannot identify a realistic path toward a viable and profitable hospitality concept through the Roadmap process, KRG will refund the Roadmap investment.

This has occurred only once in more than 15 years.

This promise does not guarantee that every proposed concept should proceed, or that a future business will automatically succeed. It guarantees that KRG will provide an honest assessment rather than encouraging a founder to continue investing in an opportunity that cannot be reasonably supported.

The complete KRG Method is organized into eight strategic and individual playbooks:

Feasibility. Concept. Prototype. Brand. Technology. Marketing. Financial. Business Plan.

No templates. Fully customized to your business. Each playbook addresses a different part of the business, but the value comes from connecting them.

In most cases, yes.

The Roadmap confirms the project’s readiness, decision sequence, budget expectations, risks, and recommended scope before deeper planning begins. This allows KRG Method to start with a clearer foundation.

KRG may accept equivalent feasibility, financial, or strategic work when it is current, complete, and sufficiently credible. KRG will review that material before determining whether the project can move directly into Method or whether a Roadmap is still required.

Method is intentionally gated by readiness because a business plan should not be built around an unvalidated or incomplete concept.

Yes. Some clients require all eight playbooks, while others already have credible work in certain areas and need a more focused scope. We can also re-work your current business plan to make it operational and investment ready.

KRG can customize Method around the relevant strategic gaps. We will not recommend skipping a foundational decision simply to accelerate a preferred deliverable. For example, reliable financial planning cannot be completed when the concept, service model, location assumptions, or revenue strategy remain unclear.

The timeline and investment are established after reviewing the concept, existing work, project complexity, internal team, and required playbooks.

KRG does not act as a lender, broker, or fundraising agent, and we cannot guarantee financing approval.

We develop the research, financial assumptions, strategic studies, business plans, budgets, and supporting materials that lenders and investors require to evaluate a hospitality opportunity. KRG’s work has helped clients secure more than $640 million USD through banks, investors, government programs, and lending programs such as the SBA.

Our role is to make the business case clearer, more credible, and more defensible.

Ignite is best suited to a founder or project team that has completed Roadmap, Method, or another credible planning process and is prepared to own the day-to-day execution.

The client should have sufficient project capital, decision-making authority, time to lead the work, and a willingness to complete agreed actions between sessions.

KRG Method develops the strategic playbooks and operating plan.

KRG Ignite helps the client implement those playbooks through ongoing coaching, accountability, decision review, and strategic guidance.

KRG Legacy provides a much deeper level of owner-side project coordination and leadership for clients who need KRG to take a more active role across the pre-opening journey.

In simple terms, Method builds the plan. Ignite guides you through the plan. Legacy helps lead and coordinate the plan.

The exact scope depends on the project, but Ignite generally includes weekly strategy and coaching sessions, milestone planning, priority setting, decision reviews, action tracking, issue escalation, feedback on client work, and support navigating major pre-opening decisions.

KRG helps the founder recognize dependencies, address emerging risks, prepare for upcoming milestones, and maintain accountability.

The program does not mean KRG completes every task for the client. It gives the client the structure and expert access required to complete those tasks more effectively.

Ignite should begin after the project has been validated and before major execution decisions become fragmented or reactive.

The best time is before final design, vendor commitments, equipment procurement, leadership hiring, pre-opening marketing, and launch planning are fully underway. Earlier involvement gives the team more opportunity to protect the budget, coordinate decisions, and prevent rework.

The duration and meeting cadence are aligned with the project schedule. Projects already approaching opening may require a focused intensive or recovery scope instead of a traditional Ignite engagement.

Legacy is best suited to well-capitalized projects with committed ownership, a realistic development timeline, clear decision authority, and a need for deeper strategic coordination.

It is particularly valuable when the owner lacks hospitality development experience, is managing several professional service providers, has limited internal capacity, or needs an experienced hospitality partner protecting the owner’s operating interests.

Legacy is highly selective. KRG reviews project readiness, available capital, ownership alignment, team structure, location, scope, and timeline before accepting an engagement.

Depending on the project, Legacy may include lease and site selection, permit stage guidance, project sequencing, master schedules, start-up budgets, supporting consultant and vendor coordination, operating systems, technology planning, leadership recruitment, training strategy, pre-opening marketing oversight, opening readiness, and launch support.

The final scope is built around the project’s actual requirements. KRG does not add unnecessary services simply to increase the engagement.

The owner retains approval authority. KRG provides the leadership, structure, coordination, and hospitality expertise needed to support stronger decisions.

No. KRG Legacy works alongside the project’s licensed professionals and specialist partners.

Architects design and document the physical space. Designers develop the visual environment. Contractors manage construction. Lawyers, accountants, engineers, technology providers, and other specialists perform their respective roles.

KRG acts as the owner-side hospitality integrator. We help ensure that the work of those specialists supports the concept, guest journey, service model, financial assumptions, operating requirements, and opening strategy.

KRG Legacy is currently available for projects in North America because of the level of site involvement, team coordination, travel, and project leadership required.

There is no standard Legacy fee. The investment is based on the project type, development budget, location, duration, number of concepts, current stage, expected travel, internal resources, and level of KRG involvement.

A Roadmap, assessment, or defined discovery process is typically required before KRG can confirm fit, scope, schedule, and investment.

No. Icon supports businesses at several operating inflection points.

Some clients need to stabilize declining sales, weak margins, inconsistent service, staff turnover, or management accountability. Others are performing reasonably well but need stronger systems before expanding, transitioning leadership, developing a second location, or reducing owner dependence.

Icon is appropriate when the business requires sustained leadership and implementation support rather than a single report or one-time consultation.

Icon can address economics and profitability, food and beverage programming, hotel room programming, labor performance, leadership routines, organizational structure, team culture, employee retention, guest experience, service consistency, revenue strategy, owner dependence, management development, and expansion readiness.

If you’re not an existing KRG client, the program begins with an assessment of the operation, its numbers, its people, and its systems. KRG then establishes a focused operating strategy and coaching priorities.

Icon does not attempt to change everything at once. It identifies the decisions and behaviors most likely to improve performance over the next twelve months.

KRG Icon is typically structured as a 12-month engagement with weekly or biweekly coaching, depending on the needs and scope of the business.

The longer format gives the owner and leadership team time to implement changes, review results, reinforce expectations, develop managers, and build operating discipline.

Hospitality problems are rarely solved in one month or through one conversation. Icon is intentionally designed to move the team through assessment, strategy, implementation, accountability, and measurable operational improvement.

Icon clients work directly with a KRG principal or senior coach. Each coach maintains a limited client roster, typically one coach for every four Icon clients, to preserve access, preparation quality, and accountability.

Icon can be delivered remotely to English-speaking clients globally. Selected North American scopes may include scheduled two-day on-site check-ins every quarter or half-year plus operational reviews, workshops, or leadership sessions.

The exact combination of remote and on-site support is confirmed within the Icon proposal.

Eligibility generally begins once the business has operated for at least 12 months and the client has participated in KRG Icon.

KRG also considers the client’s engagement, implementation history, leadership readiness, operating stability, and ability to contribute constructively to the Alumni environment.

KRG Alumni is not an open public membership or entry-level program. It is intended for established KRG clients who have completed foundational work and are prepared for more advanced strategic conversations.

Alumni may include advanced one-to-one coaching, group coaching, leadership masterclasses, premium resources, strategic planning sessions, peer discussions, and selected masterminds or retreats when offered.

Topics can include second-location planning, leadership bench development, owner role evolution, portfolio strategy, succession, acquisitions, operational leverage, profitability, and long-term enterprise value.

The specific format may evolve as the Alumni community and participating businesses develop.

KRG Icon focuses on building operating discipline, improving performance, developing the leadership team, and reducing the business’s dependence on the owner.

KRG Alumni begins after those foundations are established. It focuses on more advanced business and leadership decisions, continued development, peer learning, and long-term strategic growth.

Icon helps stabilize and strengthen the operating system. Alumni helps the owner and business decide what to do with that stronger platform.

Not automatically.

Previous work with KRG is an important starting point, but Alumni participation depends on the client’s current stage, operating history, completion of foundational work, and fit with the program.

Former clients who have been disconnected from KRG for an extended period may require a new assessment or strategy session before joining. This ensures the advice and conversations are grounded in the current condition of the business rather than outdated project information.

A strong concept cannot compensate indefinitely for an unprepared or overwhelmed founder.

Hospitality ownership affects finances, relationships, time, identity, energy, and decision-making. As pressure increases, the founder’s habits often become the operating habits of the business.

Founder readiness work helps determine whether the entrepreneur is prepared to lead a team, accept accountability, manage uncertainty, make difficult decisions, maintain boundaries, and remain effective through a demanding development and opening process.

KRG will explain the concerns directly and provide recommendations for addressing them.

The outcome may involve leadership development, mindset coaching, clearer partner roles, stronger financial boundaries, changes to the project timeline, additional research, or a temporary pause before proceeding.

The goal is not to disqualify the founder. It is to prevent personal readiness issues from becoming expensive project or operating problems. When the risk is significant, KRG may recommend that the client delay, restructure, or reconsider the opportunity.

Mindset coaching supports the person behind the business. It focuses on confidence, clarity, resilience, boundaries, leadership habits, decision-making, self-awareness, and the pressures connected to entrepreneurship.

It is not psychotherapy, medical treatment, or crisis support. KRG Mindset does not diagnose or treat mental health conditions.

The work remains connected to leadership, entrepreneurship, and the founder’s ability to navigate the demands of developing or operating a hospitality business.

The deeper Founder Readiness Interview and report are included within KRG Roadmap+ and may be recommended as part of selected engagements.

Mindset coaching can also be secured through individual one-hour sessions or 10-hour coaching packages. It is also incorporated into KRG Legacy, KRG Icon, and KRG Alumni when founder mindset, leadership capacity, or personal resilience is materially affecting the project or business.

KRG will recommend the appropriate format based on the client’s needs and current stage.

KRG produces three industry podcasts, each serving a different part of the hospitality and leadership journey.

Bar Hacks, hosted by David Klemt, provides tactical insights for bars, restaurants, nightlife venues, beverage programs, and guest experiences.

Hospitality Reinvented, hosted by Doug Radkey, explores hospitality strategy, systems, leadership, entrepreneurship, reinvention, and the future of the industry.

Turn This Way, hosted by Jennifer Radkey, focuses on mindset, personal growth, resilience, self-awareness, and becoming a stronger leader behind the business.

Episodes are available for free through major podcast platforms such as Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and Youtube plus KRG’s resource channels.

KRG’s collection includes four books written to support hospitality entrepreneurs, operators, and leaders at different stages of their journey.

Bar Hacks explores the practical fundamentals of developing, opening, operating, and improving a successful bar.

Hacking the New Normal focuses on resetting, rebuilding, and adapting a hospitality business through periods of disruption and industry change.

Brand Gravity: An Operating System for Hospitality, by David Klemt, explores how intentional leadership, operational discipline, and aligned decision-making create attraction, retention, advocacy, and enduring excellence. It helps hospitality operators build businesses that guests return to, teams believe in, and communities champion.

Hospitality Reinvented (coming soon) challenges owners and leaders to rethink how hospitality businesses are planned, led, systemized, and positioned for the future.

Availability and release information for each title can be found through KRG Hospitality’s resource channels and exclusively on Amazon.

KRG masterclasses turn complex hospitality and leadership topics into focused, practical learning experiences.

The free Pre-Open Blueprint Masterclass introduces the strategic sequence required to move from an initial hospitality idea to a validated, funded, and open-ready business. It helps founders understand what should happen first, which decisions depend on one another, and where projects commonly lose time and capital.

Additional KRG masterclasses available through KRG Icon and Alumni explore decision-making, leadership skills, system development, profit protection, storytelling, culture, accountability, and operational performance. They are designed to create action, not simply provide more information.

KRG’s Start-Up Cost Guides provide realistic early-stage investment ranges for entrepreneurs evaluating a new bar, restaurant, or hotel.

The Bar and Restaurant Start-Up Cost Guide, available for $14.99 USD, includes planning models for a coffee shop, quick-service restaurant, bar with a kitchen, full-service restaurant, and nightclub.

The Hotel Start-Up Cost Guide, available for $19.99 USD, includes development models for hotels ranging from 75 to 175+ guestrooms.

The guides help founders establish an initial capital target, recognize commonly overlooked costs, and determine whether an idea aligns with their available funding. They are planning tools, not contractor quotes, formal feasibility studies, or replacements for a project-specific start-up budget.