[PLACEHOLDER · Name]
Then · [PLACEHOLDER]
[PLACEHOLDER · 2 sentences — what Brian saw, what they ran, the instinct that made them stand out.]
[PLACEHOLDER · where they are now]
Consulting · San Francisco
Novela
[PLACEHOLDER: 1-sentence thesis for Novela — what the room was, what it asked of the program, what Brian delivered.]
01 · The brief
Ninety days. Full F&B audit and reboot.
Three-month beverage consulting engagement at Novela — a literary-themed cocktail bar on Mission Street in San Francisco. Full food and beverage audit, draft cocktail system installed, three private-event menus authored with complementing beverage packages. Scope delivered on the 90-day clock.
San Francisco, 2022. Novela is a literary-themed cocktail bar on Mission Street — every cocktail named for a novel, cover-art menus, shelves of books along the walls. The brief: come in for ninety days, audit the full food and beverage operation, and rebuild what wasn't working.
The audit covered every line of the P&L that touched F&B. Cost structure, pour discipline, menu engineering, private events, inventory cycle, vendor mix. The reboot followed the audit findings — concrete changes, implemented in the same engagement window.
The headline install was the draft cocktail system. Rebuilt the bar's draft lineup from scratch, spec through service, new cocktails on tap that landed the margin lift immediately and the service speed the room needed at peak. Cocktails and wines on draft together — a system, not just a menu update.
The private events side got three complete menus with complementing beverage packages — built to close private bookings at three different price points and three different spend psychographics. The events program is the highest-margin work in most cocktail bars; this one now had the collateral to sell it.
02 · The work
Audit, reboot, install — in that order.
Ninety days of structured work against a scope the audit itself produced.
01
F&B audit
Full operational review — cost structure, pour discipline, menu engineering, private events pipeline, vendor mix.
The audit set the scope for the reboot.
02
Bar program reboot
Menu refresh, spec rebuilds, pour standards, training for the reset program.
Implemented against the audit findings, not speculatively.
03
Draft cocktail system
Full draft lineup built from scratch, cocktails and wines on tap, spec through service.
Margin lift and service speed, both.
04
Event menus
Three private-event F&B menus with complementing beverage packages at three price tiers.
Sales collateral that let the room book its highest-margin work.
03 · The room
IMG · 4:5Bar, service · [placeholder]
IMG · 4:3Menu detail · [placeholder]
IMG · 4:5Room, late night · [placeholder]
04 · The team
The team Brian built.
Who ran the room. Both are still in the industry.
[PLACEHOLDER · Name]
Then · [PLACEHOLDER]
[PLACEHOLDER · 2 sentences — what they brought, the moves they ran, why their palate mattered.]
[PLACEHOLDER · where they are now]
03 · Recognition
The literary bar that kept the punch-on-tap as its signature.
Novela opened May 31, 2013 to strong SF opening press. Five years later the program still held — the reboot engagement reinforced what the critics had already validated.
Novela is the brainchild of bartender Alex Smith (previously at Gitane and Honor Bar) and Kate Bolton (from Maven and Michael Mina).Read the piece
Novela's cocktails featured on the cover of 7x7's Nightlife Guide — Leopold Bloom and Huckleberry Finn on the shortlist.Read the piece
Crafted in bulk using the labor-intensive traditional method, it's available on tap in six strong and delicious seasonal flavors, organized by the main liquor.Read the piece
The cocktails are legitimately good, and you can also get punch on tap (or order it to-go 48 hours in advance if you'd rather host drinks at your house).Read the piece
04 · Still running
Active on Mission Street.
The draft system installed during the engagement is still the bar's program.
A note from Brian
Short engagements work when the audit is honest about what's broken and the install is specific about what replaces it.
Brian Howard
Owner & Founder, Liquid Chef Consulting