Ops Excellence Awards Spotlight Series: Panini Kabob Grill

Crunchtime’s Ops Excellence Awards recognize those who have raised the bar in the industry. Each year, that bar of excellence keeps getting higher and higher, largely in part due to the amazing caliber of submissions we received from our incredible customer base.

With an impressive slate of nominations, narrowing the field was no easy task. Among all of the submissions, five brands stood out the most and earned their spot as finalists:

• Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
• Gong cha
• MSC Cruises
• Panini Kabob Grill
• P.F. Chang’s

In this series, we’ll take a closer look at each finalist’s story and achievements.

2026 Ops Excellence Award Finalist: Panini Kabob Grill

Brand Snapshot

Panini Kabob Grill is a Southern California-based Mediterranean restaurant brand operating 30+ full-service restaurants and generating over $135 million in annual sales. Built on a preservative-free, no-freezer philosophy, every dish is prepared fresh in-house daily. The model delivers a differentiated guest experience, but also creates unique operational challenges. Without frozen inventory, commissary-prepared ingredients, or extended shelf-life products, every purchasing, prep, and staffing decision directly impacts profitability and execution.

“At Panini Kabob Grill, we operate a true scratch kitchen with zero preservatives and zero margin for error,” said Stephen Gordon, Purchasing Manager.

Commitment to Operational Excellence

For Panini Kabob Grill, operational excellence isn't simply a goal. It's a requirement that starts with discipline. Operating a true scratch-kitchen model with no freezers, no preservatives, and no safety net for execution mistakes, Panini Kabob Grill has built its success on precision, consistency, and accountability. As the company continues its rapid growth trajectory, maintaining those standards at scale has become increasingly critical.

Operational Challenges

Operating a scratch-kitchen concept at scale requires a level of operational discipline that leaves little room for error. Every item is prepared fresh in-house, making inventory accuracy, labor planning, and execution critical to both profitability and guest satisfaction.

As the brand continued to grow, leadership recognized the need for systems that could provide real-time visibility into operations while creating consistency across locations. The team needed a solution that could help:

• Improve ordering accuracy and inventory management
• Standardize operational processes across restaurants
• Build labor schedules based on actual business demand
• Reduce food waste and operational variance
• Create visibility into key performance metrics
• Support aggressive growth without sacrificing quality
  
  

The Solution for Smarter Operations

At Panini Kabob Grill, managing labor and food costs in a scratch-kitchen environment isn’t viewed as a burden—it’s a standard of excellence that teams take pride in upholding. That mindset is reinforced by a culture of accountability, where teams take ownership of the numbers and understand how their daily decisions impact performance. With clear, data-driven visibility into operations, there’s no room for uncertainty or hidden inefficiencies. The result is greater clarity in execution, empowering teams to identify opportunities, eliminate waste, and consistently operate at a high level.

• Crunchtime Inventory and Crunchtime Insights
  In its scratch-kitchen environment with no frozen ingredients, preservatives, or safety net, inventory management is about far more than counting product for Panini Kabob Grill
  
  To create consistency across locations, the brand implemented daily inventory counts through Crunchtime Inventory, giving operators and support teams a real-time view of performance and enabling faster identification of issues.
  
  Stephen added, “With Crunchtime Inventory, Panini Kabob Grill has improved ordering accuracy and prep execution. Every location now operates with the same PAR formula, regardless of store size or volume.”
  
  Using Crunchtime Insights, teams can manage by fact instead of relying on opinions, instincts, or excuses. Crunchtime Insights pulls SPLH, labor %, food cost, and variance all together. The shift from manual processes to real-time visibility helped standardize operations across the organization and create a consistent framework for ordering and prep.
  
  “With Crunchtime, we can be proactive instead of reactive. Panini Kabob Grill used to be spreadsheet-based, and we had to try to fill in the gaps manually. Crunchtime has closed those gaps for us, allowing us to move into the future and grow,” Stephen explained.
  
  
  

• Crunchtime Labor
  At Panini Kabob Grill, labor is managed with the same level of precision as inventory. Rather than building schedules based on instinct or habit, the brand uses Crunchtime Labor staffing templates to align staffing levels with sales forecasts, historical trends, and operational demand. This approach ensures labor is earned by the business while still supporting the high standards required in a scratch-kitchen environment.
  
  The company refers to this transformation as its ‘Labor Revolution,’ a disciplined approach to workforce planning that has delivered measurable business impact while supporting substantial growth. For the brand, disciplined labor management is not about cutting corners. It's about ensuring every shift is staffed appropriately to support both profitability and the guest experience.
  
  

Results Worth Celebrating

With Crunchtime, the results have been significant. The visibility and consistency gained through Crunchtime gave Panini Kabob Grill confidence that it could continue growing without compromising the standards that define the brand.

By replacing manual processes with a disciplined, data-driven approach, the company built a scalable operating model capable of supporting expansion while protecting freshness, quality, and unit-level performance

“By moving from manual spreadsheets to real-time daily inventory with Crunchtime, we’ve proven that you can scale rapidly to 50 locations without ever sacrificing the freshness or quality our guests deserve,” Stephen said.

Results include:

• Panini Kabob Grill reduced COGS by 5.5%, resulting in more than $16 million in food cost savings over the last three years after implementing daily inventory counts and strengthening operational controls with Crunchtime.
• The discipline created through daily inventory management also helped the organization tighten the gap between actual and theoretical inventory to less than 1% annually while reducing logged waste to just 0.2%.
• Using Crunchtime Labor staffing templates over the last three years, Panini Kabob Grill improved labor costs by 7%, while growing revenue by more than $65 million. At today's scale, that improvement represents approximately $9–10 million in annual labor savings compared to the company's previous operating structure.
  
  “Crunchtime has been the backbone of our 'Labor Revolution,' helping us slash labor costs by 7 points and save over $16 million in food costs through sheer operational discipline,” Stephen stated.
  
  

Consistent Excellence in a Fast-Moving World

As Panini Kabob Grill looks ahead, the company remains focused on scaling with discipline. The brand plans to continue leveraging technology to strengthen inventory controls, optimize labor performance, and use Crunchtime to give operators visibility to execute consistently every day. By creating standardized processes, real-time visibility, and a culture of accountability, Panini Kabob Grill has built an operating model that supports growth without compromising quality.

Its story demonstrates that in a true scratch-kitchen environment, operational excellence isn't just about efficiency; it's about creating the discipline necessary to deliver exceptional guest experiences at scale.

Ops Excellence Awards winners are voted on live by all Ops Summit attendees. Click here to learn more.