Operations first. Technology second.
The places where people, information and decisions move through an operation.
The Pass helps owner-led businesses find where time, labor and effort are being lost, rethink how the work gets done, and build a better way.
Proof
51locations
Tools and operating systems in daily use across Lazy Dog Restaurants.
~50minutes
Manager capacity returned per location, per day.
~42.5hours
Manager-hours returned across the system, every day.
Managers get back about 30 minutes every morning, and an estimated 20 more through the day. That's less time chasing compliance info, certifications, employee records and operating data, and more time leading teams and taking care of guests.
Figures are estimates of time saved by workflows already in use. They are not measured payroll or labor savings.
Real-World Builds
These aren't products for sale. They show the kinds of operating problems The Pass solves.
Lazy Dog Restaurants · 51 locations
The problem
Sales, labor, forecasting, catering, reservations, reviews, compliance and roster info lived in separate places. Managers had to hunt across all of them every morning.
What we built
One operating environment that brings all of that daily management information together.
Outcome
Less time hunting across systems. About 30 minutes returned to managers during the morning routine.
Problem
Food-handler cards, TABC certifications and employee records were tracked down and checked by hand.
Built
Digital cards, certifications and employee records, with expiration dates visible at a glance.
Outcome
Less time chasing paperwork and checking compliance manually.
Problem
Checking every schedule against the service scheduling playbook took manager time.
Built
An agent that logs into HotSchedules, checks staffing against the playbook and flags where to add or cut staff.
Outcome
About 3–4 manager hours returned per week.
Problem
Past sales alone don’t show what is happening in the local market.
Built
Forecasting tools that combine historical performance with hotel demand, room rates, events and tournaments.
Outcome
Better information in hand when operators make forecasting decisions.
Problem
Floor maps were printed over and over and changed by hand with every call-out.
Built
A digital floor plan pushed to server tablets that updates when call-outs or operating changes happen.
Outcome
Less paper, fewer manual edits, faster changes.
Problem
Knowing whether a shift was on track meant chasing the numbers.
Built
Systems that surface sales, labor and operating performance in real time.
Outcome
Managers see when performance drifts from expectations without hunting for the data.
The same thinking works for smaller, owner-led businesses.
Owner-operated bakery
Built the customer-facing website and the back-office admin tools around how a small owner-operated business actually runs.
Visit shortbakecookies.comLuxury assisted-living concept
Built the customer-facing website and a market-intelligence tool: scorecards from competitor tours, pricing bands and a market snapshot. Pricing decisions are now grounded in what nearby communities actually charge and deliver.
Visit thevalencialiving.comWho it's for
Owner-led, operationally complex businesses: restaurants, hospitality, retail, service businesses, senior living, multi-unit operators and other local businesses.
That's where The Pass comes in.
The Pass Method
Learn how the operation really works and find where time, labor, money and effort are disappearing.
Don’t just digitize the old process. Ask: if we built this today, would we still do it this way?
Build the simplest thing that solves the real problem: a system, dashboard, workflow, AI tool, agent, forecast or automation.
Put it into the real operation, get the team using it, and measure whether it made the business better.
Jake Osterkamp
Founder, The Pass
About
I've spent my career running businesses, leading teams and solving operational problems.
I started building tools because I kept seeing things inside the operation that I knew could work better.
One solution became another. Then dashboards. Forecasting. Digital systems. AI. Agents.
Eventually, some of what I was building was being used across 51 restaurant locations. That changed the way I looked at technology.
The Pass is about taking that thinking outside of one company and helping other operators build better ways to work.
“Operations taught me the problems. AI gave me new ways to solve them.”
Jake Osterkamp, Founder
Our mission
Find where time, labor and energy are being wasted. Question the way the work has always been done. Build something better.
Give operators time back.
If it doesn’t work in the real operation, it doesn’t matter how impressive the technology is.
Don’t automate something just because that’s how it’s always been done.
The best solution is the one people actually use.
Technology should remove work, not add another system for employees to babysit.
Time returned. Labor reduced. Better visibility. Fewer manual steps. Faster decisions.
How to work together
01 · Start here
Get inside the operation, understand how the business works and find the highest-value opportunities to improve it.
Talk about this02 · Then
Take the top-priority opportunity, then design and build the solution.
Talk about this03 · Ongoing
Keep working together to find, build and roll out more operational improvements over time.
Talk about thisYou don't need to know what software you need. You don't need an AI strategy.
Show me the spreadsheet, report, process or task that's eating your team's time.
We'll start there.