If you had to decide today whether the second site is worth keeping, could your accountant tell you by Friday?
Operators who can answer close a site, move a menu price or add a head with the payback in front of them. Operators who cannot answer find out after the season, when the money has already gone. Ardein runs the finance function so the numbers land on the agreed date each month.
Three things you’d know before the next rota goes out
Know which site is carrying the group and which is not
Sales, wages and margin reported site by site, every month, from records that reconcile.
Move a price with the margin in front of you
Gross margin by site and by month, so a rise goes where it is needed.
See the wage percentage before the week is paid
Payroll cost tracked against takings as part of the routine, not discovered at year end.
The hospitality decisions that cost money, and the number that was missing
Three decisions we hear about often from multi-site operators, and what each one cost.
- Price
“We put prices up across the whole menu because one site felt tight. Covers dropped at the two sites that were fine.”
The tight site was a wage problem, not a pricing problem. Nobody had margin by site, so the rise went everywhere.
- Supplier
“We moved to the cheaper meat supplier. By the time we saw the wastage and the credits, we had lost more than we saved.”
The saving was a unit price. The real cost sat in yield, credits and extra deliveries, none of which were being tracked.
- Hire
“I took on two more chefs for the summer and kept them through October. Wages ate most of the season’s profit.”
The decision to keep them was made on a feeling about trade. The wage percentage was not visible until the accounts arrived.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
By day ninety the pack reaches you on the same date each month. You can see which site covered its own wages and which leaned on the others. A supplier switch becomes a comparison you can do in an afternoon, with wastage and credits counted. A price change goes to the lines that need it rather than to the whole menu.
Year-end accounts, or an answer while the site is still open
A year-end accountant is doing a real job well. It is simply a different job from the one an operator needs in August.
The year-end accountant
Files accurate statutory accounts and the corporation tax return.
Works from records handed over months after the trading happened.
Reports on the group, rarely on the site or the service.
Answers when the accounts are finished, which is usually after the season.
A finance function that answers this week
Books kept complete through the month, so the figures are current.
Wages against takings, by site, while you can still change the rota.
Margin by site and by month, so pricing decisions have evidence.
Management information on the agreed date, then year end confirms it.
Eight decisions your numbers should already be answering
Answer each one yes or no as it stands today, not as you intend it to be.
- 01
Can you say which site made money last month after its own wages?
Yes means site level reporting. No means the group figure is hiding something.
- 02
Do you know your wage percentage for last week?
Yes means payroll is inside the routine. No means rotas are set on instinct.
- 03
Could you price a supplier switch including wastage and credits?
Yes means purchase data is coded properly. No means the saving is a guess.
- 04
Do you know the payback period on the last piece of kit you bought?
Yes means capital decisions have evidence. No means the second machine may be carrying itself only just.
- 05
Can you see next month’s VAT and payroll liability now?
Yes means cash is planned. No means quiet weeks become tight weeks.
- 06
Do you know which menu lines carry the margin?
Yes means pricing is targeted. No means rises go to every customer.
- 07
Could you show a lender or landlord current figures this week?
Yes means the records are up to date. No means a delay at the worst moment.
- 08
Do your numbers arrive on the same date every month?
Yes means you can plan around them. No means you are always reading history.
Ask your accountant these three questions this week. If you get a date rather than an answer, or a note that the books are not up to date, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you today which site made money last month, after wages?
- 02Could they tell you what wages ran as a percentage of sales last week?
- 03Could they tell you whether the new supplier actually costs less once wastage and credits are counted?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What you can hold us to every month
One promise carries most of the value in hospitality: the figures arrive when you agreed they would.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”
What changes by day ninety, and what has to happen first
Ninety days from the start, the finance function runs to a timetable you set.
You know what the records actually say
We agree the scope, complete client due diligence and AML checks, and collect the records. The handover from your current accountant or bookkeeper is managed by us at no separate charge.
A month you can trust, site by site
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, supplier and customer balances that make sense. We agree who does what across your sites and how information reaches us.
Wages, suppliers and takings on a routine
Payroll and auto-enrolment, supplier bills, VAT and credit control run to set dates, so nothing waits for a quiet week that never comes.
The next decision takes an afternoon
Monthly management information on the agreed date: cash, debtors, creditors, wage percentage and margin by site, in time to act on any of it.
The three questions we answer for hospitality operators every month
The work underneath is bookkeeping, payroll and reporting. What you buy is the answer arriving on time.
Will next month be tight, and why
Weekly cash visibility with VAT, payroll and supplier commitments in view, so a slow fortnight is planned for rather than survived.
Whether the rota is affordable
Payroll and auto-enrolment run on schedule for multi-site teams, with wage cost set against takings while you can still change it.
Which site, service and line makes the money
Monthly management accounts split by site, so pricing, opening hours and supplier decisions have a number behind them.
When Ardein is the wrong choice for a hospitality business
We only work with registered businesses whose takings all run through the books and the banking.
We do not take on cash businesses, and we do not work with falsified records or anything reportable.
We do not take construction work that depends on CIS, so mixed fit-out trading arms are usually not for us.
The relationship does not work if an owner cannot explain how the sites trade or say what they actually need.
If you are not sure which side of that you sit on, the review is the place to find out.
The questions operators ask before they start
Is the review just a sales call?
No. It is a sixty minute review of your bookkeeping, reporting, debtors, creditors, payroll and systems, ending in five priorities and an indicative monthly structure. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding.
We already have an accountant. Is this worth doing?
Most of our clients did. They had accounts filed on time and no month by month view of which site was making money. The review shows the gap between the two.
What happens with our current accountant?
We manage the handover: professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end. There is no separate charge for it.
How long are we committing to?
The fee is monthly, scoped once we have seen the records and understood how the sites run. It is a working arrangement, not a long lock-in.
Do you work with hotels as well as restaurants and cafes?
Yes. Multi-site cafes, restaurants and hotels all share the same pressures: payroll weight, thin margins and weekly cash. The reporting is built around those three.
Make the next site decision with the number already in the room
Start the review and we will tell you which answers your finance should already be giving you, and which ones are missing.