Hospitality accountingRestaurants · Gastropubs · Bakeries · Cafes · Street-Traders · Event Caterers
Hospitality accountingRestaurants · Gastropubs · Bakeries · Cafes · Street-Traders · Event Caterers
Filed, compliant, signed off,and still not telling you that your labour percentage has crept up two points since spring, or that your best-selling dish stopped making money when your supplier put their prices up in March.
That's how hospitality businesses get into trouble. Not one bad month, but a drift nobody sees, because every month looks much like the last one.
By the time it shows up in a set of annual accounts it's a year old and you've been paying for it all year.
I've been there. I lost a restaurant without ever knowing I was in trouble.
Book a callHalf an hour, no charge, no pitch.
I trained as a chef, worked front and back of house,and in my thirties I opened my own place, a 36-cover, continental style bistro. (I'd wanted to call it Chapeau Chapeau, lost my nerve the week we opened, and called it Sam's Bistro.)
It was a lovely room, inspired by Gastro in Clapham and the cafes Van Gogh and Picasso painted. What I mostly remember is doing fifteen jobs at once and trying to teach a young team to use their own judgement instead of borrowing mine, which is the thing you have no time for when you're the one doing the fifteen jobs.
Artistically, it was a success. Financially, a disaster. Just nine months in, the money had run out. But the humiliating part wasn't losing it, it was that I couldn't have told you why. The place was full.
Assuming busy and solvent are the same thing is the sort of mistake that costs you a restaurant.
I studied bookkeeping afterwards, mainly to find out what had happened to me. It turned out to have a name: Overtrading – growing faster than your cash can carry.
Growth without control. That's where the name Ctrl Grow comes from. Fifteen years on, that's my job. I do the looking, for operators who'd rather hear it early.
Don't take my word for it
“Working with Sam helped us bring clarity to chaos. With four locations and constant growth, we needed a partner who could help us stay focused and in control without killing creativity. Sam understands hospitality—and us.”
Watch on Vimeo“As a baker, I’m hands-on. But growing Chocolatine meant stepping back, and that was scary. Sam helped me build systems I trust. Now, I can think about opening a second site without losing sleep—or control.”
Watch on Vimeo“Running a busy pub is intense. Working with Sam gave us the confidence to make smarter decisions, especially around cashflow. He helped us turn our instinct into strategy and gave us the tools to build something that lasts.”
Watch on Vimeo“What I like about Sam is that he doesn’t do generic advice. He really gets the industry. He helped us tighten up behind the scenes without compromising what makes The Mall special. That’s a rare skill.”
Watch on VimeoProperly posted, in the right period, reconciled, with a chart of accounts short enough to read. Most of what I inherit fails at least two of those.
Numbers you get while they're still worth having, not six weeks later when you've had three payrolls and a VAT bill since.
Year end, VAT, payroll, Companies House. The part every accountant does, done without you chasing.
Labour creeping up a point at a time, a supplier price rise nobody passed on, a margin sliding half a percent a month. None of it looks like anything in a single month. That's the bit you're really paying for.
Full service from
£475 a month, plus VAT
That covers bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and year end accounts for a single site with one monthly payroll. Most clients pay between £475 and £1,100. Where you land depends on how many sites you run, how often you pay staff, how much supplier admin you want taken off your hands, and how much of my time you want for talking things through.
Multi-site groups that want more get a part-time finance team: management accounts every four weeks, cash flow forecasting, supplier payment runs and a weekly sit-down with me. That's priced to the job.
Already keep your own books? Compliance only, meaning year end accounts, statutory filing, the corporation tax return and self assessment for up to two directors, starts at £175.
Whatever you choose, you can call me when something comes up. Quick questions are included. Bigger pieces, like a lease negotiation, a valuation or a clean-up of old accounts, get a fixed quote before I start. You get a fixed monthly price after our first conversation, and I'd rather talk you out of paying for something you don't need.
Half an hour to talk about your business and what you need sorting. Nothing to prepare, just turn up and tell me what's going on.
Pick a time below. If the calendar doesn't load, book on Calendly.
A hygiene inspection for your books. £95.
You give me read access to your accounts, I spend a couple of hours in them, and you get a short written summary of what I've found plus a call to talk it through.
No report template, no score out of ten. Just what I'd tell a friend who showed me their numbers. What's wrong, what it's costing you, and what I'd do about it.
If you want me to do the work afterwards, good. If you don't, you've still got the findings and they're yours.
Book a look at your booksA monthly briefing worth reading between services.
A monthly email for independent hospitality owners. The news that affects your margins, cash and staff, explained by an accountant who used to run a kitchen.
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