December 4, 2024
Luna's Tacos & Tequila | Windsor, CO
Running a successful restaurant group requires more than just culinary expertise and exceptional customer service. As your restaurant business grows, so does the complexity of financial management. That's where a restaurant Chief Financial Officer (CFO) comes in.
We sat down with Georgina Cavendish, CFO in Residence at MarginEdge, to put together this blog and video guide all about the financial best practices for scaling your restaurant business from someone who's done it and now advises other operators. We explore the key factors to consider when determining if and when to bring on a restaurant CFO, as well as how they can contribute to the financial health and growth of your restaurant group.
Whether you're a budding restaurateur or an established entrepreneur, understanding the role of a restaurant CFO can be a game-changer for your business's financial success. Let's dive in and discover how a restaurant CFO can help take your restaurant group to new heights of profitability and efficiency.
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Financial best practices for scaling your restaurant business:
[me]et GeorginaWhy you should outsource your AP (Accounts Payable) functions
What other finance functions should you outsource?
When is it time to hire a CFO?
Where can you find a restaurant-specific CFO?
What is a fractional restaurant CFO?
[me]et Georgina 👋
Meet Georgina Cavendish, a long-time restaurant accounting and finance expert whose career has spanned many countries and clients, including New York-based cafe and bakery behemoth Maman.
As CFO in Residence at MarginEdge, Georgina helps enterprise restaurant clients streamline their accounting processes using both in-house and outsourced teams and tools to create the right blend of technology and efficiency that helps rapidly growing restaurant groups scale effectively.
Why you should outsource AP (Accounts Payable) functions
So what are the reasons why a scaling restaurant group should outsource AP? Georgina gave us three:
1. It's an integral part of your business
Paying vendors on time is crucial to keeping operations running smoothly, and having a team dedicated to doing just that eliminates that potential issue. Outsourced AP also ensures costs are captured correctly and your P&L is correct because trying to or worse, actually making decisions based on incorrect financial information can have disastrous consequences. In short, it's an accounting function that is vital to keeping your operations not only profitable but also running smoothly.
2. Helps you avoid personnel troubles
Our industry is notorious for experiencing a lot of turnover, and for restaurant accounting roles this issue is expanded because there are not always enough candidates to fill them to begin with. Recruiting and onboarding new hires can be disruptive to your business, and particularly for things like paying your bills, downtime is not a viable option. Outsourcing AP eliminates these issues because there's a whole team of people and technology there to cover these tasks regardless of personnel changes that happen in your stores.
3. Allows for scaling at a greater speed
Humans make mistakes, but so does technology by itself (have you seen AI-generated artwork?). Having the combination of AI plus human-in-the-loop technology is the perfect solution. The combo acts as powerful checks and balances and best of all, it allows you to add more locations without adding more support. This gives you flexibility, accuracy and speed when it comes to growing your business.
What other finance functions should you outsource?
After AP, outsourcing other financial functions and tasks will depend on what makes the most sense for your business and its level of complexity. Ultimately, you have three options:
- Have an internal team
- Outsource to an accounting/bookkeeping firm
- A mix of both
When is it time to hire a restaurant CFO?
The best starting point to determine if you should hire a restaurant CFO is to consider if you want to have someone with you long-term who helps grow your business. Georgina also notes that you don't have to start with a full CFO to begin with. If you're in the early stages of growth, you can hire a Controller who can grow into a CFO role, or even hire a fractional CFO to help guide and consult along the way.
If you are considering fundraising and are not the most financially savvy, it's in your best interest to hire a CFO to help you create forecasts, models, business plans and projections - all of which will be necessary in the capital fundraising process. They can also provide the data you need to make better financial decisions before and after fundraising.
Where can you find a restaurant-specific CFO?
Like with many restaurant jobs, you can find a restaurant CFO through word of mouth or referrals from your network, but this is also a role that can be professionally recruited for. Job sites like Indeed and LinkedIn are also great places to look for help.
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is essentially a part-time CFO who helps advise your business and prepare essential metrics and reports as needed, at a lower cost than employing a full-time CFO for your business. They can be project-based, for example, if you're going through fundraising, or on an ongoing, as-needed basis for a set number of hours a month. This kind of CFO offers more flexibility which can be very helpful for rapidly growing or venture-backed restaurant businesses.
About Georgina
Georgina Cavendish is a seasoned financial executive with extensive experience across the restaurant, hospitality, retail, and hotel sectors. She currently serves as CFO in Residence at MarginEdge. As the founder of Fully Booked Accounting & Consulting, she provides tailored accounting, bookkeeping, and consulting services, specializing in Fractional CFO offerings such as fundraising, budgeting, projections, long-term planning, restructuring, private equity, tech stack advisory, and system implementation. Previously, Georgina served as CFO at Maman NYC and German Doner Kebab and Island Poke.
To learn more, please reach out to Georgina at georgina@fullybookedaccounting.com
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