4 minute read
Resilience and adaptability in hospitality: Driving SME profit
We are delighted to welcome back The Engine Room as our Financial & Consultancy Hospitality Company of the Year.
How does the SME sector, especially with no affordability for a financial officer or commercial manager navigate volatile trading conditions and rising overheads?
The Engine Room is more than plugging the financial entity gap, they are offering affordable, sustainable solutions with a person-led strategy, “We have a passion and zest for the hospitality sector and during the last twelve months, have successfully secured retainers with many of our SME customers. The Engine Room differs from most consultancy firms in that we offer financial and consultancy services. Many restaurants or cafes feel so pressurised with running daily operations, plugging staffing gaps, optimising social media visibility, meeting sustainability targets and moving consumer trends, completing accounts and just keeping businesses afloat – that they are too time-poor to consider long term strategic business growth. But wouldn’t it be great if restaurateurs or cafe owners could rediscover their love for their business?” explains Jenny Hunt: Business Development Manager.
This is the modus operandi for The Engine Room: streamlining that boutique French restaurant on the High Street, that is empty on week nights or the vegan cafe that dreams of full bookings on Saturday evenings. There is a myth that businesses, especially smaller ones need to ‘get leaner’ to get ahead.
The Engine Room is here for the long-haul, the nittygritty and stays to help implement those ideas with an old-school approach, “We visit our customers on a weekly basis, rather than hiding behind computer screens. We know the pain points for the hospitality trade, such as: 26.2% increase in food ingredients, impact of National Living Wage increases earlier this year, supply chain disruption, through to the new UK Food Waste Law from March 2025. We offer a holistic service that looks at everything from bookings, opening hours, menu choices, to daily invoicing and cash flows, business models, growth plans, acquisitions, and investments. We look at the long-term strategy: what needs to be achieved and on what timescale – which frees up capacity for owners to be looking at menu variation or expanding low/noalcohol wine options, which is a huge area of growth.”
The Engine Room offers a one-off Business Hygiene Check for a snip at £750, which stress-tests business models and provides expert analysis. Invariably what happens is that SMEs will turn round and say, “We know what we need to do but we don’t have the time.” Rather than running for the hills, The Engine Room stays to help. “We muck in: staying on-site and get the nuts and bolts running: from accounts, menu engineering to brand exposure.” admits Jenny. This often leads to a long-term retainer partnership, helping steer businesses to more sustainable growth.
The Engine Team was established in December 2022, from a collaborative group of experts working in the Hospitality Hub: a traditional consultant company that saw the untapped benefit of specialising in commercial management. With a joint desire to support the recovery of an industry they all knew and loved, the team got to work helping businesses thrive.
Andrew Lovell is the Managing Partner and has an expert background in commercial, financial and operational roles across hospitality. Jenny brings years of experience from operational roles, such as Head of Hospitality at Sadlers Well Theatre and senior event management. Mario Manzo: Commercial Operations Partner brings a wealth of experience from the commercial performance of bars, restaurants and cafes and holding a central position on the commercial management team at The Royal Opera House. The trio has a collective professional experience of sixty years across the hospitality industry, bringing expert skillsets to clients, in a truly people-led manner.
For more information and to grow your business during 2025, please see the website below: https://www.the-engineroom.co.uk
