How FP&A Can Revitalise the UK Hospitality Industry
The UK hospitality industry is in a tough spot. And that’s putting it mildly.
The numbers don’t lie. Through most of 2024, monthly hospitality insolvencies were consistently around 260, with 2,657 accommodation and food service businesses shutting down from January to September. Between October and December alone, a staggering 750 hospitality venues closed their doors according to the Hospitality Market Monitor, which also predicted 3,000 more closures in 2025.
Even the UK’s big brands could not escape the carnage. Simon Rimmer's Greens chain collapsed after 33 years. TGI Fridays shed 35 restaurants and over 1,000 jobs.
Hotels weren’t exempt either. Among the casualties were the historic Lewtrenchard Manor in Devon, the Royal Beacon Hotel in Exmouth and Hotel Victoria in Cornwall, to name a few.
There’s no sugarcoating it. This is a systemic problem caused by a lack of strategic financial planning and a combination of tight margins squeezed further by inflation-driven supply costs, post-Brexit price increases, labour shortages and changing consumer habits.
FP&A: The Power of Planning and Predictive Analytics
Most hospitality businesses look at yesterday's sales, panic about today's costs and hope tomorrow sorts itself out.
That's not financial planning. It’s financial wishful thinking.
Platforms like Board and Datarails enable continuous planning with greater forecast accuracy to power financial and operational plans that drive confident, aligned decisions. It can stop you from making avoidable financial mistakes because you know what's actually happening in your business.
For example, Board can tackle the core problem plaguing UK hospitality: the disconnect between finance and operations. What happens when you bring finance and operations together? Silos disappear. Decisions get smarter. And planning races ahead powered by real-time insights.
Instead of your kitchen manager ordering on gut feel while your accountant discovers spiralling costs at month-end, an EPM creates unified visibility. Your chef knows exactly how much they can spend, in real-time, based on actual bookings and demand patterns.
Or how about your front office knowing exactly how to price and allocate rooms, in real-time, based on demand trends, competitor rates and operational capacity.
If you run a restaurant, you can get better insights into peak times to optimise staff allocation or find out which items move faster than others to streamline your menu or prevent overstocking of perishable items that end up hurting your bottom line.
Scenario Planning & Real-Time Decision Making
The hospitality businesses that thrived in 2024 weren't lucky, they were prepared. Board is uniquely positioned to help customers build scenario-based forecasting and prepare alternate plans to mitigate risks.
Traditional hospitality accounting is like driving while staring in the rearview mirror. Board's real-time capabilities change the game entirely. By sharing real-time insights across teams, your manager knows instantly when labour costs creep above budget or booking patterns suggest staffing adjustments. For example, it’s a Tuesday morning, and weekend reservations are down 30% versus last year. Traditional systems leave you discovering the revenue shortfall after the weekend. Board flags this immediately, allowing targeted promotions or staff adjustments before it's too late.
Hospitality businesses from hotels and restaurants to theme parks and corner pubs can no longer afford to operate like its 2015. The industry as a whole has become complex and the workforce has changed drastically, so businesses who don’t adapt accordingly are putting themselves at risk.
Breaking Down Your Silos
Most hospitality businesses have departments that operate like little fiefdoms, gatekeeping their information. Board brings the broadest spectrum of planning use cases, with technology that unifies finance and operations with a single source of truth.
When your POS system, inventory management, staff scheduling and financial reporting feed into one platform, you stop making decisions on hunches. You know exactly which menu items are profitable, which staff drive highest satisfaction and which locations underperform before they become terminal problems.
Let's be brutally honest about what happens without proper FP&A using real examples. The Cube Hotel entered administration citing unsustainable debt and reduced occupancy, which proper planning could have anticipated. Karen's Diner expanded rapidly in 2023 then collapsed with £400,000 debt. Rapid expansion without financial controls is a disaster that robust FP&A prevents.
Hope for UK Hospitality
The challenges facing the UK hospitality industry demand decisive leadership, particularly from CFOs as financial leaders play a pivotal role in guiding businesses through uncertain times.
Board and other leading platforms offer tools to transform hospitality operations, enabling data-driven decisions, breaking down silos and planning for multiple scenarios rather than hoping for the best.
The businesses that survive won't be those with the best locations or most charming concepts. They'll be the ones that can see around corners, adapt quickly and make informed decisions based on real data rather than gut instinct.
If you’re concerned about becoming another cautionary tale, let’s talk about how you can turn it around now.
