In this issue of Food & Drink Matters, we are delighted to select The Engine Room as our Tailored Hospitality Commercial Management Company of the Month.
The UK hospitality industry is estimated to be currently worth £20.9 billion and is anticipated to grow to £23.7 billion by 2028 (source: Mordor Intelligence) The industry has been recovering slowly in the post-COVID world, and despite some ongoing Brexit uncertainty, there is forecasted to be steady growth demand for new hotels, especially in the London area, driven by rising tourism.
With many businesses in hospitality focused on the triple whammy of skills shortages, the rising cost of energy and food and meeting the UK Government 2050 net-zero targets, many directors and owners often overlook strategic financial planning. This is where The Engine Room comes in.
The Engine Room is not a ‘helicopter’ consultancy service that launches in during emergency measures and offers a quick fix solution, then heads for the horizon. The Engine Room is here for the long-haul, for the downsizing or upscaling, as an integrated part of your team, as Jenny Hunt: Business Development Manager explains, “Think of us as expert hospitality consultants in commercial management, working in partnership with hotels, restaurants, pubs, bars, across the hospitality sector, adopting proven tools and providing tailored support. We offer strategic support targeted to company pain points, financial modelling and long-term plans, in the same guise as Financial and Commercial Directors.”
“The Engine Room is all about helping propel business plans forward, making business growth a reality. We spend a lot of time on the ground, with companies on-site, not through remote zoom calls or hiding behind spreadsheets. For some companies, that could mean two-three visits a week at the beginning, gradually becoming an ongoing extension of the team and a true collaboration for growth. Our monthly scheduled meetings monitor initial action plans and can quickly change course, if things don’t go to plan.”
Having an objective business eye on your company means we can focus on the commercial direction, whilst you get to create new menus in the kitchen or focus on performance or concept development.”
The 2023 Deloitte Hospitality Industry Outlook Report looked at the top five priorities for the hospitality industry at the moment, these are as follows:
- Managing inflationary pressures
- Streamlining operations
- Cash flow/cash management
- Hiring/re-staffing
- Workforce health & safety
The Engine Room understands the current climate in hospitality, as well as other concerns around adapting to new consumer behaviour, becoming more sustainable, stakeholder relationships, financial lenders, strategic growth, digital transformation and supply chains. 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 benefit of specialising in commercial management honouring their joint desire to support the recovery of an industry they all know and love and witness their partners thrive.
Andrew Lovell is the Managing Partner and has an impressive background in commercial, financial and operational roles across hospitality from service stations to Royal parks to opera houses. Jenny Hunt: Business Development Manager brings heavyweight experience in operational roles, such as head of hospitality at Sadlers Well Theatre and senior event management across prestigious venues such as the Chiswick House, Southbank Centre, Royal Academy of Arts and the National Portrait Gallery. 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. They all met and contributed to the success of Company of Cooks under the direction of Mike Lucy who co-founded The Engine Room with Andrew. The team has a collective professional experience of sixty years across the hospitality industry, bringing expert skillsets to clients, in a truly people-led manner.
“We can offer a whole spectrum of support from research projects, stress tests for business models, growth plans, acquisitions, investments, to everyday invoicing and cash flows. Essentially, we make sense of numbers, streamlining information and creating a dashboard that culminates disparate data and integrates software making it work for you to give you an accurate and profound understanding of your business enabling you to make discerning decisions and optimise your efforts. We have additional experts that we can bring in for targeted support areas too. If you’re looking to upgrade your restaurant chain and target a different customer demographic, to Michelin Star institutions wanting a third-party expert opinion or a pub chain wanting to branch into gastro menus, using sustainable, sourced ingredients, talk to us today about the next step.”
For more information and to grow your business during 2024, please see the website below:
https://www.the-engineroom.co.uk