Hospitality Profit Recovery Consultant (UK)
Recover lost profit across your food & beverage operation. Without increasing sales.
Your revenue looks fine. Your margins don't, and you don't know why.
You're not losing money in obvious ways. There's no single smoking gun.
It's the bar that's always slightly under. The stocktake that shows a variance nobody can explain. The cost of sales that creeps up quarter after quarter despite everything looking normal on the surface.
The P&L absorbs it. The team say everything's fine. But the profit isn't there.
If that sounds familiar, you're in the right place.
Here's what's usually happening:
❌ Overpouring that nobody's measuring
❌ Stock variances that get reported but never investigated
❌ Deliveries signed off without being checked
❌ Cash that doesn't reconcile — and nobody chases it
❌ A P&L that looks acceptable while the operation bleeds margin daily
None of these show up clearly on their own.
Together they can cost a hospitality business tens of thousands of pounds a year — without anyone realising it.
This is not a stocktaking problem. It's an operational one.
Most businesses already have a stocktaker. The variance gets measured every month.
The report gets filed.
And the problem continues.
Because measuring the gap isn't the same as closing it.
Clarity is different.
I don't just find the variance.
I find out why it exists, what it's costing you in real terms, and what needs to change operationally to stop it happening.
30 years across multi-site pub estates, high-volume restaurants and branded hotels. Internal audit. P&L accountability. Financial control.
All of it brought to bear on one specific problem — recovering the profit your operation should already be making.
Real Example: £10,000/month recovered
A high-volume restaurant bar. 500 covers a day. Strong revenue. Busy every night.
Losing £10,000 a month.
Nobody had noticed because the top line looked healthy.
The loss was buried — in overpouring, untracked wastage, cash that wasn't making it to the till, and a bar operating without any real controls in place.
Within three months:
✅ Loss eliminated
✅ Profit restored
✅ Controls embedded
Not by selling more, by stopping the leaking.
Testimonials
Aleem Tufail
Current : Director - Hospitality Recruiter @ Kerry Robert Associates Limited
Was : Group Finance Director - Black & White Hospitality Limited
"David understands the controls around Food and Beverage outlets very well. He deep dives into the detail, putting in place clear procedures for managing effectively the COS. When I worked with David, I knew our F&B outlets were in good hands as David looked at the revenue capture, stock movement, and the usual staff procedures to ensure we delivered the best margins possible. David was very creative in putting together new F&B packages (i.e. Afternoon Tea) through costing out each menu item and presenting the end piece for launching with all 3rd parties. His EPOS skills are strong and his implementation of F&B projects can always be relied upon."
Keith Pentland
Current : Director of Finance and Resources at National Museums Scotland
Was : Director of Finance, Hilton Birmingham Metropole, Birmingham
"One of my proudest moments at Hilton was topping the benchmarking tables in every category. This was done by empowering people like David to do what he does best. David was the driver behind having the lowest Food and Beverage Cost of Sales. He did this by quietly working away with the kitchen and bar teams to improve conversion and eradicating losses. He is a team player working with teams to get better results, and not afraid to call out ineffective controls, processes or people. I would happily work with David again — he would be a great asset to any organisation."
Mike Rothwell
Current : Chief Financial Officer, Red Cat Hospitality Limited.
"David was a key player in improving controls, processes, rigour and ultimately F&B margins across our RedCat portfolio. He has a deep understanding of the mechanics of hotels, pubs and F&B — it's an instinct formed over many years and I would recommend him highly to anyone who needs support on getting margins and controls from where they are to where they should be."
Common Questions
Why is my restaurant making good sales but low profit?
Hidden operational leakage — overpouring, stock variance, weak delivery controls — erodes margin without appearing clearly in reports. The top line can look healthy while the operation loses money daily.
What causes stock variance in hospitality?
Typical causes include poor goods receiving processes, inaccurate deliveries, overpouring, portion drift, and lack of site-level accountability. A variance that recurs every month is telling you something specific.
How do you reduce cost of sales in a pub or restaurant?
By fixing the root operational causes — portion control, stock management processes, supplier and delivery checking, and waste reduction. Price increases alone won't hold margin if the operation is leaking.
Is stocktaking enough to control margins?
No. Stocktaking identifies variance — it does not explain or fix the underlying cause. That requires operational investigation and on-site correction.
What is a Profit Review?
A straightforward, no-obligation conversation about your operation and where the gaps might be. Most operators know within 20 minutes whether there's a meaningful recovery opportunity.
No pitch. No jargon. Just clarity.
My
Services
Stock Audits
Stock doesn't lose you money.
Poor control does.
I use stock analysis to identify where your F&B operation is losing profit... and why.
Profit Recovery
Where is your F&B Profit really going?
Most hospitality businesses aren’t losing profit in obvious ways.
It disappears quietly, through stock inaccuracies, overpouring, portion drift, waste, and inconsistent processes.
Individually small. Collectively significant.
If your margins don’t quite make sense, or your cost of sales feels higher than it should be, there’s usually a reason.
I help you find it—and fix it.
Compliance Audits
Inconsistent sites are costing you more than you think.
Independent multi-site audits that identify control failures, protect margin, and improve performance across your estate.
You've found the gap, now let's close it.
The question isn't whether there's a problem. It's where it is — and what it's costing you every week it goes unfixed.