"In the first month we saved £1,300 and cut finance time by 15 hours"
Invoices were late, tools were scattered and month end brought surprises. Today the team sees a live P&L that matches reality, fixes issues during the week and aligns around a single weekly purchasing target. Read how Sean and his managers reduced busywork, protected GP and turned small leaks into measurable savings like £1,800 a year on delivery and about £500 a month on unnoticible items.
Beverley Hills Diner and Bar x Dishboard
- Finance admin time dropped from about 15 hours to under 5 hours per month
- Managers save about 20 minutes of admin per day
- £40 per day saved on electricity through behaviour change
- Cost visibility improved from about 70 percent to about 98 percent
- More than £8,800 per year saved thanks to Cost Radar - automatic flagging item spikes in prices (from tomatoes to marketing spend)
Meet Sean, owner operator
Sean runs Beverley Hills Diner hands on. Twenty people rely on him for a smooth service and a predictable rota. He loves the buzz of a full dining room, but he does not want to spend evenings chasing invoices or second guessing the numbers.
“I wanted one honest picture of spend without chasing people. Then I could make decisions the same day.” - Sean, Owner
Sean runs Beverley Hills Diner hands on. Twenty people rely on him for a smooth service and a predictable rota. He loves the buzz of a full dining room, but he does not want to spend evenings chasing invoices or second guessing the numbers.
“I wanted one honest picture of spend without chasing people. Then I could make decisions the same day.” - Sean, Owner
What Sean wanted to fix
“I not checking bank account anymore, everything I have now in Dishboard. All my key metrics are in one place.” - Sean, Owner
- One reliable source of truth for every cost, not just food
- Lower the food cost and operating costs
- Less low value admin for managers and finance, more time on guests and staff
- A confident live view for weekly targets and same day decisions
“I not checking bank account anymore, everything I have now in Dishboard. All my key metrics are in one place.” - Sean, Owner
"Thanks to Dishboard's food cost calculator, I can quickly see whether my chefs are achieving their GP goals and when not, we can quickly look at some corrective action to get this back online."
Challenges before Dishboard
1. A morning before Dishboard
Open the laptop, two reminder emails from suppliers, three paper invoices on the pass, the scanner queue says 1 to 3 days to read full thy invoice and put data in the system, and finance is asking where last week’s utilities bill went. Managers start their shift with admin, not with the team.
2. Fragmented costs and low visibility
“We were seeing maybe seventy percent of costs during the week. The rest landed at month end.”
3. Manual invoice chaos
“Scanning failed, duplicates happened, and we still had to chase thirty to forty documents at the end of the month.”
4. Finance time sink
The finance lead spent about a day a week on accounts and chasing, often without resolution.
5. Hidden overspend
Subscriptions and fees in marketing and Amazon delivery charges were not visible enough to challenge. Budget looked fine on paper yet actual outlay ran higher across the year. Same with items from suppliers.
6. Utility waste
Equipment was powered on too early every day which lifted electricity spend without adding value.
7. Labor picture incomplete
Third party reports missed tax and pension multipliers which skewed the weekly view. The team needed a simple way to make on cost visible.
1. A morning before Dishboard
Open the laptop, two reminder emails from suppliers, three paper invoices on the pass, the scanner queue says 1 to 3 days to read full thy invoice and put data in the system, and finance is asking where last week’s utilities bill went. Managers start their shift with admin, not with the team.
2. Fragmented costs and low visibility
“We were seeing maybe seventy percent of costs during the week. The rest landed at month end.”
3. Manual invoice chaos
“Scanning failed, duplicates happened, and we still had to chase thirty to forty documents at the end of the month.”
4. Finance time sink
The finance lead spent about a day a week on accounts and chasing, often without resolution.
5. Hidden overspend
Subscriptions and fees in marketing and Amazon delivery charges were not visible enough to challenge. Budget looked fine on paper yet actual outlay ran higher across the year. Same with items from suppliers.
6. Utility waste
Equipment was powered on too early every day which lifted electricity spend without adding value.
7. Labor picture incomplete
Third party reports missed tax and pension multipliers which skewed the weekly view. The team needed a simple way to make on cost visible.
Why Dishboard?
“We realised the value very fast. As soon as we downloaded the first set of data we had instant insights.”
- One place for invoices, costs, cashflow and live P&L
- Real time invoice processing instead of days late scans
- Cost Radar and category views surface anomalies and top spend items fast, so it keeps your margin on stable level
- Simple weekly targets, watchlists, alerts and a daily snapshot that fits in a pocket
“We realised the value very fast. As soon as we downloaded the first set of data we had instant insights.”
Four quick wins in a first week at Beverley Hills Diner
- Saved £1,800 per year on Amazon delivery fees
- Saved £500 per month - Marketing stack clean up
- Saved £40 per day - Electricity habits
- Speed that changes behaviour
All of my key metrics are in one place from labor cost, food cost, my cash flow, Live P&L. I also have price alerts across the board, to see any changes that I need to take action.
What is Cost Radar?
Cost Radar is your early warning system for supplier price changes. It reads every line item from your invoices, flags spikes above your thresholds, and shows the pounds at risk so you can act immediately and protect your margins.
What it does
“Categorising by department exposed duplicates and tools we did not use.”
Cost Radar is your early warning system for supplier price changes. It reads every line item from your invoices, flags spikes above your thresholds, and shows the pounds at risk so you can act immediately and protect your margins.
What it does
- Automatic invoice reading with line‑item capture (item, price, date)
- Price spike detection with thresholds, showing the percentage change and pounds at risk
- Historical tracking with clear trends for smarter supplier and menu decisions
- Quick links to the underlying invoices for instant verification
“Categorising by department exposed duplicates and tools we did not use.”
Onboarding - one hour
Sean invited his managers to forward supplier invoices straight into Dishboard. Within minutes the first bills appeared and categorised to the right departments. The team could see a live P&L for the first time.
“Implementation took less than an hour and everyone could see the point immediately.”
Time to onboard: under one hour for the whole team
Steps:
Sean invited his managers to forward supplier invoices straight into Dishboard. Within minutes the first bills appeared and categorised to the right departments. The team could see a live P&L for the first time.
“Implementation took less than an hour and everyone could see the point immediately.”
Time to onboard: under one hour for the whole team
Steps:
- Connect data sources and supplier emails
- Enable invoice email ingestion with auto approval by supplier
- Categorise spend by department and area of the business
- Set weekly targets and alerts, then start GM huddles around a simple 30 percent purchasing target
“ I would recommend Dishboard to anybody in the hospitality industry, anybody from the finance to the operations teams. "
Results
- “Now I trust the numbers I see each morning and I act on them the same day.”
- “Invoices appear in seconds so decisions can happen during the shift, not next week.”
What surprised Sean
- Small leaks add up fast when they live across tools. Seeing everything in one place made decisions obvious.
- Utility habits were invisible until the patterns were shown. Starting equipment later saved real money immediately.
- A simple weekly purchasing target united the team more than a long checklist.
Before
Spreadsheet entries by managers, scanning to accounting, failed scans and resubmits, late data and finance chasing across teams.
Now
Simple weekly target everyone knows.
Food, drink and consumables together should not break thirty percent of net sales for the week. GM, head chef and owner look at the same number and decide together.
“The thirty percent weekly purchasing target keeps everyone aligned and it is simple to discuss.”
“Managers start with their people again. Finance has what it needs without nagging. And I can focus on growth.”
Spreadsheet entries by managers, scanning to accounting, failed scans and resubmits, late data and finance chasing across teams.
Now
Simple weekly target everyone knows.
Food, drink and consumables together should not break thirty percent of net sales for the week. GM, head chef and owner look at the same number and decide together.
“The thirty percent weekly purchasing target keeps everyone aligned and it is simple to discuss.”
“Managers start with their people again. Finance has what it needs without nagging. And I can focus on growth.”
What now?
Beverley Hills Diner moved from guesswork to clear action. One source of truth, a weekly target everyone understands, and faster decisions in the kitchen and office. If you want fewer end-of-month surprises and steady GP, this is a path you can copy.
If you want help setting it up, book a short call and we will walk you through it.
Beverley Hills Diner moved from guesswork to clear action. One source of truth, a weekly target everyone understands, and faster decisions in the kitchen and office. If you want fewer end-of-month surprises and steady GP, this is a path you can copy.
If you want help setting it up, book a short call and we will walk you through it.
Would you like to achieve equally outstanding results in your own restaurant or café?
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