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SlovenčinaHow Ive from Bistro Lagom Eliminated 15 Spreadsheets
Imagine the scene: you’re the owner of a café or restaurant, the weather’s warming up, and the bike path in front of your place is packed. Instead of planning your seasonal menu or training new staff, you’re hunched over binders full of paper invoices, hunting down receipts, pulling bank statements, and scrambling in Excel to catch up on what you missed last week. Sound familiar?
When the Dream of Owning a Café Turns into an Accounting Nightmare
For Ive, owner of Bistro Lagom, her dream became reality in October 2024. Together with her mother, she opened Lagom in a charming spot on a busy bike path. The first few months brought excitement—and chaos:
- 15 Excel spreadsheets for invoices, food cost, payroll, operating expenses—every change had to be manually copied between them.
- Binders full of receipts and invoices that kept getting lost or crumpled.
- Daily, hour-long routines: printing, scanning, manually matching invoices to bank statements. Suppliers sent documents however they pleased.
- Out-of-date cash flow: never sure if there was enough left for rent, wages, or that beautiful new table she’d been eyeing.
- Food cost discrepancies—and no clue why.
“I had 15 Excel spreadsheets and binders full of invoices - every month I had to recreate it all, sometimes spending three weeks on it.”
As a mother of small children and employer of 20 people, Ive was up at 5:30 AM, arriving at the café by eight to oversee prep, lunch service, and everything in between—finances included. At month’s end, she often came home late with her laptop just to handle printing invoices and checking payments in Excel.
“I love digging into the numbers, optimizing food cost to see my margins, but it felt like I was always doing that—and missing out on everything else.”
The tipping point came one spring morning when she received a yearly invoice for waste collection totaling £2000.
“I thought I was paying monthly, but suddenly it was all due at once. That was when I realized I needed real-time financial control.”
“I love digging into the numbers, optimizing food cost to see my margins, but it felt like I was always doing that—and missing out on everything else.”
The tipping point came one spring morning when she received a yearly invoice for waste collection totaling £2000.
“I thought I was paying monthly, but suddenly it was all due at once. That was when I realized I needed real-time financial control.”
Dishboard: From First Meeting to Full Confidence
Ive needed a solution that would:
While testing several tools, she discovered Dishboard. First impression: a simple interface with no endless setup. Support guided her through one introductory meeting, answered two emails—and that was it.
- Reduce time spent on routine accounting tasks.
- Track plate cost / food cost / drink cost in real time, so she could price her offerings appropriately.
- Minimize errors and endless “paper hunts.”
- Enable data-driven cash-flow planning instead of guessing.
While testing several tools, she discovered Dishboard. First impression: a simple interface with no endless setup. Support guided her through one introductory meeting, answered two emails—and that was it.
“After one online call and two emails, I had Dishboard up and running. If I, a non-technical person, can figure it out, anyone can,” she laughs.
Within a week, she had mastered:
Within a month she was using advanced features too: bank-feed integration, bulk invoice payments, the cash-on-hand module, and team access.
- Invoice import via a single forwarded email - she taught suppliers to send invoices to a dedicated email that auto-pairs with Dishboard.
- Payment calendar setup to track due dates and pay directly via QR codes.
- Food cost and cash-flow reports.
Within a month she was using advanced features too: bank-feed integration, bulk invoice payments, the cash-on-hand module, and team access.
“Now it’s one click—I’m done. Before, I spent weeks and would stress out.”
No More Invoice Overload
Each month Ive used to manually process 150-200 invoices from dozens of suppliers in Excel. Now she simply instructs suppliers to email invoices to her special Dishboard address. The system reads line items, amounts, and due dates automatically, then adds them to the payment calendar with reminders, nothing gets missed.
She even convinced small local farmers to go digital. Those who only sent paper documents now send 100 % of invoices by email. The lengthy searches are gone, and relationships with suppliers have improved, since everyone sees that payments are made swiftly and accurately.
She even convinced small local farmers to go digital. Those who only sent paper documents now send 100 % of invoices by email. The lengthy searches are gone, and relationships with suppliers have improved, since everyone sees that payments are made swiftly and accurately.
“If I went to the Maldives for two weeks, nothing critical would happen, because everything is online. Then I just catch up at month-end. What used to take three weeks a month now takes about one.”
Real Costs and Real Time
“Before, I was often surprised by cost amounts. For example, payroll - I’d get actual payslips and wonder, ‘Oh, they were on vacation, that’s why it’s higher.’ Imagine that with 20 people whose costs change monthly. It always took me by surprise at month-end.”
“Before, I was often surprised by cost amounts. For example, payroll - I’d get actual payslips and wonder, ‘Oh, they were on vacation, that’s why it’s higher.’ Imagine that with 20 people whose costs change monthly. It always took me by surprise at month-end.”
“Before Dishboard, I didn’t know where I really stood. Now I log in and see my account balance, what’s paid, what’s coming… so I can even decide if I can afford that big, beautiful table I want.”
When food cost spikes, she sees it immediately and can drill down to why. Dishboard even flagged when she accidentally entered the same invoice twice, once as an invoice, once as a delivery note pushing her food cost to 45 %. She clicked on the supplier and had clarity in seconds.
Stress Reduction on a Scale of 1–10?
“Twenty!” she says. “Honestly! The first month I was amazed that simply uploading invoices was enough. And payroll, before I was retyping tables manually. Now I click, send, done. It’s bliss.”
Her accountant no longer chases missing documents, everything is in the system, and the accountant has direct access to payroll, food cost, invoices, and other expenses.
Her accountant no longer chases missing documents, everything is in the system, and the accountant has direct access to payroll, food cost, invoices, and other expenses.
“Complete luxury,” she says. “I’ve gained not only time but confidence that my business finances are truly under control.”
Time saved: at least 10 hours per month on communication and document prep, now handled by the system.
Time saved: at least 10 hours per month on communication and document prep, now handled by the system.
Where She Is Now
Today, Ive only needs to glance at her dashboards once a week to ensure everything’s running smoothly.
“If I didn’t have to check daily, Friday or Sunday would be enough to see what’s accumulated over the week,” she confirms.
Instead of paper stress, she now plans summer pop-ups, outdoor bar expansions, and family weekends.
Her relationship with Dishboard?
“Dishboard and I are friends.”
By entrusting routine tasks to the system, she’s found peace of mind, time for strategy, and absolute certainty that her business’s finances are under control. Now she leaves the café around 6 PM with a clear head, knowing Dishboard has processed all documents. Evenings are for a short yoga flow or meditation in the garden, while the system automatically matches payments and displays updated balances.
“If I didn’t have to check daily, Friday or Sunday would be enough to see what’s accumulated over the week,” she confirms.
Instead of paper stress, she now plans summer pop-ups, outdoor bar expansions, and family weekends.
Her relationship with Dishboard?
“Dishboard and I are friends.”
By entrusting routine tasks to the system, she’s found peace of mind, time for strategy, and absolute certainty that her business’s finances are under control. Now she leaves the café around 6 PM with a clear head, knowing Dishboard has processed all documents. Evenings are for a short yoga flow or meditation in the garden, while the system automatically matches payments and displays updated balances.
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