Finance Manager in Greater London, London

We are seeking a hands-on, commercially astute Finance Manager to join this growing multi-site restaurant group. This is a high-visibility role for a business known for its commitment to seasonal ingredients, craft beverages, and exceptional front-of-house service. You will act as the bridge between transactional finance and operational leadership, ensuring financial discipline across all sites while supporting the Head of Finance in strategic initiatives.

Essential requirement: proven experience in hospitality / food & beverage (F&B) , ideally within a multi-site environment (e.g., restaurants, bars, pubs, quick-service or full-service concepts).

Key Responsibilities

• Own the monthly management accounts for 5–10 individual restaurant units, consolidating at group level for review by the Head of Finance.
• Deliver accurate P&L statements with variance analysis vs. budget and prior year, flagging key drivers (e.g., COGS, labour, occupancy, wastage).
• Manage the balance sheet, including prepayments, accruals, fixed assets (kitchen/bar equipment), and stock reconciliations.
• Oversee cash flow forecasting – particularly critical for seasonal trading cycles and supplier payment runs.

Operations & Commercial Support

• Partner with GMs and Head Chefs on site-level P&L performance – challenge line-by-line (e.g., dry goods, fresh produce, breakages, agency labour).
• Lead monthly stock takes and analysis of gross profit margins by menu category.
• Support menu engineering decisions by providing item-level margin analysis (food cost %, GP£).
• Review EPOS (till) data vs. bank settlements to ensure revenue integrity across all sites.

Team & Process Management

• Indirectly manage two finance team – oversee their work (supplier invoice processing, payment runs, cash-up reconciliations).
• Implement and maintain consistent financial processes across all sites (e.g., purchase order matching, daily sales reporting).
• Own the period-end close timetable, ensuring all site managers submit required data on time.

Compliance & Audit

• Ensure VAT (including standard-rated food/drinks vs. zero-rated items) and payroll compliance.
• Prepare year-end audit files and liaise with external auditors.
• Monitor key controls (e.g., cash handling, staff discounts, wastage recording).

Candidate Profile

Essential

• Industry experience: minimum 2 years in a finance role within hospitality / F&B (restaurants, bars, pubs, hotels with F&B, or catering).
• Multi-site exposure – you understand the complexity of managing finances across several locations (different trading patterns, local labour markets, delivery aggregators like Deliveroo/Uber Eats).
• Fully qualified (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, or equivalent).
• Advanced Excel (lookups, pivot tables, SUMIFS, basic data modelling).
• Experience with EPOS systems (e.g., Square, Toast, Epson, Micros) and an accounting package (Xero, Sage, or NetSuite preferred).

Personal Attributes

• Office-present, operator-ready – this is not a hybrid or remote role. You will be in the office 5 days a week, working closely with the Head of Finance and visiting sites as needed.
• Resilient and comfortable with the pace of hospitality (period-end deadlines, last-minute supplier queries, high-volume transactions).
• Strong communicator – able to explain a P&L variance to a GM who has not worked in finance.
• Hands-on and humble – you will occasionally need to investigate a missing invoice or reconcile a till discrepancy.

Voceer presents this job opportunity for COREcruitment, a 50 person sized company who are categorized as a Recruitment Agency.

This position is being managed by COREcruitment, a reputable recruitment agency known for placing candidates in desirable positions.