Umbel Restaurant Group Modernises and Future-Proofs Financials with Sage Intacct and Percipient
L’Enclume owner fosters agility and establishes a foundation for further expansion with new business software deployment.
About Simon Rogan
Focused on core values centred around food and nature, innovation and sustainability, world-renowned chef Simon Rogan operates seven restaurants in the Lake District; London; and Hong Kong, within the Umbel Restaurant Group.
L’Enclume is situated in a former 13th-century blacksmith workshop and is focused on homegrown, seasonal produce from its farm located a mile away from the restaurant, which serves to treat all guests to an ever-evolving dining experience. 2022 saw L’Enclume celebrate a third Michelin star to become one of only 8 three-star restaurants in the UK, and the only restaurant ever outside of London and the South to be awarded the accolade.
Cartmel is also home to the one-star neighbourhood restaurant Rogan & Co, Simon Rogan’s development kitchen chef’s table Aulis, 16 bespoke bedrooms and suites for those wishing to stay the night, along with its shop. Other restaurants include Henrock in the Lakes, Aulis London, an eight-seat chef’s table in the heart of Soho, Aulis Hong Kong; Michelin star Roganic Hong Kong; and The Baker & The Bottleman Hong Kong.
An Eye on the Future
In the face of its 20-year anniversary and plans for further expansion, Umbel identified a need to replace its legacy finance and accounting system with a modern, future-proof platform.
“Our accounting needs had evolved from being focused on just a handful of restaurants to supporting an expanding portfolio, and new propositions borne as a result of the lockdowns in 2020/2021,” comments Chris Gallagher-York, Financial Controller, Umbel Restaurant Group.
“COVID was a bit of a catalyst for us, as on one hand, the changes and uncertainty it delivered meant that our need for a better understanding of the business and its costs was greater, while in parallel, we were able to use the resources freed up as a result of closures to support innovation and new ways of operating.”
Umbel previously outsourced its financial management to a dedicated provider, which was a successful model when the company had just a few restaurants. However, in the face of domestic expansion in the Lakes and London, international expansion to Hong Kong, and further growth in the retail sector, via Home by Simon Rogan, it was clear a new solution was needed. Crucially, the company required a system which would provide a consolidated view of the business at any given time, and one which would provide insights to allow the team to react and respond to trends and anomalies across the business.
“Waiting three or four weeks to review information on the previous month simply isn’t sustainable in the new era we find ourselves in following Brexit, COVID, and global political turbulence,” Chris continues. “Volatility of supply, costs and customer expectations have all increased, while the availability of skills and labour has diminished. These converged dynamics necessitate greater insights, creativity and communication from which to navigate our way and continue to deliver the quality which we have become synonymous with.”
Umbel needed a system which would give them the visibility from which to react to any changes in real-time. For example, its dishes must be costed accurately as ingredients are incredibly high quality, and can only be sourced from a limited number of suppliers, as many as possible which are local to Cumbria or Lancashire, which means margins can be pretty thin. If these ingredients increase in price, the company’s meticulous standards dictate that it cannot simply switch to an alternative supplier, as this could impede the experience it delivers. The finance team, therefore, have to quickly reconcile pricing strategy, communicating this in a transparent and appropriate way to the operational teams, enabling them to protect the company’s finances whilst also maintaining the high standard of product provided to customers.
“A good example of this is when L’Enclume, our flagship and most profitable restaurant, showed a dip in profitability for Q2 in its accounts this year,” Chris explains. “On reflection, we realised that this dip was a result of some key ingredients having increased in price allied with increasing staff and utility costs. However, because we didn’t have access to this level of insight in real-time, we had a delay in our ability to address it head-on. When you consider that ingredients and staff represent between two-thirds and three-quarters of our costs it’s easy to see how important this level of insight is going forward.”
Percipient impressed us from the outset. With an extensive amount of experience in the hospitality sector, they understood the nuances of our industry, the specific challenges we face and our associated software requirements in order to harness these effectively.
Embracing a New Digital Era
Simon Rogan selected Sage Intacct in 2021 via consultancy Percipient, following a review of ERP and finance systems.
Sage Intacct stood out based on its fit for mid-sized enterprises with ambitious growth plans; its ability to provide business insights, not just accounting capabilities; and its close fit for the hospitality industry. The cloud-native infrastructure was key to the company’s modernisation agenda as it allows the team to focus on strategy rather than software maintenance.
“Percipient impressed us from the outset. With an extensive amount of experience in the hospitality sector, they understood the nuances of our industry, the specific challenges we face and our associated software requirements in order to harness these effectively.”
Testament to their credentials was that we were able to view success stories from other Sage Intacct hospitality customers such as Hastings Hotels, who were able to demonstrate how working with Percipient and using Sage Intacct was helping them to boost performance. The experience they brought to the table was immensely valuable throughout the entire process,” Chris highlights.
An Agile Operation
“Now live, Sage Intacct provides a level of insight which allows us to run the business in a more agile way, observing details in real-time and reacting to trends. Through the dashboards and various functions, it demonstrates changes, trends, anomalies and performance on a daily basis, so that we can carefully assess when things might need intervention or action to optimise any area of our operations.
“If I am sat with the board discussing a particular area, it is easy to look into the specifics of an event, change or pattern, which allows the right decisions to be made quickly. Insights can be viewed by any dimension, whether that’s by individual location, cost centre, or event.
A 300% Improvement in Month-End Efficiency
Umbel’s month end now takes just five days versus the 20 days which was standard previously. And strategically, the company can see where performance is greatest, and use this to look at new ideas, ways of working, and opportunities.
And because the finance team process a large number of invoices, typically via seven or eight suppliers every day, it uses a third-party application from P2P automation provider, Yooz, to automatically take the data from invoices and upload them. As well as saving a great deal of manual processing time, there is no time delay, allowing the team to get an accurate status at any point.
As our business evolves and expands, and if we need to make significant changes in some areas, the insights we derive from Sage Intacct remain current, and accessible and therefore ensure the best decisions are taken. They allow us to constantly tune into our restaurants’ performance, mapping them against each other to ensure we have a comprehensive view at any point and that our customers continually receive the high-quality experience we set out for.
Supporting Innovation and Sustainability
“Most finance professionals are focused on refining or cutting costs as a means to boosting profitability. My role at Umbel Restaurant Group is really unique as it’s simply not an option to cut costs if this would mean compromising on anything which could impede the quality of the experience we offer.
“Instead, we use the data and insights from Sage Intacct to ensure that we can be as informed, transparent and agile as possible whilst searching for innovative solutions to maintain profitability,” Chris concludes.
“As our business evolves and expands, and if we need to make significant changes in some areas, the insights we derive from Sage Intacct remain current, and accessible and therefore ensure the best decisions are taken. They allow us to constantly tune into our restaurants’ performance, mapping them against each other to ensure we have a comprehensive view at any point and that our customers continually receive the high-quality experience we set out for. With a focus on innovation, sustainability and further growth, the future for Simon and the team here at Umbel Restaurant Group is really exciting, and we’re looking forward to embracing it with the best digital capabilities at our helm.”
Sage Intacct Partner for Restaurants
If you’d like to learn more about Sage Intacct, our work with Simon Rogan, or discuss how we can help your restaurant business, please get in touch or call us on 01606 871332.