For restaurants, cafés and bars
Covers, delivery and events on one cash forecast.
Thin margins, weekly supplier bills and payroll that moves with the rota leave little room for guesswork. Uniflow models each revenue channel with its own seasonality, puts food cost and staffing against it, and shows the cash position through the quiet weeks.
- Dine-in, takeaway, delivery, catering, events and gift cards as separate streams
- Food cost as a share of sales, rotas as dated staffing plans
- Toast, Square and your ledger feeding one forecast
Free before revenue. No credit card. Read-only accounting access.
Restaurants and hospitality finance
Why hospitality cash is a weekly problem
Revenue arrives daily, suppliers bill weekly, rent hits monthly and the quiet season lasts a quarter. The forecast has to work at all four rhythms.
Margin lives in two percentages
Food cost and labour as shares of sales decide whether a busy month is a profitable one. Both have to be planned per channel, because delivery and events carry different costs.
Seasonality and the week both matter
A January that is 60% of December and a Tuesday that is 40% of a Saturday both need to be in the plan, or staffing and ordering are wrong.
Fixed costs do not take the quiet weeks off
Rent, rates, utilities and salaried staff continue through the dip. The cash low point is predictable and should be planned for rather than met with an overdraft.
Inside the product
How Uniflow models a restaurant
Choose restaurant at onboarding and the workspace starts from hospitality streams, customer segments such as walk-ins and delivery customers, and a front-and-back-of-house department structure.
- 01
Revenue streams
Pre-loaded with dining in, takeaway, delivery, catering, special events, merchandise, cooking classes, subscription meals, gift cards and sponsorships.
Example: Dine-in at £58k a month, delivery at £14k with 30% platform commission, two private events a month.
- 02
Cost of sales
Costs per sale, as a percentage of sales or fixed by period, so food cost, delivery commission and packaging are separate lines.
Example: Food cost 29% of sales, delivery platform fee 30% of delivery sales, packaging £0.60 per takeaway order.
- 03
Team
Departments for kitchen, front of house and management, hires with start dates and hourly or salaried pay.
Example: Two extra kitchen staff from May to September, a general manager from January.
- 04
Growth
Target customers (walk-ins, delivery customers, regulars), campaigns and month-by-month seasonality.
Example: December at 160% of an average month, January at 60%, a summer terrace campaign at £1,500.
- 05
Cash and tax
Cash balance, burn, VAT and corporation tax reserves and a rolling forecast update from your ledger and point-of-sale provider.
Example: The VAT bill after the Christmas quarter reserved in advance.
What to watch
The numbers investors and lenders will ask for
Food cost percentage
Cost of sales as a share of revenue, per channel, so delivery and dine-in are not blended.
See the definitionLabour cost percentage
Rota cost against sales, month by month, to plan seasonal staffing before the season.
See the definitionPrime cost
Food plus labour as a share of sales. Under 60% is the usual target for a full-service restaurant.
See the definitionRevenue per channel
Dine-in, takeaway, delivery and events as separate streams show which to push and which to price differently.
See the definitionBreak-even covers
The monthly sales needed to cover rent, rotas and food cost. A free calculator is available.
Try the free calculatorCash low point
The lowest projected balance and its month, so the quiet season is funded before it starts.
Try the free calculatorConnections
Tools that feed the forecast
Connecting is free on every plan and read-only. Paid plans change how often data syncs.
How it works
Set up in an afternoon
- 01
Pick your business type
Onboarding asks what kind of company you run and loads the revenue streams, cost-of-sales drivers and departments that fit it. You rename or delete what does not apply.
- 02
Connect what you already use
Accounting, payments and CRM connections are read-only and free on every plan. Historic figures come in; the forecast starts from real numbers rather than a blank sheet.
- 03
Run the month from one screen
Cash, burn, tax reserves and the rolling forecast update as data syncs. Scenarios, hiring plans and fundraising sit next to the actuals so decisions are made on the same page.
FAQ
Restaurants and hospitality questions
Yes. Delivery is its own revenue stream and the platform fee is a cost of sales set as a percentage of that stream, so the real margin on delivery orders is visible next to dine-in.
Hires carry start and end dates, so seasonal staff can be added for the months they are needed. Compare an expected and a downside case to see whether the summer rota is affordable if bookings are lower.
No. It is the financial plan on top of your point of sale and rota tools. Sales sync from Toast and Square; staffing and food cost are planned as costs and compared with actuals from the ledger.
Yes. Each site can be a separate revenue stream with its own seasonality and staffing, or a separate workspace if the sites are separate companies.
Free before revenue. Once trading, Scale is priced on monthly revenue, starting at £39 or $49 a month for businesses under £10k a month. Connecting Toast, Square and your ledger is free on every plan.
Keep reading
Other business types
Not on the list? The templates are a starting point. Tell us what you run
Fund the quiet season before it starts
Connect your point of sale and ledger, load the restaurant template and see food cost, rotas and cash on one forecast.
No credit card. First forecast in about 30 minutes.