Free Hospitality Tools — What Each One Does

Enter each ingredient in a dish with its recipe quantity, the pack size you purchase and what you pay for it. Add a wastage percentage where preparation reduces usable yield. Set your target gross profit percentage and VAT rate. The tool calculates the true cost per portion and your recommended selling price, both ex-VAT and inc-VAT.

Why it matters: Most operators cost dishes manually on spreadsheets or by instinct — both lead to underpriced menus and eroded margins. Correctly costed menus are one of the single biggest levers on profitability in food-led hospitality.

Cost any drink serve by component — spirit measure, bottle size, mixers, garnish. Set a target GP% (typically 65–75% for drinks) and VAT rate to get a recommended selling price per serve.

Why it matters: Drinks margins are frequently where money is left on the table. A landlord who knows his food GP to the decimal may never have formally costed a pint of lager. Over-pouring alone can silently destroy margin across a busy bar.

Cost any cocktail recipe ingredient by ingredient — spirits, mixers, syrups, garnishes — with a breakdown by component type. Set a target GP% and get a recommended selling price with a full cost breakdown.

Why it matters: Cocktail menus are one of the highest-margin opportunities in hospitality — but only if correctly priced. Many operators price cocktails by feel or by what competitors charge, without knowing their actual cost.

Enter each dish with its gross profit percentage and portions sold in a period. The tool plots every dish into one of four categories: Stars (high GP, high popularity), Plough Horses (popular but low GP), Puzzles (high GP but under-ordered) and Dogs (low GP, low popularity).

Why it matters: Menu engineering is a technique used by major restaurant groups to maximise menu profitability. It tells you not just which dishes make money but which profitable dishes are being overlooked — and which popular dishes are quietly costing you margin. This tool makes that analysis available without needing a consultant or a revenue management system.

Add each dish and tick the allergens it contains from all 14 mandatory allergens under UK food information regulations. Generates a printable allergen matrix suitable for display, staff reference or customer requests.

Why it matters: Allergen legislation is not optional. Many smaller operators still manage allergen information informally — relying on staff memory or handwritten notes — which creates serious legal and safety risk. This tool provides a structured, printable starting point. It does not replace a full HACCP allergen management system, but it is far better than nothing, and the consequences of an allergen incident are severe.

Set a base nightly rate then adjust demand factors — occupancy, season, day of week, lead time, local events, competitor availability. The tool calculates a recommended rate, minimum and maximum for the night being priced.

Why it matters: Dynamic pricing tools exist for large hotel groups — built into systems costing thousands of pounds a year. Small operators have no affordable equivalent and typically set a flat rate year-round. A single correctly priced event weekend can be worth as much as a month of flat-rate bookings.

Compare the true net revenue from a direct booking versus an OTA booking (Booking.com, Expedia etc.) after commission, card fees and booking system costs. Projects the annual revenue difference based on your booking volume.

Why it matters: Most operators know OTAs charge commission but have never calculated what that costs them annually in net revenue. A 15% commission on a modest B&B trading 200 nights a year can represent over £15,000 in lost revenue versus direct bookings — providing a clear business case for investing in direct booking capability.

Calculate Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR), Average Daily Rate (ADR), occupancy rate and TRevPAR from your period data. Optionally compare against a previous period with change figures for each KPI.

Why it matters: RevPAR is the standard KPI used by every professional accommodation operator. It combines both occupancy and rate performance into one number, making it far more useful than either metric alone. A business with 90% occupancy at a very low rate and one with 50% occupancy at a high rate require completely different strategies — RevPAR makes that visible.

Build a 12-month revenue forecast by adjusting each month’s occupancy and nightly rate individually. Outputs projected revenue, RevPAR and ADR by month and for the full year, with your best and quietest months identified.

Why it matters: Most small accommodation operators plan finances based on last year’s bank statements with no forward-looking view by month. Without that visibility, planning staffing, maintenance, marketing spend or cash flow is guesswork. This tool produces a 12-month model in minutes that can be used for business planning or bank conversations.

Add each staff member with their role, days, hours and hourly rate. Enter projected weekly revenue. Calculates total wage bill, employer NI, combined labour cost and labour cost as a percentage of revenue.

Why it matters: Labour is typically the second largest cost in any hospitality business. Most operators know their wage bill but few track labour cost percentage against revenue week by week. Without that visibility it is easy to overschedule in quiet periods and not notice until month-end. This tool makes the cost of every shift visible in real time against projected revenue.

Enter your weekly fixed costs, variable cost per cover and average spend per head. Calculates your contribution margin per cover, weekly break-even covers and revenue, and the covers needed to hit a target profit.

Why it matters: The most important number for any hospitality operator is how many covers they need before they make any money. Without this, daily targets are guesswork and pricing decisions lack financial grounding. This tool turns that into a single, actionable number that every member of management can understand and work towards.

Enter your table layout, average dining time, turnaround time between covers, occupancy rate and service periods. Calculates theoretical maximum covers per service, table turns, maximum daily covers and revenue potential.

Why it matters: Many operators do not know the theoretical maximum their space can produce. This sets a ceiling on revenue that no amount of additional marketing can overcome without a layout change. The gap between theoretical capacity and actual covers is also a measure of operational efficiency — and tells you whether your biggest opportunity is operational improvement or increased marketing spend.

Select your operation type and the sections relevant to your business. Generates a structured, printable daily and weekly hygiene checklist with Each Service / Daily / Weekly frequency labels, an initials column and a management sign-off block. Covers kitchen, food prep, temperature control, storage, waste, pests, front of house, staff hygiene, deliveries and allergen control.

Why it matters: Food hygiene compliance is a legal requirement. A poor inspection rating displayed publicly can be devastating for a hospitality business. Environmental Health Officers look specifically for documented, signed records showing that checks were carried out. Many smaller operators do not have a structured daily checklist. This tool produces that documentation quickly and in a format that is immediately usable.

Calculate fair tip and service charge distribution using equal split, hours-worked or custom points weighting. Produces a printable distribution record with full statutory guidance on the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 built in.

Why it matters: The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 came into force on 1 October 2024 and requires all employers to pass 100% of tips to workers, distribute them fairly, maintain a written policy and keep records for three years. Many operators are not yet fully compliant and are at risk of employment tribunal claims. This tool helps implement a documented, fair distribution process — and ensures operators understand their legal obligations. Applies in England, Scotland and Wales only. Does not apply in Northern Ireland.