What Are The 4 Basic Types Of Travertine?

 The use of travertine will make your home or business interior or exterior more beautiful, and you'll get many compliments on it. Even if you're not a fan of clean, modern lines, this article will show you that there are even colors to choose from for those who prefer traditional designs. So get out there; take a look at what your local stone dealers have to offer, and see which travertine option is best suited for your home. Travertine is a natural stone and will always have faintly visible variations in tone and colour. It should be cleaned with a PH Neutral cleaner such as Solutions “Natural Clean” and “Replenish”. Natural Clean is also great for regular use as it doesn’t contain chemicals or abrasives that could damage the stone or existing sealers.

Natural stone is a wonderful choice for flooring, but like any hard material, it can be damaged. Honing is a service that restores natural stone floors by removing etch marks, scratches, and stains with industrial diamonds. A diamond pad (an abrasive, low-numbered grit pad) is put on a grinding machine, or honing powders are applied to the stone and then buffed on the surface. When it comes to figuring out how to preserve a travertine floor, your best bet is to get professional help. Even though the floors are beautiful and elegant, they require more regular maintenance than other types of flooring. The stones aren't as sturdy as some materials and can be damaged by improper maintenance or a lack of attention altogether. Choose a service using Travertine Care Products that has specialized equipment, qualified technicians, and a consistent track record of satisfying customers' needs.

Travertine comes in two varieties – honed and polished. Honed travertine has a matte finish, while polished travertine comes in a high gloss variety. Depending on the look you want to achieve, choose the right type of travertine flooring to install. No matter how much you love it and how excellent the results are, once you find out how to care for your travertine, it is important that you also find a way to prevent any unnecessary damages. There's nothing better than treating your house with expensive travertine tiles and finding out that you have ruined them in the process. That would be such a pain.

Even with its disadvantages, travertine remains a popular material for homes and businesses. This is specifically because it looks natural and has the ability to complement most color schemes. Although you can still find travertine floors today, the other products introduced by modern science have proven to be more convenient, less expensive and less difficult to maintain.

We specialize in travertine restoration using the best Travertine Care Products and have been doing so successfully for years. We can maintain your floors to look as good as new with professional results that are long-lasting. We offer a number of maintenance options so you can find just what you're looking for, including training and certification of our technicians to ensure consistent quality, proper care, and help prevent any further damage.

It’s Prime Time You Considered Your Venues’ Prime Costs

Prime costs are an important key performance indicator for your restaurant, which is often overlooked. Prime costs are one of the most important and revealing numbers on any restaurant's P&L. It can give you a much better understanding of your cost structure,

profit potential and how well your restaurant is being managed and is one of the best indicators of restaurant profitability and how well the business is managed on a day-in, day-out basis.

Food costs, beverage costs, and even labour costs all mean little on their own. Yes, they’re important costs to know and manage but they get vastly more useful once you add them up to arrive at prime cost.

What is Prime Cost?

Your prime cost is the total sum of your labour costs of salaried and casual staff and your cost of goods sold (CoGS), including food, alcohol & other beverages, packaging, and other costs; within a specific period such as a weekly and monthly basis.

Calculate Prime Costs as; -

+ Food Cost + Beverage Cost + Salaries & Wages + Payroll Taxes & Benefits = Prime Cost

When calculating your labour costs, you should also include things like:

• Health insurance

• Bonuses and overtime

• Annual leave

• Personal leave

• Payroll tax

Keep a record of your daily food and beverages purchases on an invoice log worksheet each day and indicate what amounts are chargeable to the appropriate food or beverage account categories.

Individual invoicing

Your suppliers should be able to give you a separate invoice containing just your food items, then a separate invoice for cleaning supplies, paper goods and so on. This will make it much easier to log invoices into the proper accounts without having to manually break down and categorise the invoice line items manually.

Also, most distributors can easily provide invoice subtotals of your food items by meat, seafood, poultry, grocery, etc., if you want this level of detail within your food cost account.

Remember to post credits for any product returns or invoice adjustments and ensure you take note of any cash paid-out transactions for food and beverages purchases as well.

Tracking prime costs regularly is important for restaurants and pubs because it can help address negative impacts on profit. If they are calculated at the end of every week, it's easy to verify them, and when something is out of line, you are able to react quickly, cut your losses and get the problem sorted.

Industry averages suggest prime costs should be between 60% - 67%. In table service restaurants, the generally accepted rule of thumb says that prime cost should run no more than 65 percent of total sales. In quick-service restaurants, the goal is to keep prime cost at 60 percent of total sales or less, due to lower labour costs required. As prime costs depend heavily on achieving a healthy GP%, when running a pub tied to a brewery, you may struggle to keep the prime cost below 67%.

Prime costs are also an excellent way to budget your labour costs. Once you know what GP% you will be achieving, you can deduct your CoGS from the prime cost target to give you the target for labour costs. The pie chart above shows a prime cost target of 66%. If your business achieves a combined GP% of 70% then your CoGS will be 30% (100%-70%). If you then deduct your CoGS from your prime cost target of 66%, this leaves you 36% to spend on total labour costs.

Because of its importance, we suggest that get your accountant or bookkeeper to modify your P&L to show prime cost as its own line item, and make sure they help you monitor this key performance indicator regularly.

Pub Owners Beware: Understanding Rent Reviews and the Pub Code

As a public house (pub) owner, grappling with the intricacies of rent reviews and understanding the pub code can be a daunting task. The legal process of rent reviews is commonly used in the pub industry to adjust the rent for commercial properties.

However, it is important to have a good understanding of this process to ensure that you are not overpaying. This article aims to provide a comprehensive explanation of rent reviews and the pub code, along with a plethora of tips to help you navigate these processes effectively.

 Rent Reviews

Rent reviews entail the legal process of adjusting the rent for commercial properties such as pubs, based on the current market value of the property. Typically, the reviews occur every five years, and the new rent is established by taking into account the prevailing market conditions. The exercise often results in substantial rent increase, which may pose a challenge for pub owners, particularly if their business is not thriving.

The Pub Code

The pub code, established in 2016, was designed to regulate the relationship between pub tenants and their landlords. The code's objective is to ensure that tenants receive fair treatment and are not subjected to unreasonable practices by their landlords. The pub code provides specific guidelines for rent reviews, including the requirement for landlords to provide a detailed rent assessment and the right for tenants to have their rent assessed by an independent expert.

Tips for Navigating Rent Reviews and the Pub Code

1. Start Your Preparations Early

In preparation for rent reviews, it is vital to commence early planning. Gathering all relevant information, such as your lease agreement and previous rent assessments, ensures that you have a clear understanding of your current rent and any potential rent increments.

2. Seek Expert Assistance

Navigating rent reviews and the pub code can be a daunting task, which necessitates expert assistance from accounting professionals with specialised knowledge of the pub industry. These professionals can assist you in evaluating your current rent, negotiating with your landlord, and navigating the rent review process.

3. Understand Your Rights

It is critical to have a comprehensive understanding of your rights under the pub code. It is incumbent upon pub owners to ensure that landlords adhere to the guidelines set out in the code. If you believe that your rights are being infringed, seek legal advice immediately.

4. Negotiate Effectively

Negotiating with your landlord can be a challenging process, but with the right approach, you can achieve a favourable outcome. Ensure you have all your facts on hand to support your case. Be prepared to make a strong and well backed case as to why your rent should remain the same or be reduced and negotiate from a position of strength.

How Carroll Accountants Can Help

Carroll Accountants are well-equipped to provide professional advice and assistance to pub owners, helping you to successfully navigate rent reviews and the pub code. Our team of experienced accountants can provide expert advice on rent assessments, negotiations, and the pub code. We can also support you with bookkeeping, payroll, and tax preparation, ensuring that your financial operations run efficiently and smoothly. Please contact us today to learn more about how we can help you with your pub accounting requirements.

What Insurance Do I Need in the Leisure and Hospitality Sector?

Whether you run a bar or club, a hotel, café or restaurant, or offer bed & breakfast, or are involved in recreation or travel & tourism, you need adequate protection for yourself and any third parties. Each area faces unique risks and challenges, so talk to a broker who can provide considered advice.

Public Liability- protect your business against accidental injury and property damage claims, from customers, the general public, suppliers or visitors. It protects you against compensation claims should a third party be injured, or their property damaged because of the actions of your business. It also offers legal protection against defending a claim against you.

 Note that it does not cover accidents that happen to you, damage to your own property, employee claims, fines or penalties or environmental claims.

Employers’ liability insurance - a legal statutory requirement if you have someone working for you. It provides cover for work-related injury or illness claims from your employees, including temporary staff and volunteers.

As the owner of a licensed venue you require Public Liability Insurance, Employers Liability, Buildings (if required), Contents, and Stock Insurance.

Management Liability Insurance

All types of business are at risk of potentially damaging claims against them. Managers, owners or partners could individually be at risk if a claim is made, which could come from a variety of different sources.

A Management Liability insurance policy can consist of three cover areas: :

• Directors and Officers Liability

• Company Legal Liability

• Employment Practices Liability

Management Liability Insurance is designed to cover the cost of legal action and any civil settlements from allegations of wrongdoing, directed at your company as a whole or any of your managers, directors, and officers.

We also recommend that you consider Loss of Licence Insurance- providing financial cover if your licence is revoked

Product liability insurance – including food poisoning risks

Stock and contents insurance is needed that is suitable for your business- The loss of, or damage to, your stock could cause serious problems with your cashflow

Business equipment – to mitigate losses in the event of damage or theft to machinery or equipment

Cyber- Cyber risk is an exposure that no modern business can escape, large or small. Technology has totally changed how you deal with clients and customers. IT systems and the internet are an integral part of running a business, but what if you had a systems failure due to being hacked? The Government say that over half of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMES (54%) suffered an attack or security breach during 2022. You may not realise it, but traditional insurance policies were not designed with cyber exposures in mind, that is why it’s important to get specialist cover.

Business contents – cover for premises, fixtures and fittings against damage or loss caused by fire, flood, or theft

Business interruption cover in case your business is unable to trade due to specific reasons. Review your insurance documentation, to gain an understanding of what risks you are protected against. If the business interruption insurance is for ‘fire and flood’, then you will not be covered. Similarly, if ‘pandemics’ are an explicit exclusion.

Contingency and event cancellation- will cover any expenses or lost revenue that you might stand to lose if the event you are holding or attending is cancelled, abandoned or postponed for unforeseeable reasons beyond your control.

Non Appearance cover – gives you protection where an event is dependent on the attendance of one or more individuals. For example a Key Speaker at a conference, or singer at a concert.

Motor fleet- if you operate 3 or more vehicles, you could benefit from a fleet policy, insuring multiple vehicles under one insurance policy .

If you want advice on any aspect of accounting and payroll management, give us a call on 0800 056 0558

Financial management in the hospitality industry can be tricky. Whether it is bookkeeping or payroll it’s wise to get expert help. Plus, you need adequate protection for yourself and any third parties, with insurance. Each area faces unique risks and challenges. Read how to protect yourself, your business and third parties here.

The Advantages of Outsourcing Your Business Accounting Needs in the Hospitality Sector

In the hospitality sector, keeping up with the accounting demands of your business can be challenging. From bookkeeping and financial reporting to payroll processing and tax filing, it can be overwhelming to handle all these tasks on your own.

That's where outsourcing your business accounting needs can come in handy. In this article, we will discuss the benefits of outsourcing your business accounting needs, specifically for pubs, restaurants, hotels, and cafes.

1. Cost-Effective Solution

Outsourcing your business accounting needs can be a cost-effective solution for small and medium-sized businesses in the hospitality sector. Instead of hiring a full-time accountant or bookkeeper, you can outsource your accounting needs to a professional accounting firm. This can save you money on salaries, benefits, and overhead costs.

2. Access to Expertise

When you outsource your business accounting needs, you gain access to a team of accounting professionals with expertise in the hospitality sector. These professionals can provide you with valuable insights and advice on financial planning, tax compliance, and business strategy specific to the hospitality sector.

3.  Improved Accuracy and Compliance

Outsourcing your accounting needs can help ensure accuracy and compliance with financial regulations specific to the hospitality sector. Accounting firms have a team of professionals who are up-to-date with the latest accounting standards and regulations, ensuring that your financial statements and tax returns are accurate and compliant with the specific regulations of the hospitality sector.

 4. More Time to Focus on Your Business

By outsourcing your accounting needs, you can free up more time to focus on your core business activities in the hospitality sector. This can help you grow your business and improve your bottom line. You can spend more time on product development, marketing, and customer service, which can ultimately help you gain a competitive edge in the hospitality market.

In conclusion, outsourcing your business accounting needs can provide numerous benefits for your hospitality business, including cost savings, access to expertise specific to the hospitality sector, improved accuracy and compliance, and more time to focus on your business. At Carroll Accountants, we specialize in providing accounting and bookkeeping services to the hospitality sector. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your hospitality business grow.