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Restaurants, bars and venues

Catering company financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a contract caterer and food-service manager, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

  • Free account
  • No card
  • Usually ready within the hour

We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

Runs staff restaurants, hospital, school, defence and aged-care catering, remote mining and construction camps, and stadium and event concessions under client contracts — either as a P&L contract carrying trading risk or for a management fee plus recharged costs.

See the sampleHow the model works

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours: its structure and its inputs, ready for your own figures.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Catering company sample model.xlsx
The How It Works sheet of the sample catering company model

The sample describes no real business. Yours is calibrated to your own figures, so its results are your business’s.

How it works

How the model works for a catering company.

  1. How it earns revenue3 formulas
    Contract revenue · All service contracts
    Contract revenueFTEs billedAnnual rate per FTE at the start dateRate indexPrice factor (1 = contract price)from contract life cycleshare of the year
    Synergies · Valuation and analysis
    Cost synergiesRun-rate cost synergiesCost synergies achieved (share of run-rate)CPI index (1.00 in the first year)share of the year
    Synergies · Valuation and analysis
    Revenue synergiesRun-rate revenue synergiesRevenue synergies achieved (share of run-rate)CPI index (1.00 in the first year)share of the year
  2. What drives its costs3 formulas
    Service delivery cost · All service contracts
    Service delivery costDelivery labourSupervisionConsumables and equipment
    Mobilisation, transition and contract costs · All service contracts
    Mobilisation and transition costMobilisation cost as % of first-year revenueContract revenue (annual run-rate while active)Years of active service in the mobilisation window this periodMobilisation window
    Operating expenses · Across the business
    Total FTEsOperations and deliverySales and marketingTechnologyFinance, HR and administration
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Corporate fixed assets
    Capital expenditureRevenuefrom statementsCapex as % of revenueAdditional planned capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    DepreciationDepreciation of the opening asset baseDepreciation of new capex
    Corporate fixed assets
    Closing net book valueOpening net book valueCapital expenditureDepreciation
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
    Working capital
    InventoryDirect costs (positive)from statementsInventory daysDays in period
    Working capital
    Trade payablesCash operating costs (positive)from statementsCreditor daysDays in period
What it covers

23 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • CPI forecastConsensus curve with long-run anchor
  • Operating expensesHeadcount build by function
  • Corporate costsFixed cost base indexed to CPI
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Income taxCorporate rate with tax losses
  • Corporate fixed assetsStraight-line over remaining life
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Dividends and distributionsPayout of net profit
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • LeasesLease register
  • Key-metric summaryLast-twelve-month and run-rate metrics
  • Covenant tests and headroomLVR, gearing and ICR for property
  • Sources and uses at completionEntry multiple with debt sized in turns of EBITDA
  • Management equity and ratchetsFixed management share or option pool
  • Exit valuation and timingExit multiple of LTM EBITDA
  • Sponsor returns and value creationValue creation bridge
  • SynergiesRun-rate synergies with phasing
  • Discount rate (WACC)CAPM at target gearing
  • Contract life cycleProbability-weighted renewal
  • Contract revenueFTE or hourly rate pricing
  • Service delivery costLabour build (FTE × wage × on-costs)
  • Mobilisation, transition and contract costsExpensed as incurred
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01contract revenue by sector
  2. 02retention rate
  3. 03net new business
  4. 04like-for-like volume
  5. 05food cost %
  6. 06underlying operating margin
Used for

What it is used for.

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See a finished model, sheet by sheet

The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.