My name is Shaun McManus, and I operate The Teal Farm in Washington (NE38). Like you, I was drowning in paperwork. I was spending hours calculating wages, guessing stock pars, and chasing staff to sign fire safety logs. I knew that every hour I spent in the back office was an hour I wasn’t spending with my guests.
I didn’t want expensive, clunky enterprise software. I wanted agility. I wanted to apply the efficiency of Alex Hormozi and the behavioral psychology of Rory Sutherland to the day-to-day grind of running a British pub.
So, I built my own engine. And now, I’m sharing it.
The Only Intelligence Suite Built by Operators, for Operators.
In this industry, “hoping” isn’t a strategy. You either control the numbers, or the numbers control you. The Command Center gives you the bird’s-eye view you need to protect your margins, reward your team, and actually take home the profit you deserve.
Stage 1: The Global Setup
Define Your North Star. Success starts with clarity. Before a single pint is poured, we set the parameters for victory.
If You Have A Salary: We bake your salary settings directly into the model. You aren’t just working for the business; the business is finally working for you.
If You Don’t: Its event more important that you can track every detail.
Customised Calendars: Align your operations with your actual trading week to ensure your data remains relevant.
Stage 2: The Data Vault Sync
Weaponize Your History. Your past performance is the greatest predictor of your future success. We don’t just store data; we use it to build a fortress around your labor margins.
LY (Last Year) Intelligence: Automatically pull historical sales data to eliminate the guesswork in scheduling.
Precision Labor Targets: Set labor goals based on real-world trends, ensuring you are never overstaffed on a quiet Tuesday or drowning on a busy Friday.
Data-Driven Staffing: Use the “Vault” to ensure every shift is optimized for maximum efficiency.
Stage 3: Team Architecture
Build Your A-Team with Visual Precision. A pub is only as strong as its team. Our “Staff_DB” doesn’t just list names—it designs your frontline.
Role-Based Structuring: Clearly define FOH, Kitchen, and KP roles to ensure total floor coverage.
Color-Coded Clarity: At-a-glance pay rate tracking allows you to see exactly where your wage investment is going.
Architectural Control: Design a roster that balances experienced veterans with rising stars, all while keeping your pay rates in check.
Stage 4: The Profit Audit
The Moment of Truth. This is where the magic happens. No more waiting for the accountant to tell you how you did three months ago. Get your “Profit Pulse” in real-time.
Weekly Take-Home: The ultimate metric. Know exactly what your profit is at the end of every week. No fluff, no “projections”—just the cold, hard reality of your success.
The “2Cut” Calculation: Instant visibility on your overheads and operational costs.
The VAT Jar: Never get caught short by the taxman again. We calculate your VAT liability instantly, so you know exactly what’s yours and what’s theirs.
Stage 5: The Intelligent Cellar
Stop Guessing. Start Ordering. The “Stock Ordering Tool” takes the headache out of the cellar and puts the profit back in your pocket. By turning historical usage into a living, breathing order sheet, you ensure you never run dry on a Friday or tie up thousands in dead stock.
Automated Par Intelligence: The system builds your par levels based on actual usage, not just gut feeling. It knows exactly how much you use, so you know exactly what you need.
The “Buy” Signal: A visual, color-coded dashboard tells you precisely what to order. If it’s red, you need it. If it’s zero, you’re safe.
Precision Unit Tracking: Whether it’s 50L Cruzcampo kegs or cases of Hooch, the system handles the math. Enter what you have, and it tells you what to buy in kegs or cases.
Protect Your Cash Flow: By ordering only what you need to hit your pars, you stop sitting on “dead money” in the cellar and start keeping that cash in the business.
Coming Soon: The 360° Stock Auditor
We are currently building the next evolution of this tool. Very soon, the Intelligence Suite won’t just tell you what to order—it will act as a full Stock Checking Tool, comparing your actual usage against your sales data to identify waste, theft, or pouring errors in real-time.
Why This Beats a Standard Stocktake
Most stocktakes are a post-mortem—they tell you what you lost after it’s already gone. The Intelligence Suite turns manual entry into a proactive defense for your cellar and your cash flow.
Bypass the “Blocked List” Lockdown: Breweries are increasingly deploying AI-driven ordering systems that can automatically block your orders if a recent stock count isn’t logged. This tool ensures your data is ready for them, so you never lose a delivery slot or face a “missing count” lockout.
From Back-Office to the Floor: You didn’t become a Publican to spend your life counting bottles in a cold cellar. While the data entry is currently manual, the logic is automated—meaning you spend less time on spreadsheets and more time capturing the factory shifts or dominating the local market.
Stage 6: The Financial Foundation
Know Your “Open Doors” Cost Before the First Pint is Poured.
Many publicans operate on “gut feeling” until the bank balance says otherwise. The Live Operational Reality dashboard replaces intuition with cold, hard math. It defines your baseline so you know exactly what victory looks like every single day.
The Minimum Daily Break-Even: No more guessing if a quiet Tuesday was “okay.” [Inference] A high-visibility alarm shows your “Net Takings Required to Stand Still.” If you aren’t hitting £225.45, you aren’t standing still—you’re moving backward.
The Labour Shield: We bake your percentage labour target directly into the daily calculation. This ensures your wage spend is always a defensive shield for your profit, not a leak in the bucket.
Stage 7: The Master Rota Strategy
Stop “Scheduling” and Start Strategizing.
Scheduling is administrative. Strategizing is profitable. Our Master Rota forces you to look at the cost of every shift before you even post it to the staff room wall.
Weekly Total Accountability: See your estimated weekly wage cost and total labor percentage at a glance. No more surprise wage bills on Monday morning—you’ve already seen the math before the week even started.
The Built-In “Rota Tax” Killer: Forget paying £100+ a month for a separate rota app. This is integrated directly into your global revenue targets and labor shields, saving you thousands in unnecessary software fees.
Live Labour % Visibility: As you plug in names and shifts, the system calculates your Labour % in real-time. If the cell turns red, you’re overstaffed for the projected revenue. If it’s green, you’re in the profit zone.
The Strategy Overlay: Most rotas ignore reality. Our “Events Overlay” allows you to plan for high-impact nights—such as the Tuesday Quiz Night or the Nissan shift surge—ensuring your staffing levels align with your marketing efforts.
Shift-Specific Precision: Break your day down into morning and evening shifts for both the Bar and Kitchen teams. Track exactly who is on the frontline when the revenue counts most.
Stage 8: The Compliance Fortress
EHO Excellence is No Longer Optional. It’s Automated.
Don’t wait for an inspection to find out your paperwork is missing. The Kitchen Safety Suite turns your mandatory daily checks into a streamlined, high-visibility dashboard that keeps your kitchen running like a Swiss watch and your 5-star rating secure.
Digital Daily Opening Checks: Move away from tattered clipboards. From pest control signs to probe thermometer calibration, every critical start-of-day task is tracked with timestamped accountability.
The Fridge & Freezer “AM/PM” Log: Many kitchens fail because of inconsistent temperature recording. Our matrix tracks up to 11 units twice daily, helping you identify equipment failures before they cost you stock or reputation.
Standardised Hygiene Protocols: Ensure every team member—from the Head Chef to the newest KP- follows the exact same hygiene standards, from “Raw/RTE” equipment separation to proper uniform compliance.
The Digital Paper Trail: When the EHO walks through the door, you don’t scramble for folders. You open the Suite and show them a perfect, organised record of every check completed, every temp recorded, and every cleaning task ticked.
Stage 9: The Forecast Simulator
Predict Your Profit. Eliminate the “Monday Morning Surprise.”
Stop operating in the dark. Our Forecast Simulation tool allows you to stress-test your business model in real time. By plugging in your projected sales, you can see exactly how your GP margins, wage costs, and fixed overheads will impact your bottom line.
Projected Net Profit Visibility: See your “Estimated Net Profit” down to the last penny. Whether it’s a £5,000 week or a £25,000 week, you’ll know exactly what’s left for you after everyone else is paid.
Dynamic GP Stress-Testing: Adjust your Wet and Dry GP margins (e.g., 65% for wet, 70% for dry) to see how small changes in pricing or waste affect your total Gross Profit.
The “Where the Money Goes” Pie Chart: A powerful visual breakdown of your four major pillars: Stock, Wages, Fixed Costs, and Profit. If your profit slice starts shrinking, the system tells you which of the other three is “eating” your take-home pay.
Fixed Cost Realism: We don’t ignore the boring stuff. Your rent, energy, entertainment subscriptions, and sundries are all baked into the simulation, ensuring your profit figure is a reality, not a fantasy.
Stage 10: Pricing & Margin Mastery
Stop Guessing. Start Calculating Your Victory.
Don’t let your profit leak away through the taps. This module provides surgical-level detail for your pricing strategy, ensuring your GP targets aren’t just aspirations—they are the reality of your till.
Cost-per-Drink Precision: Whether it’s a 50L keg of Madri or a 70cl bottle of Gin, the system calculates your exact cost per serve down to the millilitre. You’ll see exactly how much that £1.36 Madri pint costs you before you even add your margin.
The GP Protector: Set your Target GP% for every category—from high-volume draught like Guinness to premium spirits. The system identifies the “Actual GP%” you are currently making, highlighting the gap between where you are and where you need to be.
Suggested vs. Actual Pricing: No more “finger in the wind” pricing. The Suite suggests a retail price based on your financial needs, allowing you to see the immediate “Cash Profit £” impact of every price change.
Stage 11: The One-Click Payroll Bridge
Stop Being the Middleman. Automate Your Accountability.
Sunday night should be for resting, not for manual data entry. Our Payroll Bridge takes the verified hours and totals from your Master Rota and exports them directly to your accountant in a professional, ready-to-process format.
Instant “One-Click” Export: We use the “Accountant Email” you set up in Stage 1 to create a direct line of communication. One click sends the entire week’s breakdown—hours, hourly rates, and total payables—straight to their inbox.
Eliminate Transcription Errors: When you manually type numbers into an email, mistakes happen. By exporting directly from the Intelligence Suite, you ensure that what you saw on the dashboard is exactly what your accountant sees.
Accountant-Ready Reporting: Accountants love clean data. No more messy spreadsheets or photos of handwritten rotas. You provide them with a high-precision digital audit trail that makes their job easier and strengthens your business’s reputation.
The Sunday Night Gift: Reclaim your time. What used to take an hour of stressful double-checking now takes less than three seconds.
Stage 12: The Daily Operations Log
Track the Pulse. Own the Outcome.
The Daily Operations Log is your tactical dashboard. It transforms raw till data into actionable intelligence, showing you exactly how much you’re earning—and how much you’re spending—every single day.
Real-Time Performance Tracking: Contrast your Actual Takings against your Target Sales instantly. The system calculates your variance percentage automatically, so you know exactly how far ahead (or behind) the curve you are.
The “Owner Earnings” Metric: This is the only number that truly matters. We don’t just show you revenue; we calculate what is actually yours after VAT, wages, and fixed costs.
Visualizing the “Profit Gap”: Our custom chart plots your Sales against your Wages. It provides a visual “gap” that you can manage in real-time. If the lines start to cross, you know it’s time to cut a shift or push a promotion.
The Weekly Win/Loss Variance: See your performance at a glance with color-coded charts that track your weekly variance. Identify winning trends and losing patterns before they become habits.
Tactical Event Notes: Link your performance to your actions. Note down if a Quiz Night spiked your sales or if a local event drove footfall, building a playbook for your future success.
Stage 13: The Fire Safety Audit
Protect Your People. Protect Your License.
In the event of an incident, your paperwork is your only shield. This tool transforms mandatory fire safety checks into a high-visibility dashboard that ensures nothing—from a blocked fire door to an expired extinguisher—is ever missed.
Call Point Verification: Track every trigger point in your building, from the Glass Wash to the Plant Room, ensuring every alarm point is tested and functional.
Extinguisher & Blanket Readiness: Audit your entire fire-fighting arsenal, including Foam/CO2 units and Fire Blankets, with specific location logs for the kitchen, cellar, and staff areas.
Fire Door Integrity Audit: Ensure your internal fire doors—from the cellar to the flat—are functional, unobstructed, and ready to perform when it matters most.
Instant Defect Awareness: [Inference] The system identifies “Pending” items with high-visibility warning icons, allowing you to log defects and maintenance dates immediately rather than waiting for an annual inspection.
Insurance-Ready Documentation: Maintain a timestamped digital audit trail that proves consistent compliance, potentially reducing insurance liability and ensuring you are always ready for a surprise inspection.
Stage 14: Hygiene & Cellar Command
Protect the Product. Protect the Experience.
The guest experience starts with the first look at the bar and ends with the last sip of the pint. The Weekly Hygiene & Cellar Dashboard turns boring cleaning tasks into a high-visibility mission, ensuring your standards stay at 100% even when you aren’t on-site.
Daily FOH Cleaning Matrix: Track 13+ critical guest-facing areas—from highchairs and sauce caddies to the coffee machine and pumps—using specific chemical protocols like D10 and Bryta.
Weekly Beer Line Audit: Maintain a rigorous log for every product line. Track the date, time, and the specific team member accountable for the clean to ensure every pint pours perfectly.
The “Pints Wasted” Alarm: Every wasted pint is profit poured down the drain. Our high-visibility tracker counts every drop lost during line cleans or pours, forcing a “waste-first” culture in your team.
Hygiene Completion Scores: Instant percentage trackers for FOH Cleaning and Beer Lines give you a “Cleanliness Pulse” in real-time. If the score is low, your standards are at risk.
Chemical Accountability: Ensure the right tools are used for the job by logging the specific chemicals (Tablets, Dishwash, D10) required for each station, reducing equipment damage and maximising hygiene.\
This is the final push to turn a great tool into an undeniable “Grand Slam” offer. By teasing the Top Range features, you’re not just selling what the software does today—you’re selling a future where the AI does the heavy lifting while the owner focuses on the guests.
Here is the “Coming Soon” and “Top Range” roadmap copy to add to your landing page.
The Future of the Command Center: The “Top Range” Roadmap
Management is Defense. Growth is Offense.
We aren’t stopping at management. [Inference] To dominate the NE38 market and hit those high profit weeks, you need tools that actively pull people through the door and eliminate the “mental load” of ownership. Our upcoming Top Range modules are designed to move you from simply “running a pub” to scaling a hospitality empire.
Pub Management & Profitability FAQ
How can I effectively lower my pub’s labor costs?
Lowering labor costs starts with setting a defensive target, such as a 10-11% labor margin. Most operators fail because they lack real-time visibility; the Master Rota Strategy solves this by showing your Labor % update as you type. By contrasting estimated wage costs against target sales for every shift, you can identify overstaffing before the shift even starts.
What is the best way to manage EHO and fire safety checks in a pub?
The most secure method is moving from paper clipboards to a digital audit trail. The Kitchen Safety Suite and Fire Safety Audit tools provide timestamped logs for daily opening checks, fridge/freezer temperatures, and fire call point verification. High-visibility compliance percentages—like a 30% completion for Call Points—allow you to spot gaps in your safety fortress immediately.
How do I calculate my weekly pub profit including VAT and overheads?
True profit is what remains after every expense is stripped away. The Forecast Simulator uses a specific calculation to determine your Estimated Net Profit:
This tool factors in hidden costs like Employer NI and Pension (+15%) and fixed overheads such as Sky/BT subscriptions and energy feeds.
How do I stop over-ordering stock in my cellar?
Over-ordering is a cash-flow killer. The Stock Ordering Tool eliminates guesswork by building a par stock based on your actual usage. It generates a clear “BUY” signal (highlighted in red) when your current stock levels fall below the required par for your specific draught and bottle units.
Why should I switch from paper rotas to an integrated hospitality suite?
Paper rotas are static; an integrated suite is tactical. Beyond scheduling, a digital suite links your payroll directly to your profit goals, enabling one-click export of verified hours and payables to your accountant. This removes the “SaaS tax” of paying for multiple separate subscriptions while ensuring your labour spend never eats into your Profit.
How can I increase mid-week footfall in my pub?
Mid-week growth requires “Behavioural Alchemy”—giving guests a psychological reason to visit on a quiet night. Upcoming Top Range features include integrated Music Bingo Weekly to drive engagement, alongside AI-powered marketing designed to reach specific demographics, such as local factory shift workers.
