Case Study: Swinton Estate
Swinton Estate is one of the largest privately owned estates in England, situated in North Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales.
Comprising 20,000 acres, about two thirds of the land is forestry and farmland, and one third open moorland.
The Swinton Estate is a fabulous place to live, stay and visit and includes Swinton Park Hotel, Swinton Cookery School, Swinton Bivouac glamping campsite and café, and Swinton Country Club.
Dining options are plentiful and offer superb quality including Chef’s Table by Josh Barnes, Samuel’s Restaurant, The Terrace Restaurant & Bar and The Bivouac Café.
“I reached out to Simon at Profit Hound for a fresh pair of eyes as to see how we were operating and with specific review on the food margins across the outlets.
Working with Simon has enabled the team to refine further their focus and understand how we can work more effectively with our supply chain with straightforward management controls.”
- Iain Shelton - CEO, Swinton Estate
Profit Hound Support
Swinton Estate had worked with a leading hospitality consultancy and procurement business for many years but it was time for a change.
Profit Hound were approached with the intention of giving a fresh pair of eyes, fixing any problems and setting firmer foundations for Swinton to manage the processes in a self-sustaining way in the future.
"Profit Hound were delighted to be approached and given the opportunity to support and ultimately deliver on a successful project for Iain Shelton and the team at Swinton Estate.
It has been extremely rewarding to get to know the Estate, collaborating with the whole team to deliver some excellent results and I know Swinton now has the perfect platform to manage food profitability ongoing.
As a committed friend, they know they can call on my support whenever needed."
- Simon Elliott, Founder & Director, Profit Hound
So what happened next?
An initial data gathering phase was managed by Profit Hound with information sought from food suppliers along with operational and financial data from Swinton Estate to build a solid understanding of the business and the opportunities, here is a summary of the support delivered:
Procurement Review
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identified significant like for like % Savings
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Replacing the supplier funded rebate model with a best net price position, fixed monthly, delivered impressive savings and removed accounting complexity.
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Replacing just one fresh produce supplier gave the same great service greater savings and a whole new category of products, which was another significant win.
Local Procurement
The significant savings on core lines allowed Swinton Estate to maintain and expand relationships with local producers that are so important to the ethos of the estate and Profit Hound were delighted to support this important differentiator.
Priced Order Sheets
A user-friendly Monthly Order Guide was built using the suppliers fixed monthly pricing to ensure chefs know the best value option on circa 100 key volume lines, best price purchasing being an easy way to deliver easy savings.
Food Cost Awareness
was seen as an especially important opportunity to move away from the previous system. A very straightforward, chef-friendly “Flash” was developed in conjunction with the accounts team, to track food costs and revenue daily and month to date.
Profit Hound tracked and reported P&L numbers against the “Flash” to sense check accuracy and/or facilitate a deeper dive into variances.
Menu Management
Simon introduced simple excel data sheets to support menu costing and introduced the estate to some cost effective and independent online platforms to support this important aspect of food profit management.
The Results
"…….being new in position with a long list of projects including a Samuels kitchen renovation, restaurant relaunch as well as introducing a completely new dining concept, Chef’s Table by Josh Barnes, I really valued Simon’s support.
His knowledge of our market along with his professionalism and easy-going nature really helped me navigate through what has been a busy time and I would have no hesitation in recommending Profit Hound to any hospitality business wanting to improve their food profitability!"
John Smith, Deputy General Manager, Swinton Estate