Ops Club Sessions: The Operator’s P&L Reset After Q1
Q1 is done. The P&L doesn't lie.
Labour costs in hospitality rose 8.5% year on year in early 2025 - outpacing even the mandated wage increases. Business rates relief has collapsed from 75% to 40%. Employer NICs hit in April. For many operators, these landed together - on a P&L that was already tight.
Now Q1 results are in. And the gap between what you budgeted in November and what actually happened is telling you something.
This session is built around that gap.
What we're actually talking about
Five cost lines. Real numbers. What strong operators are doing right now to close the gap before mid-year.
COGS - Where did your food and drink margin go? Supplier inflation, portion drift, menu mix shift - and what to do about all three before you reprice.
Labour - The NLW rises again in April 2026, with the 18-20 rate jumping 8.5% to £10.85. If your scheduling model and section structure haven't been rebuilt around that, you're carrying hidden cost every week.
OpEx - Where are the leaks? Utilities, consumables, maintenance contracts, supplier creep. Line by line, what's drifted since the budget was set.
Property - Businesses with lease obligations and rising rateable values are being hit hardest. For operators dependent on footfall and thin margins, there's often more room in a lease renegotiation than they realise.
The panel
These aren't conference speakers. They're operators and advisors working inside businesses like yours right now.
Tom Stanley - Co-Founder and CEO, Williams Stanley & Co Tom's team supports over 600 hospitality businesses across the UK and beyond, with backgrounds ranging from Soho House to Big Mamma Group. He's seen more P&Ls than most operators will in a lifetime Apple Podcasts - and he's refreshingly direct about what the numbers are really saying after Q1.
Alison Wong - CFO, House of Gods Hotel Alison brings experience from Imbiba, Crêpeaffaire and White Doe Consulting, with an ACA qualification and deep expertise in financial analysis, business planning and scaling operator-led businesses. She's been consistently vocal that rising NI is not the only driver killing margins - and has a clear view on what CFOs are actually doing differently in 2026. LinkedIn
Benjamin Litchfield - Group Operations Director, Bill's Restaurants Ben has been Operations Director at Bill's for three years. In that time, EBITDA has doubled and like-for-like sales have outperformed the market year on year Nrpbs - through a period of significant cost pressure. He'll bring the frontline operator view: what you actually change in a multi-site business when Q1 doesn't land as planned.
Sue Guilfoyle - Procurement and Supply Chain Advisor Sue has over 15 years of procurement experience across major hospitality operations including Compass UK LinkedIn, with a reputation for being one of the most practically focused cost experts in the industry. She'll cover what's actually moveable on your supplier contracts right now - and how to have those conversations.
The format
Candid. Chatham House. Cross-functional.
Not a finance lecture - a room full of operators who've just closed Q1, looking at the same numbers, and working out what to do next.
Networking before and after. Limited spaces.
📅 22nd April