Cafes, restaurants and bars · Owner run venues
Fractional CFO for cafes, restaurants and bars
A venue pays for food, wages and rent every week, and a busy day can still lose money once the penalty rates and the waste are counted. We help you see the margin on each day, dish and shift, set prices that hold after each wage rise and plan the cash for the quiet months.
What venue owners are deciding
Rules and rates are stated in general terms. Your legal adviser or tax adviser can confirm how they apply to your business.
Whether to open on each public holiday
The Hospitality and Restaurant awards pay 225 per cent for permanent staff and 250 per cent for casuals on a public holiday, and Queensland has six public holidays, one of them a part day, between 24 December and 26 January.
What the menu needs after the next wage rise
Award minimums rose 4.75 per cent from 1 July 2026, and the next decision usually comes in early June, weeks before it applies.
How to price after the card surcharge ban
Since 1 October 2026 a card surcharge can no longer cover the fees, so that cost now sits inside every price on the menu.
How much cash to carry into the quiet months
Sales fall in the slow weeks while rent, loan repayments and permanent wages stay the same.
Illustrative example · Cafe · Queensland
Open or close on Monday 28 December
A cafe that normally closes on Mondays expects $6,000 of sales if it opens on Monday 28 December, the extra Boxing Day public holiday. Food and packaging cost 32 per cent of sales, and the roster has 24 hours of permanent staff and 24 hours of casuals at an average base rate of $28 an hour.
At 225 per cent for permanent staff and 250 per cent for casuals, the wages come to $3,192, or $3,575 with super at 12 per cent, $1,882 more than on an ordinary weekday. Sales of $6,000 leave $505 after food, wages and super. The cafe needs $5,257 of sales to cover them, and at $4,500 it loses $515 on the day.
$3,575
Wages and super on the holiday
$1,882
More than an ordinary weekday
$5,257
Sales needed to cover food, wages and super
$505
Left from $6,000 of sales
Rent and other fixed costs are paid whether the doors open or not, so the test for each holiday is whether its sales cover the food and the extra wages and super that opening adds. A clearly shown public holiday surcharge is still allowed after the card surcharge ban.
Illustrative, modelled on a cafe of this size. Not a client engagement.
Sources: Queensland Government, public holidays; Hospitality and Restaurant award penalty rate tables (public holiday 225 per cent, casual 250 per cent including the casual loading); ATO, super guarantee of 12 per cent; ASBFEO, card surcharging ban. The base rate is illustrative. Worked in code on 26 October 2026.
How an engagement runs
Every engagement starts with discovery and a diagnostic in the first two weeks. We get under your numbers, from sales by day and daypart to food cost, wages by award level, rent and loan repayments, and surface the issues and opportunities that matter most to a venue.
In weeks three and four we set up clean reporting, a cash flow forecast and the rhythm of reviews. The first decisions land in the second month, in pricing, cash or cost, and from the third month we are part of how the business runs, alongside your accountant and bookkeeper. The fractional CFO service page sets out the full scope.
Tools to start with
Free tools on the ProfitPulse tools site for the questions venue owners ask most, each with its result on screen straight away.
Reading for venue owners
Common questions
Do you replace our accountant?
No. Your accountant keeps the tax returns, BAS and year end accounts, and your bookkeeper keeps the books. We add the forward looking work: cash forecasts, margins by day, dish and shift, and the numbers behind decisions on prices, rosters, stock and selling the business. We share what we find with your accountant, so everyone works from the same figures.
What does it cost?
The fractional CFO partnership starts from $3,750 a month, billed month to month with no long term lock in. When you need a figure for the business, before a sale or a handover, an indicative valuation starts from $4,500 and a comprehensive valuation from $13,500. Each of these is a starting price.
How is the fee sized?
Engagements usually stay at the starting price. Some need closer oversight or a deeper assessment, and the scope and fee rise to match. Find your fit confirms your price based on the characteristics of your business, and the pricing page explains how everything is sized.
Do you work with venues outside Brisbane?
Yes. We work with venues across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, and further afield across Australia. Most of the monthly work happens over video calls and shared reports, with visits to you as each engagement needs, so distance changes little. The locations we serve page has the detail.
What do you need from us to start?
Read only access to your accounting software and point of sale reports, the last two years of financial statements, a recent roster with award levels, supplier invoices for a typical month, your lease terms and your loan repayments. A first meeting with you covers how the venue trades across the week and the year. Nothing needs to change in your systems before we start.
Talk it through with us
A 45 minute discovery call is complimentary. Bring a recent roster and a month of sales by day.