The catering industry is an industry where cash flow is king, and cash flow management plays a very important role in the development of catering enterprises. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the weather vane and warning line for the operation of food enterprises.

Controlling the frequent cash flow crisis

Managing the cash flow well can ensure that the catering enterprises can achieve a profitable effect in their operations. For example, if a restaurant company assumes that its operation is normal, its employees' wages will be paid one month later, and the payment cycle is much longer than the collection cycle during the operation. In theory, the more employees the company uses, the more interest-free loans it absorbs. The more business, the more interest-free loans from suppliers, so the faster the development of enterprises will be. Therefore, a good management of payment and collection will be an effective guarantee for the rapid development of enterprises.

However, when the following situations are encountered, it is very likely that there will be a cash flow crisis, which needs special attention:

1. The period of rapid business growth

Because the business growth will never be balanced, if the business model is not well designed in this period, people will be overstaffed or lack the ability to resist risks, and it is easy to see that the imagined business is not completed in the end, and enterprises will face risks at this time.

2. When the potential payment cycle comes,

the rapid growth of business will weaken the ability of enterprises to control the payment collection cycle. Sometimes, in order to get more business, enterprises often delay the payment period, and delay the payment period again and again, which leads to the decline of reputation and will eventually be punished. Some potential payment periods, such as rent, taxes and salaries, are often not easily reflected in the financial statements. Ignoring the existence of these periods will have a huge impact on the cash flow of enterprises and will also bring problems to management.

3. When the average collection period (DSO) exceeds 35 days

average collection period, that is, the DSO value, can give us a very clear understanding of the cash flow of our own enterprise: when the DSO value of receivables is less than the DSO value of payables, your cash flow is benign; The greater the difference between the two, the faster the growth of enterprises. The receivable DSO also provides a warning value. If it is more than 35 days, the enterprise is not suitable for blind expansion. At this time of expansion, the greater the DSO value, the greater the risk and the deeper the cash flow crisis.

the formula for editing and commenting on DSO is: average collection period of receivables (days) = total receivables/average daily sales. The greater the DSO value of receivables, the higher the probability of bad debts, which means that you are lending interest-free loans to others to do business. The DSO value of domestic general enterprises is often 35 days. Under normal circumstances, when the DSO of receivables is less than or equal to 35 days, the financial situation is good. )

4 inventory is too large, especially when the inventory index is greater than 2

inventory not only occupies resources, but also depreciates at any time, of course, the less the better. But inventory is sometimes essential in business. How to reduce the risk of inventory? Inventory index can be used to measure and grasp. The formula of inventory index is: weeks of inventory = on-hand inventory/average sales in the past 4 weeks. When the number of inventory weeks is greater than 2, it means that the inventory is facing problems. If this number is greater than 5, the problem will become quite serious. If it is not solved as soon as possible, the development of enterprises will be greatly affected. Benign inventory management can effectively promote the efficiency of capital flow and is a way to speed up capital flow.

Therefore, in the daily operation, knowing the cash flow situation clearly should be an essential quality for every restaurant owner.

"three-step rule" to find out the financial situation

Starting from finding out the cash flow situation, through a "simple and violent" three-step rule, the head of a restaurant enterprise can know about its entire financial health:

Step 1 Determine the cash flow "basic line. First, calculate your cash flow

① Monthly turnover

② Various costs (ingredients, manpower, etc. Daily operation)

③ Amortization

Suppose that a restaurant with an initial investment of 561,111 yuan spent 451,111 yuan on decoration+equipment+operation before opening. If it is amortized in five years, the monthly amortization amount is 45/(5*12)=1.75 million.

costs can be divided into fixed costs and variable costs. The variable costs are mainly the cost of food (assuming 31%). The fixed costs are the expenses that must be paid every month, including rent (1.69W)+ labor (3W)+ utilities, office, etc. (16W)+ amortization (1.75) = 61,411.

when the cash flow is 1 and reaches a critical point, it can be concluded that the critical monthly turnover is (6.14-1.75)/1-31% = 751,111.

assuming that the unit price is 25 yuan, the restaurant needs to receive at least (75,111/25) 31 = 111 people every day to maintain the normal operation of the restaurant.

If the cash flow is negative, don't panic, first make a forecast of your own turnover, and then calculate the time you can last without new funds injected into the restaurant according to the existing funds, and then determine whether you really need to find new funds.

One way is to set up an "alarm" for restaurants, determine a bottom line that must be reached, and grasp when new financial support must be obtained.

the second step is to find the "break-even point"

The break-even point, as the name implies, is the critical point for restaurants to start making profits. The critical point calculated by cash flow can ensure the survival of the restaurant, but it can't make the restaurant really profitable. Therefore, when the restaurant successfully crosses the lifeline, it will move towards the secondary goal, which is the break-even point. Break-even means that the operating income can cover all costs, so when the income is 1, the critical value of the monthly turnover can be 6.14/(1-31%) = 86,111.

Similarly, every day, you can set a goal for yourself, that is, you should receive at least (861112531=115 person-times, and the average daily turnover should reach 2867 yuan. At this pace, the initial investment can be recovered in five years.

the third step is to calculate the "return on investment"

For the catering industry, the five-year capital recovery period is too long, so we should set a higher-level goal. Before setting this goal, you can use a small indicator to evaluate your capital repayment ability. This indicator is called the ratio of sales to investment, which is the ratio of annual expected sales to initial investment. This ratio must be greater than 1 before it can be recovered. At present, the sales investment ratio of the top 51 international catering chain enterprises is about 1.2.

suppose we hope to return to our capital in one year, which means that we need to earn back 561,111 yuan of initial investment in addition to reaching the breakeven point. Then the daily target turnover should be 561,111/12/31/(1-31%)+daily turnover of breakeven point (2,867 yuan) = 5,189 yuan (breakeven point turnover+additional turnover required to recover investment, that is, daily business daily standard). If the restaurant has returned to its original capital, it can replace the initial investment with the investment return it wants to achieve every year, and then it can get the business goal.

Several aspects that should be paid attention to in managing cash flow

Catering enterprises must pay attention to the following aspects in managing their cash flow:

1. For those customers who seriously affect the DSo value of your receivables, appropriate solutions should be taken, and if necessary, they should be resolutely blocked;

2. The management of DSO should be as strict as fund management, and a benign system to stimulate the rational operation of capital flow should be established, for example, it can be linked to the benefits of specific business personnel;

3. The more new customers an enterprise has, the more normal its cash flow will be.

4. improving the efficiency of cash flow operation is an urgent task for catering enterprises at present, and the cash flow efficiency is not significant, so it is not easy for enterprises to achieve growth. Many catering enterprises are concerned about financing. If the problem of internal cash flow management cannot be solved well, then how much money is given to others for nothing, which will not play a role in the growth of enterprises themselves. There should be a "blacklist" inside the catering enterprises, through which you can always know which enterprises can never do business with it; Which companies you cooperate with may not be profitable, but it is the key to your real growth; Which enterprises have limited scale and poor reputation, but also rely on your capital to do business. Dealing with them can only be used, so we must guard against them ...

Improving the efficiency of cash flow is the key to the growth of food enterprises. Grasping this point will bring safety and efficiency to enterprises. In order to improve the efficiency of cash flow, we must change the traditional management mode and bring cash flow management into the norm. It is the fundamental way to maintain the long-term stability of restaurant enterprises to maintain a high degree of vigilance against the cash flow operation in daily operations.