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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.restaurant-hospitality.com/sites/all/themes/penton_subtheme_restaurant_hospitality/images/logos/footer.png\nRestaurant Hospitality is part of the Informa Connect Division of Informa PLC\nMUFSO\nBest Sandwiches in America\nBest Cocktails in America\nNation’s Restaurant News\nCrack Shack warns of possible data breach\nWorking Lunch: Governors plan to prioritize workforce development\nChicago considers polystyrene ban, limit on single-use plastics in restaurants\nThis week's top 10: José Andrés' Chicago dining destination, Grubhub's phone plan and delivery consolidation\nChicago speakeasy Janitor’s Closet cleans up with a spiffy theme\nNewest virtual restaurant partnership from Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and Grubhub opens in Chicago\nDo we forget about pickup when we talk off-premise?\nGrubhub announces task force findings and new 'common sense' phone ordering plan\nWhat do Zume’s layoffs and Grubhub’s sale rumors have to do with SoftBank?\nP. Terry's\nDoes your restaurant company need a CFO?\nWith growth comes the need for infrastructure. P. Terry’s Burger Stand offers advice on knowing when to bring on a financial leader\nMark Hamstra | Jan 08, 2020\nIndependent restaurateurs often wear many hats out of necessity and tend to outsource only a limited number of functions.\nEventually, however, a growing brand will want to have on staff the expertise it needs to operate efficiently and profitably, and one of those key hires will be the chief financial officer.\nRelated: P. Terry’s Burger Stand names first-ever CFO\nFor Austin, Texas-based P. Terry’s Burger Stand, an 18-unit chain specializing in fresh burgers, fries and shakes, that time recently arrived as the company prepares to escalate its expansion pace. In November it hired Millicent “Milli” Hawkins as its first in-house CFO. Previously, the privately owned chain employed an outside financial services firm called CFO Advisors.\n“For me it was important to bring our CFO in-house because of our accelerated growth plan,” said Todd Coerver, CEO of P. Terry’s. “In growth mode, financial planning and responsible oversight on a daily basis become mission critical.”\nThe company has been growing at a rate of about one new store per year, but with six to seven new locations expected to come online in 2020, Coerver said it was time to ensure that the company was optimizing its investments.\nP. Terry’s strong financial position enabled it to hire a full-time chief financial officer, he explained. General and administrative expenses, or G&A, at P. Terry’s have been “very close to the low end” of what Coerver considers to be the optimum 5% to 10% range as a percent of total sales, he said, and the incremental cost of Hawkins’ salary will keep the company well within that range, especially given the projected sales growth from upcoming locations.\nCoerver said the new hire fits within his strategy of focusing on “just in time infrastructure,” which calls for adding personnel and systems only when they are needed.\n“We want to bring in the right people and the right systems at the right time so that we are not over-investing too early, but yet we are early enough that we are not going to get run over by that growth,” he said.\nPhoto: Millicent Hawkins\nPhoto: Courtesy of P. Terry's\nWhile the company said it enjoyed a strong relationship with CFO Advisors, Coerver said bringing the CFO position in-house will foster a deeper connectivity with the brand and the markets where it operates. In addition, having a CFO in the corporate offices every day facilitates the sharing of expertise across other departments in the organization.\n“Milli has only been here a couple of months, and already the department heads are running into her office every day, getting feedback from her on financial practices and budgeting for the year ahead,” said Coerver.\nIn addition to her financial experience with restaurant companies Triple Tap Ventures and Lone Star Steakhouse, Hawkins also helped build lifestyle fashion retailer Kendra Scott into a 100-store chain in a series of financial management roles. That experience should make her ideally suited for P. Terry’s growth plans, Coerver said.\nHe also noted that as P. Terry’s ramps up its pace of new-unit openings, having Hawkins on staff will help the company monitor the new units’ financial performance so that management has insights into things that might need to be tweaked or revamped.\nGary Stibel, founder and CEO of New England Consulting Group, said that for small operators, outsourcing financial responsibilities makes sense until the company reaches a point — as P. Terry’s did — where it is about to embark on significant growth.\n“If you have five to 10 units and you are about to go to 25-50 units, then you pass the baton from an outsourced financial firm to an in-house chief financial officer,” said Stibel, who added that companies will likely also want to bring in a couple of people who will work under the CFO.\n“Most restaurants are founded by entrepreneurs who understand hospitality — food, people, experience, ambiance. The worst thing they can do is spend time in the back office keeping the books,” he said.\nAs far as budgeting for a new CFO, Stibel suggested offering the person an ownership stake in the company. This has the advantage of not only incentivizing the executive to drive performance, but also keeping the base salary lower.\n“I want him or her to be an owner,” Stibel said. “If you are not willing to give them an ownership stake, maybe you are not hiring the right person.”\nChris Olfers, The-Southern-Influence\nLJ Suzuki, founder and a fractional CFO at financial outsourcing firm CFOShare, said hiring a CFO, whether outsourced or in-house, should be considered at a time when the company is facing a period of financial risk. That could come, as it did with P. Terry’s, when the company is undergoing a burst of expansion, or perhaps entering a new market.\n“Anytime a business faces risk and uncertainty, there is an advantage to understanding if that risk is manageable,” he said. “That’s what a CFO can provide — an analysis of monetary risk.”\nIn addition to analyzing the monetary risk of potential future activities, CFOs can also provide analysis of historical financial metrics that might yield insights for future cost savings or revenue opportunities. For example, having someone with the financial acumen of a CFO analyze food costs over time might yield actionable insights for future procurement opportunities, according to Suzuki.\nHe said outsourcing a chief financial officer allows operators to focus on what they do best.\n“I always tell restaurant operators, ‘You focus on creating a great customer experience and making a great meal, and we’ll worry about the money,’” he said.\nDon’t want to raise menu prices? Time to get creative"