Why Your Spreadsheets Can’t Scale — But Your Franchise Can | Tbsp

Fast food moves fast. Can your finance team keep up—or are they stuck in the past?

If you’re running a growing restaurant franchise with spreadsheets and outdated accounting tools, you’re not alone. But you may be slowing yourself down at the exact moment you need to scale smart.

At Tablespoon, we’ve helped dozens of multi-unit operators break through a common growth wall: Their business is expanding—but their back office can’t keep up.

The Real Pain Behind the Plate: Outdated Systems

Growth is good—but when finance is running on Excel, it quickly becomes a bottleneck. Here’s what we see time and time again in 10- to 100-unit restaurant groups:

•  20+ sets of books in siloed spreadsheets
• Manual intercompany reconciliations
• No visibility into daily performance
• Delayed P&Ls and cash flow surprises
• Risky decisions made on outdated data

Manual processes may have worked at 5 stores. At 15, 30, or 50?
They don’t bend—they break. And that break shows up as late closes, bad numbers, and overworked teams.

The Fix: Restaurant Finance, Rebuilt by Tablespoon

This is where Tablespoon comes in.

We don’t just “install software”—we rewire your finance function for growth. Using Sage Intacct as a foundation, we tailor every system to the realities of fast-moving restaurant groups.

With Tablespoon’s industry-native templates and playbook, you get:

• Multi-entity consolidation in minutes, not days
• Real-time reporting across every location
• Audit-ready financials without spreadsheet gymnastics
• Dashboards built for operators, not just CFOs

It’s not just better numbers. It’s better decisions, every day—powered by clean data and built-in automation.

Case in Point: Scaling Pizza Hut of Fort Wayne

One of our clients, a multi-unit Pizza Hut operator, came to us struggling with a 3-week close cycle using RTI and Excel. Their back-office couldn’t keep up with their growth—and their numbers were always out of date.

After switching to Sage Intacct with Tablespoon, their close now takes just 5 to 7 days. That’s a 123% increase in speed—without adding headcount.

“Closing the books faster is huge for us. Once accounting is done entering everything into Sage Intacct, it’s done. We’re saving so much time every month.”

That’s not just automation—it’s momentum.

Growth Deserves Better Tools

Still closing your books in Excel? Still chasing down numbers from store managers or waiting weeks for P&Ls?

You’re not alone—and you don’t have to stay stuck.

Tablespoon + Sage Intacct is how today’s top QSR and fast casual brands are:

• Scaling from 10 to 50+ units without bloating their finance teams
• Closing the books in days, not weeks
• Unlocking daily visibility into labor, food cost, and margins

Ready to See It in Action?

Let’s take 20 minutes and show you exactly how Tablespoon helps restaurant finance teams modernize fast—and scale smarter.

Book a walkthrough with a franchise finance expert.

Because your business is ready to grow—and your systems should be too.