Driven to create unique home-grown food concepts that bring people together, the Independent Food Company is a UAE-based hospitality company with multiple concepts under its umbrella SALT, Parker's, Public, Somewhere, Kumo and Shalwa.
Responsibilities
We are currently recruiting for an experienced FP&A Manager to join our Finance team, based out of our HQ in Dubai. As the Financial Planning & Analyst the incumbent will play a critical role in driving financial performance and strategic decision-making within the Group. Reporting to the Director of Finance, the FP&A Analyst will be responsible for the following key areas:
- Strategic FP&A and Business Planning
- Own the annual budget and forecasts
- Monitor and control budget question departments and operations when they are not within the set budgets.
- Consolidate P&L and financial results across stores/outlets, business units, or franchises.
- Partner with operations, supply chain, and cost control team to manage COGS, labor costs, and inventory turnover.
- Support CAPEX planning and budgeting for exiting outlets upgrade, expansion plan, and outlet refresh activities.
- Perform scenario modeling and sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of market shifts, input costs, and expansion plans.
- Commercial Business Partnering
- Collaborate closely with Marketing, Operations, and Real-estate teams to provide financial insights.
- Provide financial input into new product launches, campaigns, and sales channel optimisation.
- Analyse menu item profitability , customer retention, customer preferences, and product mix shifts.
- Partner with supply chain to manage vendor contracts, price inflation risks, and rebates.
- Financial Modelling & Feasibility
Build financial models and feasibility studies to support strategic decisions as:
- New outlets opening
- Product Launch, market entry or exit
- Pricing change
- Campaigns/activation
- Evaluate payback period, NPV, IRR, breakeven analysis, and scenario outcomes for key initiatives.
- Budget Control & Monitoring
- Establish and monitor department- and outlet-level budgets, ensuring adherence and early identification of variances.
- Lead monthly budget reviews with department heads and outlet managers, analyzing variances vs. actuals
- Ensure robust cost control, especially across COGS, labor, marketing spend, and discounts.
- Track and report on budget utilization rates, flagging risks and recommending course corrections.
- Drive budget discipline by embedding accountability and transparency across the business.
- Enforce adherence to financial policies and spending thresholds, ensuring internal controls are respected.
- Channel and Outlet Performance Analysis
- Analyse performance across dine-in, delivery, takeaway, and third-party platforms (e.g., Talabat, Deliveroo).
- Monitor brand-level and outlet-level P&Ls, identifying under performing units or margin leakage.
- Support expansion, franchising models, or entry into new market segments.
- Return of Investment Analytics
- Evaluate campaigns, activation, discount programs, loyalty schemes, and menu engineering.
- Track spend effectiveness by channel, time period, and customer segment.
- Recommend changes to pricing and promotional strategy to optimise profitability.
- Reporting and Insights
- Develop actionable reporting dashboards for sales, margin, and store performance.
- Present monthly and quarterly business reviews to senior leadership.
- Provide clear, commercial financial insights to drive real-time decisions.
Role Deliverables
- Monthly financial reporting packs with sales, margin, and outlet-level breakdowns
- Menu pricing and PLU-level profitability analysis
- Annual budget and rolling forecast packs
- Actual vs budget reports
- Investment/Expenses effectiveness analysis
- Outlet/brand-level P&Ls
- Financial Models for new store launches, refurbishments, and market expansions
- Monthly KPI results and reports
- Operations Financial Targets
- Exec board presentations and performance briefings
To be considered for this role, you will have a minimum of 5 years experience working as part of an F&B or FMCG or multi-division retail business. You will possess strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and a passion for leveraging financial insights to support business growth and profitability.
