In this customer story
Key benefits at a glance
Over 150 hours saved every month
Cash flow reporting slashed from two weeks to two minutes
End-of-month reporting reduced from up to seven days to five days
Growth capability increased by 20% to 30% without adding finance team headcount
The search for the perfect operational mix
In the fast-paced hospitality landscape, scaling a business from a single local pub to a national multi-brand powerhouse requires bold decisions, forward-thinking and more than a dash of strategic vision.
Over the past 16 years, CEO James Sinclair and CFO Andrew Spittal have steered that exact journey.
Starting with a single venue in Geelong that was turning over just $8,000 a week, the Signature team have built an Australia-wide enterprise turning over more than $250 million annually.
Today, Signature Hospitality Group (SHG) boasts a portfolio of unique brands, including TGI Fridays, The Sporting Globe, and Varsity.
Its impressive organisation spans over 50 venues, employs more than 2,000 staff, and helps around six million customers connect with one another every year.
With sights firmly set on a long-term growth goal of half a billion dollars in revenue, the operational challenge for the SHG's finance team became clear.
They needed a business management platform that could scale seamlessly and fit their ambitions perfectly.
The challenge: Bottlenecks from fragmented and unsuitable software
The evolution of SHG has been rapid, to say the least.
Major strategic milestones, such as acquiring the Australian license for TGI Fridays in 2017 and taking over the Varsity brand in 2022, have exponentially multiplied the company's financial complexity.
When Andrew Spittal first joined the business over a decade ago, a tiny finance team of two full-time and one half-time managed six venues generating $30 million in turnover.
As the venue count climbed past 30 and towards 50, the department swelled to over 20 professionals. But they were held back by fragmented infrastructure with solutions designed for a much simpler business.
Over the years, SHG had built a complex stack of solutions to run its business. MYOB AccountRight – designed for small businesses – was being used to run head office and the majority of its venues.
Xero supported a further ten venues, and Light Year and Deputy were being used for Accounts Payable, rostering, timesheets, onboarding, and performance management.
The business was running nearly 50 individual MYOB AccountRight files, which was like having one completely isolated ledger for every single venue – far from ideal for meeting its ambitious growth plans.
"End-of-month reporting was mostly consolidating information," Spittal explains.
"It was a really frustrating process where we had to bring all this information together… We had to post 50 journals across the 50 different files every month."
This operational strain created a massive lag in visibility for leadership.
The finance team had to export, import, copy, and paste data into master spreadsheets, "praying that it worked," while simple cash flow reports took two full weeks to compile.
For a fast-moving hospitality group, waiting weeks for financial data meant the insights arrived too late to act.
End-of-month reporting was mostly consolidating information … It was a really frustrating process
The solution: Going with the trusted local over global alternatives
To drive its next phase of growth, SHG initiated a business-wide evaluation to find a scalable cloud ERP.
While they looked at larger, more rigid global tier-one systems, they found them lacking the local touch and flexibility they required.
"We were concerned with some of the bigger global platforms that we might be a small fish in a very big pond. We knew of integrations with some horror stories," says Sinclair.
Instead, they chose MYOB Acumatica because it offered total multi-entity consolidation, native data integrations, and a deeply committed support team.
"The genuine care and trust that we built with the MYOB team was really critical in the selection process," Spittal says.
To counter the fear of a daunting ERP rollout, MYOB's implementation team worked right inside the SHG office, deploy ing a structured, brand-by-brand approach that completely minimised disruption.
"I was terrified of it at the start," Spittal admits.
"When you hear all about ERP transformation and implementation, it's very daunting. I think this process itself, when it's structured really well, doesn't have to be scary."
The genuine care and trust we built with the MYOB team was really critical in the selection process
The outcome: Clearer visibility and a highly potent workflow
By consolidating all 50 separate files into a single cloud database and integrating Velixo live reporting, the business completely transformed its daily workflows.
1. Monthly admin down by 150 hours
The move to a unified database instantly culled the team's manual data entry loops. Instead of posting 50 separate journals across individual files every month, the finance team now posts a single entry.
With Velixo, team members can pull live ERP data straight into Excel with a click, drill down into specific profit-and-loss figures, and view supporting general ledgers and source transactions in real time.
"We're saving over 150 hours every month with MYOB Acumatica," says Spittal.
"It used to take two weeks to run a cash flow report. Now it takes two minutes. Our end of month process … is now down to well within five days."
Importantly, this efficiency creates immense scalability: "We feel like we can grow 20 to 30% tomorrow without adding any additional headcount."
We're saving over 150 hours every month with MYOB Acumatica … It used to take two weeks to run a cash flow report. Now it takes two minutes
2. Backend support for franchise partners
A core part of SHG's success is its sub-franchise model governing relationships with its operators.
To empower these operators to focus entirely on the guest experience, the SHG head office manages all marketing, procurement, HR, bookkeeping, accounts payable, and payroll on their behalf.
Configured and customised to meet exacting operational needs, MYOB Acumatica allows the SHG finance team to deliver simplified performance dashboards with intuitive infographics tailored to franchisees.
Crucially, the fully integrated local payroll system helps SHG manage compliance risk for its 2,000 employees shifting across different award rates and states.
"We support our franchise partners from a payroll perspective, so they can focus on their teams and their customers with some backend assistance from head office," Spittal notes.
3. Live insights on tap in the boardroom
With accurate financial data centrally organised, the finance team has transitioned from manually processing inputs to delivering forward-looking analysis.
"One of the great things about MYOB Acumatica is our CFO can now bring it into management meetings," Sinclair says.
"So when I ask a question out of left field, he can quickly get insight and deliver us real data, so we can make a fast decision in the room."
… Our CFO can now bring it [MYOB Acumatica] into management meetings … We can make a fast decision in the room
Looking to a future that's 'better together'
As SHG prepares to expand its large-format Varsity brand to the East Coast and increase the size of its network to over 100 venues, its organised data is viewed as a primary launchpad.
With 1.2 million loyalty app members already in SHG's database, Sinclair and Spittal are focused on leveraging MYOB Acumatica to adopt AI tools for predictive cash flows and automated data workflows.
"Consolidating our financial and business data into one cloud ERP is so important for us to leverage AI in the years ahead," says Spittal.
For Spittal, the platform represents the ultimate shift for a modern corporate finance team: "I'd recommend MYOB Acumatica for any finance team that wants to be a strategic partner within their business."
Ultimately, this powerful tech partnership perfectly mirrors SHG's own motto: 'Better Together.'
By bringing strategic ambition and day-to-day financial workflows into total alignment, SHG and MYOB Acumatica are proving that things truly are better together when it comes fuelling national growth.
I'd recommend MYOB Acumatica for any finance team wanting to be a strategic partner within its business
Information provided in this article is of a general nature and does not consider your personal situation. It does not constitute legal, financial, or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as a statement of law, policy or advice. You should consider whether this information is appropriate to your needs and, if necessary, seek independent advice.
This information is only accurate at the time of publication. Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained on this webpage, MYOB disclaims, to the extent permitted by law, all liability for the information contained on this webpage or any loss or damage suffered by any person directly or indirectly through relying on this information.
Contributors
MYOB Subject Matter Experts