Answer honestly for where the business is today. Count of "Yes" out of 10.
Where to next
Want the books off your plate?
Book a short call, and we'll give you an expert view of your situation.
Free Consult →What this tool does
Ten checks to run before signing for another unit, covering the current unit's profit line, cash reserve, management depth, systems and reporting. The fee obligations that begin before the new unit opens.
How to read the result
- The question is never whether a second unit can work. It is whether this business can have the months before it does.
- One profitable unit run by the owner is not evidence that two will work. The second unit tests management, not the concept.
- Fees, rent and wages start before revenue does. The reserve has to cover the gap you actually modeled, not the optimistic one.
- If unit one's books cannot produce a clean monthly P&L on the tenth, unit two will not fix that.
Questions we get asked
How long should the first unit be stable before adding a second?
Long enough to have twelve months of clean monthly closes and a profit line that holds without the owner in the building every day.
How much cash should be in reserve?
The reserve should fund the new unit's build-up to break-even on the brand's own disclosed timeline. The fees that start at opening. Add a margin in case the build-up is slower.
What changes in the books at two units?
Everything gets a location dimension: one chart of accounts, allocation rules for shared cost, and reporting that shows each unit on its own before it shows the total.
Want this handled? Averan does the bookkeeping for franchise owners and multi-unit operators.
Planning another location? Fractional CFO covers the forecast and the cash plan behind it.
If you want this done for you
What happens next
Reading about it and having it done are different things. Here is exactly what happens if you want the second one.
- The call takes thirty minutesYou describe the business and where the numbers are letting you down. We give you an expert view of your situation, and what we would start with. There is no pitch deck.
- We look at the fileYou give us read access to the books as they are. We come back with what is wrong, what it will take to fix, and whether the answer is bookkeeping, controller work, or something else.
- We send a written scope and a priceIt lists what we do each month, what you get, the date it lands and the fee. We agree it before anything starts, and it does not change unless you agree.
- We take over the books and close the first monthWe set up access and systems and enter the opening balances. The first close lands on the date in the scope, and every one after it does too.