Acton Deliveroo Editions Kitchen

22-Month Review &
Scale Decision

Internal CFO Pack · Prepared for Puneet Wadhwani
May 2026
Strictly Confidential
Period: 22 Jul 2024 → 10 May 2026
02

What this pack covers

1
The Business
What ACT actually is. Two companies, one kitchen, 15 brands collapsing to 4.
2
22-Month Performance
Monthly, quarterly, yearly. Where the money came from and where it went.
3
The Reality Check
Theoretical model vs. actual P&L. Why the picture is better than it looked.
4
Unit Economics
Where every £100 of sticker price goes — at maturity.
5
The Scale Question
One kitchen works at the right cost stack. What about five? Or ten?
6
Recommendation
Three-stage decision, with specific triggers.
03

The business in one slide

A single Deliveroo Editions kitchen in Acton, billing through two operating companies, with 15 brands collapsing to 4 hero brands for 2026.

The Two Companies

ASFL (Artisan Street Food Kitchens) carried the Patri family through to Dec 2025: Patri Artisan, Patri Express, VEGN, Tandoori Chicken, Patri Kebab House and the rest.
RBC (Rice Bowl Company) ran in parallel from Jul 2024 and now carries everything: Rice Bowl, Patri Artisan (transitioned in), A Proper Ruby Murray, Samosawalla and the dormant brands.
2026 portfolio · 4 hero brands: Patri Artisan (Delhi-meets-North-Indian) · Rice Bowl Company · Patri Express · Patri Green (healthy tandoor salad grill — rebrand of Tandoori Chicken Co).

The Numbers

£690k
22-month Estimated Gross
£552k
Total Order Value (paid)
£10k
Weekly target 2026 · £520k full year
4
Hero brands (down from 15)
04

22 months at a glance

Monthly Estimated Gross (bars, coloured by year) vs Operating P/L post-VAT (line). The pattern: profitable, broken, recovering.

2024 in navy (profitable). 2025 in teal (over-staffed, deeper losses despite higher revenue). 2026 YTD in gold (smaller revenue, profitable again).
05

Three years, three different stories

Same kitchen. Same site. Different cost stacks.

2024 (Jul-Dec)
+2.0%
+£4,387
£219,003 Est Gross · Salary 17.8% · Food 16.0%
PROFITABLE
Half-year. Cost stack worked. Salary at 18%, food at 16%.
2025 (Full Year)
-6.5%
£-24,860
£384,494 Est Gross · Salary 26.7% · Food 16.0%
LOSS — LABOUR SPIKE
Salary jumped to 26.7% of Est Gross. £64k extra labour vs 2024 flat run-rate.
2026 (Jan-Apr YTD)
+2.9%
+£2,555
£86,631 Est Gross · Salary 19.9% · Food 16.0%
PROFITABLE — RESTRUCTURED
Salary back to 19.9%. Smaller revenue but positive margin.
06

2025 wasn't a revenue problem. It was a labour problem.

Monthly salary % of Est Gross. Above the red line is loss-making. Below is profitable.

The line that matters: 22% salary-to-Est Gross. Above that line, no amount of revenue makes the unit profitable post-VAT. Below it, the operation works.
07

Model vs Actuals — the reality check

The theoretical model said the operation was structurally broken. The actuals say otherwise.

REPORT 1 — Model (% assumptions)
Food cost25.0% of Gross
Staff cost30.0% of Gross
22-month P/L(£59,000)
Structurally broken
REPORT 2 — Actuals (from manual P&L)
Food cost (actual)16.0% of Est Gross
Salary (actual)23.0% of Est Gross
22-month P/L (post-VAT)(£17,918)
Loss from one bad year
The £41k difference between Model and Actuals = food cost was lower than assumed (16% not 25%), salary varied (better than 30% in 2/3 years), Uber not applicable, VAT 12.5% added back.
08

On every £100 of sticker price...

Annualised mature run-rate. The honest flow of money.

Sticker / Estimated Gross£100.00
– Marketer Discount (vouchers, % off)(£20.00)
Total Order Value£80.00
– Deliveroo charges (commission, ads, fees, licence)(£35.65)
Net Payable to Acton£44.35
– Food (actual ~16%)(£16.00)
– Salary (mature 20%)(£20.00)
– VAT 12.5% of Net Payable(£5.54)
Operating Profit per £100£2.81
A thin-margin business. The headroom to profit lives in two places only: labour discipline and the Deliveroo rent waiver.
09

If we open 5 more, what happens?

Annualised P/L per kitchen × scenarios. Two variables flip the picture.

1 Kitchen — Status Quo
+£7,381/yr
Current mature run-rate, rent paid in full
1 Kitchen — Rent Waived
+£29,437/yr
If Deliveroo concedes the licence + op fee
5 Kitchens — Rent Paid
+£36,903/yr
Modest, but multiplies a small profit
5 Kitchens — Rent Waived
+£147,183/yr
The real scale case
10 Kitchens — Rent Paid
+£73,807/yr
Reasonable but capital intensive
10 Kitchens — Rent Waived + 20% Growth
+£309,128/yr
Stretch ambition: rent concession + each kitchen grows 20% from base
10

Five things scaling depends on

In order of leverage. Get these five right and the model multiplies cleanly.

1
Deliveroo rent waiver
£22k/kitchen/year. Across 5 kitchens, £110k/year drag. Single biggest lever on the scale case.
2
Labour discipline — non-negotiable
2025 proved one bad quarter of overstaffing destroys the unit. With 5 sites, need central rota oversight, hard cap at 22% salary-to-Est-Gross.
3
Brand focus — 4 hero brands at ACT, 2 per new site
Acton ran 15 brands. Collapsing to 4 hero brands (Patri Artisan + Rice Bowl + Patri Express + Patri Green). New kitchens launch with Patri Artisan + 1 local-fit brand. Fragmentation is a tax.
4
Capex payback in 3-4 years
Each new Editions setup ≈ £50-75k (equipment, deposits, menu dev, opening marketing). At +£20k/year per site with rent waived, payback is 3-4 years.
5
The Dishoom upside
Dishoom Editions Acton ~£40k/wk vs our £4-5k/wk. If even one of our kitchens hits 50% of Dishoom volume, contribution dwarfs 4 normal sites.
11

The Dishoom comparator — what's possible

Same site, same demographic, same Editions platform. Dishoom does 8-10× our volume.

£4,800
Acton weekly TOV TODAY
2026 YTD average
→ recover →
£10,000
Acton AT PEAK
Achievable — we did this before
vs
£40,000
Dishoom weekly TOV
Industry estimate

Five reasons Dishoom wins

1. ONE brand, not eight
2. 4 iconic SKUs drive 50% of revenue
3. 3 clean bundle price anchors (£24.95 / £45 / £85)
4. AOV £45 vs our £28 — premium pricing
5. Brand strength = algorithm rewards
12

Recommendation — three stages

Stage 1 · Now to Q3 2026
STABILISE
Hold the 2026 cost stack discipline. Labour at 20-23%. Maintain 4-5% post-VAT margin. Use the profitable trajectory as proof for the next stage.
Stage 2 · Q3-Q4 2026
NEGOTIATE
Take Reports 1 & 2 to the Deliveroo AM. Ask: 12-month licence waiver, commission 28.8% → 20%, £5k ad credit, £7 OFF £7+ always-on. Commit: 15% GMV growth, AOV £35+, Plus member share 55%+.
Stage 3 · Q1 2027
TEST SCALE
If Deliveroo concedes and ACT hits £10k/week run-rate, open Kitchen #2 in a comparable demographic (Camden / Hammersmith). 2 brands only at launch (Patri Artisan + local-fit). Hold discipline. Review at month 9. Go/no-go on Kitchens 3-5.
The trigger to NOT scale: If Deliveroo refuses any rent concession AND we can't sustain 4 consecutive profitable quarters, exit the model. Don't multiply a loss-making structure.
13

What this analysis changed

BEFORE
"Structurally loss-making. £59k loss over 22 months. Exit or restructure."
AFTER
"Loss of £18k over 22 months, driven mostly by one bad year. 2026 YTD profitable. Path to scale via Deliveroo rent waiver."

What we learned

  • Food cost runs at 16% of Est Gross, not 25% — operational efficiency is real
  • Salary is the single biggest variable — 17.8% to 26.7% swing across years
  • Both ASFL and RBC ran in parallel — combined turnover 30% higher than initial estimate
  • VAT @ 12.5% of Net Payable is a meaningful obligation (£36k over 22 months)
  • The 2025 over-staffing has been corrected. 2026 YTD already profitable.
14

Headline numbers · 22-month summary

Estimated Gross
£690,128
Total Order Value
£552,102
Net Payable
£287,418
Food (actuals)
£110,420
Salary (actuals)
£158,989
VAT obligation
£35,927
Operating P/L
£-17,918
2026 mature annualised
+£7,381/yr
Sources: Deliveroo weekly PDF statements (ASFL + RBC folders, 22 months) · ACT manual P&L (food cost from purchasing records, salary from rota software) · Industry estimates for Dishoom comparator.

Questions?

Full master Excel workbook (20 tabs) and standalone scale decision report available alongside this deck.
Acton Deliveroo Editions · Internal CFO Pack · May 2026
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