The Engine Room

What The Engine Room does

The Engine Room, trading as Hospitality Hub Limited, is a UK-based hospitality consultancy founded in 2021 by Mike Lucy — former founder/CEO of Company of Cooks (merged into CH&Co in 2019) — and Andrew Lovell, previously Commercial Director at Company of Cooks. The firm delivers embedded commercial management services to independent and multi-site hospitality operators across restaurants, pubs and bars, hotels, cafés, and contract and event catering. The core offering is an embedded consultancy function that combines business planning, hospitality-specific financial modelling, commercial advisory, and new-opening mobilisation support, supplemented by four productised modules: a Recipe Store content library of hundreds of pre-designed recipes with nutritional and allergen data, a Menu Engineering methodology with specification sheets and popularity analysis, a bespoke reporting dashboard integrating client software platforms for KPI visibility, and a managed Hospitality Bookkeeping and Payroll service covering reconciliation, invoice management, payroll, HMRC submissions and monthly reporting.

Revenue is generated through a mix of monthly commercial-management retainers (the primary engine), project-based consultancy from £500 bespoke, business health checks from £750, and recurring bookkeeping/payroll retainers from £600 per month. Pricing is broadly subscription or recurring in nature where retainers apply, with pay-as-you-go and one-off pricing on diagnostic engagements. Go-to-market is sales-led and consultative: a content-driven website (sector pages for restaurants, pubs, hotels, cafés and catering, plus blog and case studies) feeds a free 30-minute consultation offer, with on-site and remote delivery through embedded engagements; LUX*life's 2023 'Hospitality Consultancy of the Year' award functions as a third-party credibility lever. The company is privately held, bootstrapped, registered in England and Wales, operates with a UK-only geographic footprint, and reports a headcount of 18 employees.

Name

The Engine Room

Legal name

Hospitality Hub Limited

Website

https://the-engineroom.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Engine Room is a UK-based hospitality consultancy founded in 2021 that provides embedded commercial management, financial modelling, menu engineering and managed bookkeeping/payroll services to independent restaurants, pubs, hotels, cafés and catering operators on retainer and project terms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Camberley

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Hospitality Consultancy Retainers: Monthly retainer arrangements providing ongoing commercial management, financial oversight, and operational support. Clients pay a recurring fee for embedded commercial team services, described as more affordable than employing full-time finance or commercial expertise.
2. Project-Based Consultancy: One-off consultancy projects including business planning, financial modelling, mobilisation support, and commercial advice. Pricing starts from £500 for bespoke packages.
3. Hospitality Bookkeeping and Payroll Services: Monthly bookkeeping, reconciliation, invoice management, payroll processing, HMRC submissions, and monthly reporting services. Prices start from £600 per month, with cost reflective of business size, allowing scaling as the client's operation grows.
4. Menu Engineering and Recipe Store: Menu engineering consultancy services and access to a pre-designed recipe database to support F&B businesses with new dish ideas and menu optimisation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Engine Room provides embedded hospitality commercial management consultancy to UK restaurants, pubs, bars, hotels, cafés, and catering operators. Core offerings include ongoing retainer-based commercial and operational support, business planning, financial modelling, mobilisation support, menu engineering, and managed hospitality bookkeeping and payroll services. The firm acts as a fractional commercial team for SMEs that cannot justify a full-time finance or commercial hire.

Product overview

The Engine Room is a hospitality consultancy offering a suite of interconnected commercial management services designed to improve the financial performance of hospitality businesses. The core offering is embedded consultancy support providing business planning, financial modelling, commercial advice, and mobilisation support. This is supplemented by specialised add-on modules including Menu Engineering for strategic menu optimisation and profitability analysis, a Recipe Store offering hundreds of pre-designed recipes with full nutritional and allergen data, and Hospitality Bookkeeping and Payroll services for financial administration. The company operates as an 'agile plug and play partner' delivering hands-on commercial management on a retainer basis to restaurants, pubs, bars, hotels, and catering operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hospitality Commercial Consultancy (Embedded Commercial Management) Ongoing retainer-based commercial and operational management service for hospitality businesses including restaurants, pubs, bars, hotels, cafés and catering operators, acting as a fractional commercial team covering business planning, financial modelling, commercial advice and mobilisation support.
• Menu Engineering Strategic menu analysis and optimisation service that evaluates sales data, food costs and item popularity to maximise profitability, including recipe specification sheets, staff training and kitchen optimisation.
• Recipe Store A proprietary database of hundreds of pre-designed, high-quality recipes including methodology, ingredients and yields, nutritional information, photos and allergen information, designed to save time on recipe development and support menu variety with seasonal updates.
• Hospitality Bookkeeping and Payroll Full monthly bookkeeping, reconciliation, invoice management, payroll processing, HMRC submissions and monthly reporting services for hospitality businesses, priced from £600 per month and scalable with client size.
• Business Health Check One-off assessment of a hospitality business's commercial standing and performance, priced from £750, used to scope further engagement and as a standalone diagnostic deliverable.

Quantifiable outcome

• Complete transformation of a hotels business within 6 months (Lucidity Group)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• LUX*life MagazineminorGTM or Marketing PartnerLUX*life Magazine featured The Engine Room in their Hospitality Awards 2023 issue following the award of 'Hospitality Consultancy of the Year 2023', providing editorial coverage and a digital badge for marketing use.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• HotStats: HotStats is a UK hospitality benchmarking and profit-and-loss intelligence platform serving hotels and restaurants. It competes with The Engine Room's bespoke dashboard with a more established subscription data product, but lacks the embedded advisory layer.
• CGA by NielsenIQ: CGA provides data, consumer insight, and benchmarking to the UK eating and drinking-out market. It serves as an emerging alternative to The Engine Room's commercial management offering, with stronger data and technology assets but similar SME hospitality client base.

Direct peers

• Hilltop Partnership: Hilltop Partnership is a UK specialist hospitality consultancy providing commercial, financial, and operational advice to pubs, restaurants, and hotels. It is the closest like-for-like UK competitor to The Engine Room in terms of SME-focused hospitality commercial management.
• HGEM (Hospitality GEM): HGEM is a UK hospitality benchmarking and standards company helping operators improve commercial performance through data, mystery dining, and compliance. It overlaps with The Engine Room's commercial management and KPI-tracking proposition in the UK SME hospitality segment.
• Peach & Aubergine: Peach & Aubergine is a UK hospitality marketing and consultancy agency serving restaurants, pubs, hotels, and caterers. Although marketing-led, it overlaps with The Engine Room's SME hospitality advisory positioning and content-driven client acquisition strategy.
• HVS (Hospitality Valuation Services): HVS is a global hospitality consulting firm providing valuation, feasibility, and advisory services to hotels, restaurants, and leisure assets. It is a direct comparator to The Engine Room's commercial advisory and financial modelling work, though HVS focuses more on asset-level advisory and larger operators.

Broad incumbents

• JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group: JLL's Hotels & Hospitality Group is a global real estate and consulting practice advising on hotels, leisure, and hospitality assets. It competes with The Engine Room at the upper end of the market but does not target SMEs or provide embedded commercial management.
• Knight Frank – Hotels: Knight Frank's Hotels team provides consultancy, valuation, and operational advisory across the UK and European hospitality sector. It represents a broad incumbent competitor to The Engine Room's commercial advisory offering, though focused on larger hotels and groups.
• Colliers International – Hotels: Colliers' Hotels division provides hotel investment advisory, asset management, and consulting globally. Like JLL, it competes with The Engine Room only at the asset/enterprise level and is not focused on SME operators.
• Cushman & Wakefield – Hospitality: Cushman & Wakefield's Hospitality team provides valuation, investment, and advisory services to hotels, resorts, and leisure properties worldwide. It is a broad incumbent that overlaps with The Engine Room's commercial advisory on large enterprise engagements.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hospitality-hub-ltd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Engine Room