Finance Analyst - Operations

Founded in 2003, Wasabi's vision is to lovingly create and serve delicious Asian food for a busy nation. Wasabi now has 42 thriving restaurants across London and major UK cities and 4 in New York. In 2019, we introduced Wasabi Home Bento, the grocery channel, launching exclusively in Sainsbury’s. Building on that success, the grocery business broadened its reach to Tesco in September 2022, followed by exciting launches in Co-op and Morrisons in 2024. Wasabi grocery has seen phenomenal growth and is now a £62m RSV brand. Wasabi proudly stands as the No. 2 chilled ready-meal brand in the market, consistently attracting new customers to the category through an innovative East Asian range. Wasabi’s menu is celebrated for its unique character, exceptional freshness, and bold flavours. Our diverse range is designed to delight a wide audience, delivering both comfort and excitement with every bite. We have an ambitious 5-year growth strategy, focusing on new restaurants, franchise partnerships, and international expansion.

As we prepare for our next phase of growth and innovation, we have an incredibly exciting opportunity for a Finance Analyst – Operations to join our Finance Team based in Park Royal.

The Role: This role is responsible for supporting restaurant performance across both the UK and USA, with a clear focus on operational control, P&L delivery, and financial discipline. The Finance Analyst will partner closely with Operations, Food, Procurement and Property teams to understand performance drivers, challenge costs, and improve profitability at restaurant, region and market level. The successful candidate will take ownership of analysing sales, gross profit, labour, controllable costs and site contribution, helping the business translate operational activity into clear financial outcomes. The role requires strong attention to detail, a hands-on approach to performance analysis, and the ability to support forecasting, budgeting and period-end reporting across two markets while driving accountability for results.

Key Responsibilities:

• P&L Performance & Operational Control: Support and analyse restaurant P&L performance across the UK and USA, with particular focus on sales, gross profit, labour, operating expenses and EBITDA delivery. Track and explain variances versus budget, forecast and prior year, highlighting operational risks and opportunities by restaurant, region and market. Monitor key performance drivers including labour productivity, COGS, waste, stock variance, discounts and other controllable costs. Support operations teams in improving site-level performance through clear analysis, robust challenge and practical recommendations.
• Labour, Cost & Margin Management: Review labour performance against budget and operational KPIs, including hours, productivity, wage rates and scheduling efficiency. Monitor actual COGS against budget and standard cost, including waste, stock movements and supplier or menu cost changes. Build and maintain models for key controllable cost lines below gross profit, ensuring assumptions are robust and actionable.
• Forecasting, Budgeting & Reporting: Support the preparation of weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual forecasts and budgets for both UK and USA operations. Work with stakeholders to gather inputs, challenge assumptions and ensure forecasts reflect current operational performance and known risks. Prepare period reporting, variance analysis and concise commentary to support management reviews and performance discussions. Assist with month-end close activities, including journal preparation, accruals, cost allocations and reconciliation of key P&L balances.
• Operational Business Partnering: Partner with Restaurant Managers, Area Managers and cross-functional teams to improve understanding of site performance and reinforce accountability for P&L delivery. Support regular business reviews with clear analysis of operational performance, financial risks and required actions. Help deliver P&L and performance training for operational stakeholders to strengthen financial awareness and decision-making. Provide ad hoc analysis and deep dives to support operational decisions, investment cases and performance improvement initiatives.

Our Requirements:

• Previous experience in a finance analyst or similar role, ideally in hospitality, retail, leisure or FMCG.
• Strong understanding of P&L performance, including labour, COGS, operating costs and variance analysis.
• Experience working with operational stakeholders and translating financial performance into clear actions.
• Strong Excel and Microsoft Office skills, with the ability to build and maintain robust financial models.
• High attention to detail, strong organisational skills, and the ability to manage multiple priorities across the UK and USA (USA exposure is desirable).
• Clear communication and presentation skills, with confidence to challenge and influence stakeholders.

Preferred:

• Degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics or a related discipline.
• Experience with ERP systems such as Microsoft Business Central, NAV, SAP or similar.
• Experience supporting multi-site operations.

A great working environment, Refer A Friend Scheme, Free Sushi or hot food (vegan options available), 50% discount in our Branches, Employee Assistant Programme (a service providing health and wellbeing support), Long Service Awards, Wagestream - a financial wellbeing benefit that lets you access your pay as you earn it in real time and manage savings, Life Assurance, Cycle To Work, Free on-site parking, A variety of discounts (shopping, food & drink, entertainment and health & fitness) through Perkbox and The opportunity to develop your skills within a growing company.

Our people make us who we are. If you're looking for an exciting challenge and this sounds like the job for you please apply today as we can't wait to hear from you.