SBL mock exam — Cedar & Spoon plc — CedarGo digital ordering, data and pilot governance

Pre-seen information — Cedar & Spoon plc

This independent practice material is not an official ACCA examination and does not use ACCA branding. It should be read before attempting the Questions and Exhibits paper and remains available for reference during the mock. No external research is required.

1 Industry information

Casual dining

Casual dining restaurants provide table service in an informal setting at mid-range prices. Customers usually choose them for convenience, a reliable menu and a social experience. Operators compete with other restaurant chains, independent restaurants, quick-service outlets, supermarkets and meal-delivery services.

The sector has modest profit margins. Food ingredients and restaurant labour are the largest costs. Rent, energy, cleaning, maintenance and technology costs are also significant. A restaurant must therefore attract enough customers at busy and quiet times while controlling waste and staffing levels.

Demand is affected by household confidence and disposable income. Customers can reduce restaurant visits quickly when budgets are tight. At the same time, many customers still value occasional meals out and may favour businesses that offer clear prices, dependable quality and convenient ordering.

Routes to the customer

Most casual dining businesses serve customers through restaurants. Many also offer collection or delivery. Orders may be placed directly with the restaurant or through a delivery platform. A platform can provide rapid access to many customers, but it normally charges commission and controls much of the customer relationship.

Direct digital ordering allows a restaurant operator to retain customer data and avoid some platform commission. It requires investment in a website or mobile application, links to restaurant systems, cyber security and reliable customer support. Poor digital service can damage the restaurant brand as quickly as poor service in a dining room.

Some operators use loyalty schemes. Customers provide basic personal data and receive points, discounts or tailored offers. The operator must explain what data it collects and how it will use it. Consent, access controls, data accuracy and retention arrangements are important. Excessive discounting can increase order numbers without creating profitable loyalty.

Operations and performance

Restaurant managers forecast demand, schedule employees and order ingredients. A point-of-sale system records orders and payments. Kitchen display screens help employees prepare meals in the correct sequence. Collection and delivery orders add complexity because they must be prepared alongside dine-in meals.

Common performance measures include:

• like-for-like sales, comparing established restaurants over the same periods;
• customer visits and average customer spend;
• food gross margin and food waste;
• labour cost as a percentage of revenue;
• order accuracy and waiting time;
• customer satisfaction and repeat visits; and
• operating profit margin.

An increase in sales does not automatically improve profit. New channels can create extra packaging, payment, marketing and support costs. Managers also need to understand whether digital sales are genuinely additional or simply replace higher-margin dine-in sales.

Current sector themes

Operators are responding to higher food and wage costs by simplifying menus, negotiating with suppliers and improving demand forecasts. Customers increasingly expect convenient digital ordering, but they remain sensitive to delivery charges and menu prices.

There is growing interest in using customer data to forecast demand and personalise offers. Automated recommendations may improve relevance, but inaccurate or unfair outcomes can undermine trust. Restaurant operators also face environmental expectations concerning food waste, packaging and energy use.

Successful change depends heavily on restaurant employees. New technology can fail if it slows kitchen work, is introduced without training or is treated as a head-office project rather than an operational change.

2 Organisation information

Background and ownership

Cedar & Spoon plc is a listed company in the fictional country of Lydora. It operates 26 casual dining restaurants under one brand. The restaurants serve a familiar menu of grilled dishes, salads, pasta and desserts. The first restaurant opened in 2012 and the company listed in 2021 to finance measured expansion.

The company has no subsidiaries and does not operate franchises. Its two material organisational units are the restaurant network and the central support office. The central support office provides finance, people, marketing, technology, procurement and menu-development support.

Cedar & Spoon's purpose is: “Good meals, made easy to share.” Its stated values are hospitality, reliability, fairness and improvement.

Customers and proposition

The main customers are families, friendship groups and office workers. The company aims to provide consistent food and friendly service at an affordable mid-market price. Its menu is deliberately similar across all restaurants, although managers may offer a small number of local specials.

Customers can dine in, collect meals ordered by telephone or use a third-party delivery platform. Delivery orders represent 14% of revenue. The platform sets the customer interface, passes limited customer information to Cedar & Spoon and charges commission on each order. The company's own website shows menus and restaurant locations but does not accept orders.

Customer research has historically been based on brief customer-satisfaction questionnaires, which customers are invited to complete via a link printed on their till receipts, and on quarterly focus groups. Restaurant managers receive weekly operating reports, while the board receives a monthly dashboard.

Operations and suppliers

Each restaurant has a general manager, kitchen team and customer-service team. Restaurant managers report to Priya Shah, the chief operating officer. Menus, food-safety procedures, major supplier contracts and brand standards are set centrally.

Fresh ingredients are bought from approved suppliers. Restaurant managers order within agreed ranges and record waste daily. The company has one cloud-based point-of-sale system across all restaurants. Finance and payroll use separate cloud systems. These systems are supported by a small technology team in the central support office.

The company has expanded steadily rather than rapidly. Four restaurants opened between 2023 and 2025. No restaurant opened in 2026 because the board wanted management to improve performance at existing sites.

Governance and leadership

The board has eight directors: three executive directors and five independent non-executive directors. The people named in this mock are:

• Elena Voss, chief executive officer. She joined in 2018 and became chief executive in 2022.
• Martin Hale, chief financial officer. He is an ACCA member and has worked for the company since 2020.
• Priya Shah, chief operating officer. She is responsible for all restaurants and central procurement.
• Daniel Rowe, independent non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee.
• Maya Chen, people and change director, who attends board meetings when invited.

The board approves strategy, major investment and risk appetite. The audit and risk committee oversees financial reporting, internal control, risk management and internal audit. Internal audit is provided by an external professional firm reporting functionally to Daniel Rowe.

The board describes its risk appetite as moderate for carefully tested growth, low for food safety and customer data, and very low for deliberate legal or ethical breaches.

Culture and people

Cedar & Spoon has 820 employees. Most work in restaurants on full-time or part-time contracts. Employee turnover increased from 29% in 2025 to 34% in 2026. Exit interviews commonly mention unpredictable shifts and limited development opportunities.

Restaurant managers have discretion over shift patterns and over putting things right for dissatisfied customers locally, for example replacement meals or goodwill gestures in response to complaints and poor reviews. Investment and technology decisions are centralised. The company runs an annual employee survey. Managers are expected to discuss results with their teams, although the quality of follow-up varies.

Employees may report concerns to their manager, the people team or an independently operated confidential reporting line. The code of conduct states that commercial targets never justify misleading customers or bypassing controls.

Recent performance

At 31 December 2026, Cedar & Spoon had cash of $4.1 million and bank debt of $6.0 million. Its bank agreement requires the company to remain within specified interest-cover and debt limits. The board currently receives confirmation each month that the limits are met.

Management believes the brand remains well known in the towns where it operates, but recent results show pressure on visits, satisfaction and margins. The board has asked management to identify a focused way to restore profitable growth without opening many new restaurants.