Full-time equivalents spent on work that is the same every week, by function. Head office and venue manager admin time.
TodayHeadless
Rosters and timesheets
18 → 7
Invoices and stock
16 → 6
Reviews and guest messages
14 → 6
Reporting and finance
12 → 6
Total35 FTE of time back. 63,000 hours a year.60 → 25
02 · The stack
Your stack. Built by us. Owned by you.
PADISO is not in your stack. We choose the agents, wire them into the systems you already run, and set the rules inside your own tools. Every account, contract and log is in your name.
You
CEO and venue leads
7am daily summaryApprovals in TeamsWeekly operating review
Agents
Bought, not built
Deputy auto schedulingMarketManApprovalMaxBirdeyeSevenRoomsCustom Claude agents on n8n
The rules
Set in your own tools
Approval thresholds in SlackSpend caps in each vendorAudit logs you keepWeekly accuracy checks
Systems of record
Stay as they are
LightspeedDeputyXeroMicrosoft 365TeamsBank feeds
Models: Claude, GPT, Gemini or Grok, chosen per task on accuracy and cost. Swappable without a rebuild.Custom agents: only where no product exists. Here, one: the weekly flash report and close prep.
03 · The playbook
Function by function, step by step.
The tools, the order of work, the guardrail and what it is worth. Detailed enough to implement.
Rosters and timesheets
Weeks 5 to 8
Roster build, per venue
3 days → Overnight
Hours back a year
19,800
Net EBITDA a year
$660K
Tools
DeputyLightspeedTeams
Steps
1Connect Lightspeed sales to Deputy. Set labour targets as a percent of forecast sales per venue.
2Deputy drafts rosters from demand forecasts, staff availability and award rules.
3Venue managers review the overnight drafts and publish. Shift swaps run through the app.
4Timesheets are approved against rosters. Exceptions only reach payroll.
People keep
Hiring, culture, the floor on a busy night
Guardrail
Rosters over labour target and any overtime need a manager yes.
Invoices and stock
Weeks 8 to 11
Invoice processing
4 days → Same day
Hours back a year
18,000
Net EBITDA a year
$600K
Tools
MarketManApprovalMaxXero
Steps
1Route every supplier invoice to MarketMan. AI scanning reads the lines, prices and credits.
2Prices are checked against agreed supplier lists. Variances are flagged before payment.
3ApprovalMax routes bills by venue and amount, then they post to Xero.
4Stocktakes on tablets. Theoretical against actual food cost reported weekly by venue.
People keep
Supplier deals, menu costing, waste
Guardrail
Price rises over 5% and every payment batch need a yes.
Reviews and guest messages
Weeks 11 to 14
Review reply time
6 days → Same day
Hours back a year
14,400
Net EBITDA a year
$480K
Tools
BirdeyeSevenRooms
Steps
1Pull every review and guest inbox into Birdeye across 30 venues and all platforms.
2Write the brand voice and rules once. AI drafts replies. Managers approve the negatives.
3SevenRooms handles booking requests and changes. Function enquiries route to the events team.
One and two star replies and any refund need a manager.
Reporting and finance
Weeks 13 to 16
Weekly flash report
Thursday → Mon 7am
Hours back a year
10,800
Net EBITDA a year
$360K
Tools
XeroLightspeedClaude agent on n8n
Steps
1Map Lightspeed, Deputy and Xero to one chart of accounts by venue.
2A Claude agent on n8n builds the weekly flash: sales, labour and cost of goods by venue.
3Bank lines reconcile nightly in Xero. Exceptions only reach finance.
4The agent runs the month-end checklist. Finance reviews accruals and signs.
People keep
Cash, capex, landlords and the bank
Guardrail
Journals over $10K and all payments need finance sign-off.
Tools named are what we would shortlist for this business today. No paid placements and no vendor affiliation. Best of breed moves fast, so the stack is reviewed every quarter.
04 · How it runs
Faster on every measure that matters.
Shorter bar is better. Same business, same team leads, same systems.
Roster build, per venue9× faster
Today
3 days
Headless
Overnight
Invoice processing12× faster
Today
4 days
Headless
Same day
Review reply time18× faster
Today
6 days
Headless
Same day
Weekly flash report14× faster
Today
4 days after
Headless
7 hours after
Wage cost over target74% tighter
Today
3.1 pts
Headless
0.8 pts
Approvals reaching the CEO90% fewer
Today
50 a week
Headless
5 a week
05 · The money
$8.8M EBITDA becomes $10.9M.
Each function adds to the bottom line. Figures are net of software, models and running the agents.
$8.8M
Today
+$660K
Rosters
+$600K
Invoices and stock
+$480K
Reviews and guests
+$360K
Reporting and finance
$10.9M
Headless
EBITDA margin
8%→9.9%
How the $2.10M is built
35 FTE × $80K$2.80MSoftware, models, running, 25%−$0.70MNet a year$2.10M
06 · The 16 weeks
One function at a time. Value from week 8.
Each function runs in shadow mode for two weeks: agents draft, people send. Nothing goes live until accuracy holds above 90%.
12345678910111213141516
Diagnostic
Diagnostic
Rosters
Live wk 8
Invoices and stock
Live wk 11
Reviews and guests
Live wk 14
Reporting, finance
Live wk 16
DiagnosticShadow modeLive
Annual EBITDA run rate, by week
$2.10M by week 16
12345678910111213141516
Milestones
Week 4Board signs off the case, the stack and the guardrails
Week 8Deputy rosters overnight in all 30 venues. $0.66M run rate
Week 11MarketMan invoice capture live. $1.26M
Week 14Birdeye replies and SevenRooms live. $1.74M
Week 16Flash report at 7am Monday. Handover to Operate. $2.10M
07 · After
The CEO’s Monday, headless.
One summary at 7am. Two decisions. The rest of the day goes on venues and guests.
Daily summaryMon 7:00am
$2.1M
sales across 30 venues last week
27.8%
wage cost, 0.4 pts under target
318
reviews replied to
Waiting for you · 2
Function $18K · 140 guests · deposit receivedApprove
Price rise 9% · seafood supplier · 6 venuesReview
Rosters published for next week · Books reconciled to Sunday
Always waits for a human yes
Rosters over labour targetevery one
Supplier price risesover 5%
Refundsover $100
Low star review repliesevery one
Supplier paymentsevery batch
Illustrative model: 35 FTE of repeatable work at $80K fully loaded, less 25% for software, models and running the agents. 1,800 hours per FTE a year. Not a client result. A Diagnostic replaces these with your numbers. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
What would your business look like headless?
30 minutes with our founder. We sketch your before and after, and your stack, on the call.