When a restaurant’s weekly salmon order suddenly spikes in price, Emma Whelan wants chefs adjusting menus the next morning—not tallying losses a month later. “The system will alert them if the price of salmon (has) gone up unexpectedly,” she tells us, describing MarginEdge’s real‑time cost engine. It is a small but telling vignette from Whelan’s first months as CFO, and it captures the company’s wider ambition: “MarginEdge wants to create a world where restaurant operators can focus on great food and great service without having to worry about the back office,” she tells us.
Read MoreWhelan explains that the platform “automate(s) the key back office tasks like invoice processing, inventory and recipe costing” by pulling data directly from point‑of‑sale systems and scanned invoices. That automation replaces hours of spreadsheet drudgery and—more critically—turns yesterday’s paperwork into today’s decision support. The salmon alert, she notes, lets owners “switch vendors, re‑price the menu, or adjust portion sizes before it starts to impact their margins,” a response time that can separate profitable months from painful ones.
Her strategic priorities echo the same urgency. Backed by Osage, Schooner Capital and Ten Coves Capital, Whelan directs new funding primarily to R&D so the software stays “at the cutting edge” of restaurant needs. Investing in talent runs a close second; Glassdoor awards and sky‑high satisfaction scores, she tells us, prove that an engaged workforce builds better products—and happier customers feel the difference. In Whelan’s finance playbook, speed, clarity and culture work together, just like ingredients in a well‑seasoned dish.
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CFOTL: You’ve just joined MarginEdge as CFO. Tell us about the company and the opportunity it’s pursuing today.
Whelan: MarginEdge wants to create a world where restaurant operators can focus on great food and great service without worrying about back‑office chores. We automate key tasks—invoice processing, inventory, recipe costing—and deliver real‑time insight into each restaurant’s costs and performance, so owners can stay on hospitality, not paperwork. The average operator might spend hours hand‑keying invoices and updating spreadsheets; our platform pulls data straight from point‑of‑sale systems and scanned invoices, then shows food costs instantly instead of at month‑end.
Read MoreIf a restaurant orders salmon every week and the price jumps on the second of the month, our system flags it on the third. That alert lets the operator switch vendors, reprice the menu, or adjust portion sizes before margins are hit—instead of finding out on the fifth of the following month. Because invoices flow automatically into the accounting system, managers no longer spend evenings entering data. We become the connective tissue between purchases, POS data, and the books, taking care of the work few restaurant people enjoy and freeing them to concentrate on what inspired them to open a restaurant in the first place.
MarginEdge | www.marginedge.com | Arlington, VA