At EKW Group, we specialise in providing accountancy, payroll, and HR support to franchise businesses across a wide range of sectors.
We are not a franchise, we are advisers who support franchise owners and multi-site operators with the financial and operational challenges of running and scaling their businesses.
Key areas we work within include:
- Petrol Station Forecourt Operators
- Hospitality & Licenced Trade
- Care, Education & Domestic Cleaning
- Skilled Trades
- Retail Healthcare
Within each of these sectors, we offer a one-stop shop for all your business’s financial needs, including:
- Multi-Site Payroll and Accounts
- HR Support
- Bookkeeping
- Business Advisory
- Tax Services
- Accounting and Compliance
Further than simply reporting the numbers, we focus on helping franchise businesses improve efficiency, maintain compliance, and scale sustainably.
Trusted by Multi-Site & Franchise-Led Businesses
Our team supports a wide range of multi-location and franchise-led businesses, from growing operators to nationally recognised brands.
Our client base spans a variety of industries, including many recognised brands, such as Boots (Optical & Retail Healthcare), Co-op & Shell (Forecourts & Convenience Retail), Motor Fuel Group & JET (Fuel & Forecourts), Bestway & SPAR (Wholesale & Symbol Groups), Dream Doors (Home Improvement Franchises), Molly Maid (Domestic Services), and Sports and Education Trust & Charlton Athletic (Education & Sport).
This experience allows us to bring practical, real-world insight into the financial challenges of running complex, multi-site operations.
Petrol Station Forecourt Operator
Operating a petrol station forecourt franchise business comes with unique financial challenges and reporting requirements that must be adhered to.
For many operators, the main challenges arise in…
- Ensuring all relevant compliance with environmental legislation, including ownership of relevant permits.
- Insurance requirements, where all staff must carry Employers’ Liability insurance.
- Ensuring fuel inventory is managed to avoid over or understocking.
- Stock control and merchandising for in-store products such as snacks, drinks, and car essentials.
At EKW Group, we support forecourt operators by improving financial visibility, maintaining compliance, and identifying opportunities to increase profitability.
Hospitality & Licensed Trade
The hospitality sector is an integral cornerstone of the UK economy, contributing roughly £93 billion annually and accounting for roughly 3.5 million jobs in the UK, making it the third largest employer after the public and private sectors.
It is no surprise then, that this sector also comes with its own unique financial challenges for owners, especially for those who own franchises.
We understand the challenges your sector contends with, and how to ease the pressure and keep your operations running smoothly.
We provide assistance in:
- Helping with payroll and HR for temporary staff when things get busy, including assisting with workforce planning to keep numbers at a suitable level.
- Making sense of your accounts across multiple sites and making processes more efficient.
- Ensuring compliance with HMRC when selling alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as food.
Care, Education & Domestic Cleaning
Throughout the sectors of care, education, and domestic cleaning there are individual challenges caused by specific reporting and accounting requirements.
Our team could help your business to save thousands of pounds by streamlining your processes and ensuring total compliance.
Sector-specific challenges
Care Sector
- Staying compliant with complex regulatory requirements
- Fluctuating occupancy causing cash flow pressures
- Staff members requiring specific right-to-work checks
- The risk of external auditing
Education Sector
- Heavy regulation around compliance
- Mandatory staff background checks (DBS)
- Seasonal demand fluctuations
- Measuring outcomes can be tricky
Domestic Cleaning Sector
- Must have all relevant insurances
- Employees need to be registered correctly
- Staff usually require a background check
- Compliance with health and safety
Our approach helps reduce administrative burden while ensuring full compliance across your operations.
Skilled Trades
The skilled trades sector is key to maintaining our country, involving construction and engineering, skilled trades are vital to ensure people have places to live, cars to drive, and equipment to use.
This sector, therefore, comes with its own unique reporting obligations and finance challenges when it comes to accounting.
We have years of experience providing top-quality franchise accounting to a range of businesses within this sector, and we know the specific problems businesses like yours face.
Key issues this sector often deals with include:
- Difficulty forecasting cash flow due to jobs often differing in scale
- Payroll vs contractor classification
- Cost volatility from materials
- Tax and VAT complexity depending on the specific trade
We provide the financial clarity needed to support growth in a fast-moving sector.
Retail Healthcare & Optical Businesses
Retail healthcare businesses, including optical providers, operate at the intersection of retail performance and clinical compliance.
With experience supporting organisations in this space, we understand:
- Managing both clinical and retail staff payroll
- Regulatory and compliance requirements
- Stock and margin control
- Multi-site financial reporting
This makes us well placed to support franchise and multi-site operators in regulated environments.
