Job Title: Cost Accountant
Location: Surulere, Lagos
Employment Type: Full-time
Job Summary
- We are seeking a highly analytical and commercially minded Food Cost & Cost Control Accountant to strengthen our financial and operational cost-control function.
- The successful candidate will be responsible for monitoring and controlling the cost of food production across Greenfield's locations and ensuring that every meal, menu, client order, function and special catering request is properly costed before production or commitment.
- The role requires someone who understands both accounting and food operations and can translate purchasing, inventory, recipes, production, wastage and sales data into actionable cost and profitability information.
Key Responsibilities
- Cost every meal and menu item produced by Greenfield and maintain accurate recipe and portion cost sheets.
- Cost all client orders, functions, special orders and catering requests before production or acceptance.
- Calculate ingredient, packaging, labour, logistics and other direct costs applicable to each order.
- Establish standard recipe costs, portion sizes, yields and expected food-cost percentages.
- Monitor actual food cost against standard/budgeted cost and investigate significant variances.
- Calculate and monitor cost per meal, cost per plate and cost per client/location.
- Review food requisitions and purchases against expected production requirements.
- Monitor supplier price changes and assess their impact on menu and order profitability.
- Reconcile opening stock, purchases, transfers, store issues, production and closing stock.
- Monitor food wastage, spoilage, preparation losses, cooking yield and overproduction.
- Conduct regular physical stock and cost-control audits across Greenfield locations.
- Identify unexplained stock losses, excessive consumption, purchasing inefficiencies and other cost leakages.
- Support the preparation of client quotations by providing accurate cost and margin analysis.
- Review the profitability of each major client, contract, menu and catering order.
- Prepare daily, weekly and monthly cost-control reports and management dashboards.
- Work closely with Finance, Procurement, Stores, Operations, Production and the Group Chef to implement cost-reduction initiatives.
- Provide management with recommendations where food costs, wastage, pricing or margins fall outside approved thresholds.
- Develop and maintain cost-control procedures that improve financial discipline without compromising food quality or service delivery.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- 100% of meals/menu items accurately costed.
- 100% of client orders and special catering requests costed before production/commitment.
- 100% of quotations supported by documented cost and margin analysis.
- Cost-per-meal maintained within approved budget/target.
- Food-cost variance maintained within approved tolerance.
- Inventory variance maintained within approved tolerance.
- Measurable reduction in avoidable food wastage.
- 100% of significant cost variances investigated and reported.
- Monthly client/location profitability reports submitted within agreed timelines.
- Monthly cost-control dashboard submitted by the 3rd–5th working day.
- Documented cost savings and leakage prevention initiatives implemented quarterly.
Qualifications & Experience
- B.Sc./HND in Accounting, Finance, Economics or a related discipline.
- Minimum 4 years' relevant accounting/cost-control experience.
- Experience in industrial catering, hospitality, restaurants/QSR, food manufacturing or FMCG is strongly preferred.
- Professional qualification such as ICAN/ACA, ACCA or CIMA is an advantage.
- Strong knowledge of food costing, inventory control, standard costing and variance analysis.
- Strong Excel skills, including Pivot Tables, XLOOKUP/VLOOKUP, SUMIFS and financial modelling.
- Experience with accounting, ERP or inventory management systems.
- Strong analytical, numerical and problem-solving skills.
- High attention to detail and strong commercial awareness.
- Ability to work with chefs, storekeepers, procurement teams and finance professionals.
- Ability to independently identify and challenge unexplained costs and operational leakages.
Salary
N450,000 - N550,000 / month.
Application Closing Date
22nd September, 2026.
Interested and qualified candidates should submit their applications to: hrmanager@greenfieldlimited.com using "Application – Cost Accountant" as the subject of the email.
Note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
