About Cross & Co | Business Advisor North East England
Business Advisors Who Have Actually Built Businesses
We've been where
you are. Genuinely.
Not consultants who've read about building businesses. Operators who've done it. Under pressure, under-resourced, and with real money on the line. That's the difference, and it's the only reason we started Cross & Co.
What we actually know
We built a business
from a pizza van.
In 2020, with a self-converted van and no staff, we started Up North Pizzeria. No safety net. No external investment. Just the commercial instincts that come from two decades of senior experience applied to something we owned entirely.
It's now a bricks-and-mortar restaurant turning over £560,000 a year. We're not in it day to day, there's a GM and Head Chef who run the operation. We built the commercial structure that makes that possible.
We tell that story not to boast, but because it's the most honest answer to the question every founder asks before hiring an advisor: have you actually done this yourself?
£560k
Annual revenue from a van started in lockdown
Commercial portfolio managed at director level
£150m+
External investment.
Built entirely from scratch
£0
20+
Years senior commercial experience
The hardest thing about building a business isn't the strategy. It's making clear-headed decisions when you're tired, under pressure, and not sure anyone around you has the answers either.
Cross & Co Advisory
We know what it costs to underprice. Because we've done it and fixed it.
We know how hard it is to step back. Because we've had to build the structure that makes it possible.
We know that revenue and profit are two different problems. Because we've navigated both.
We know good advice without implementation is worthless. That's why we stay involved.
Commercial credentials
20 years building commercial
performance at scale.
The advisory work is grounded in a career spent running commercial operations at senior level. Not observing them from the outside.
£150m+ portfolio under active management
Managing commercial strategy, pricing, stock and performance across a portfolio of that scale requires a different level of rigour than most businesses ever encounter.
01
16 business sites coached simultaneously
Coaching operators, running performance reviews, and presenting at board level across 16 sites simultaneously. Pattern recognition at speed.
02
Board-level commercial leadership
Regular board-level presenting, strategy development and deputising as Head of Commercial. Not junior advisory work, but senior decision-making responsibility.
03
Pricing and margin expertise
Built and managed pricing frameworks that operate at scale. The same thinking applied to a smaller business, has an outsized impact fast.
04
Operator coaching at volume
Coaching large numbers of operators across sites means we've seen almost every commercial problem a growing business faces and know what actually fixes them.
05
Hands-on hospitality ownership
Not just commercial advisory. Actual ownership and operation of a hospitality business, from van to restaurant. Real skin in the game.
06
How we work
What Cross & Co stands for.
These aren't website words. They're the things that would make us walk away from a client if we couldn't honour them.
01
Straight talking
We say what we think. If something isn't working, we'll tell you, even if it's uncomfortable. You're paying for clarity, not reassurance.
02
Honest on fit
If we're not the right solution for your business, we'll say so directly and point you somewhere better. We'd rather lose the engagement than take money for something that won't work.
03
Practical over theoretical
Every recommendation we make is tested against one question: can this actually be implemented? Strategy that sits in a document is just an expensive way of feeling busy.
04
Small by design
We work with a deliberately small number of clients at any one time. That's a business decision, not a capacity problem. It means when you're in, you have our full attention.
05
Results, not reports
We measure success by what changes in your business, not by the quality of the slides we produce. If the numbers don't move, the work hasn't worked.
Ready to find out if we're the right fit?
Let's have an honest
conversation about your business.
No pitch. No pressure. Just a free Discovery Call where we look at where you are, what's holding you back, and whether we're the right people to help. The worst outcome is an hour of clarity you didn't have before.
Free · No obligation · Response within one business day
Why we exist
Most advisory is too theoretical.
We built something real first.
Cross & Co started from a frustration shared by most founders we speak to: the advisory world is full of people who are great at telling you what to do and nowhere to be found when you're trying to do it.
Too many strategy documents. Too many frameworks with no commercial grounding. Too many consultants who've never had to make payroll, hold margin under pressure, or make the call that nobody else in the room wants to make.
We wanted to build something different. Practical, commercially grounded support from people who have actually run businesses and who stay alongside you through the implementation, not just the planning.
That's Cross & Co. And it's built on 20+ years of senior commercial experience and a business we started ourselves from scratch.
The story so far
20+ years
Senior commercial leadership
Managing £150m+ commercial portfolios, coaching operators at scale, and presenting strategy at board level across some of the UK's most demanding commercial environments.
2020
Up North Pizzaria. Started from nothing
Founded during lockdown. Self-converted a pizza van from scratch, launched with no staff, no premises, and no guarantee it would work.
2021–22
Scaled into bricks and mortar
Grew the business from a van into a restaurant. Built the team, the systems, and the commercial structure to support sustainable growth.
Now
£560k annual revenue. Runs without us
A general manager and head chef in place. The commercial side handled remotely. Proof that the right structure means founders don't have to be everywhere.
Today
Cross & Co Advisory
Taking everything we've learned as operators, as founders, as commercial directors and putting it to work for growing businesses.