But our team of professionals has years of industry experience and strives to provide a true and collaborative experience. Our team of experts offers services from bookkeeping, to controller and CFO level services. In the restaurant industry, information is only useful when it is delivered in an accurate and timely manner.

Many restaurant owners fall into the trap of trying to do everything themselves, including bookkeeping and payroll. But what if I told you, while you might be saving hundreds of dollars each month not paying for those services, that you’re probably losing thousands of dollars each month in operating expenses? Let’s talk about how to manage restaurant accounting so it best serves you and your restaurant. Accurate restaurant accounting has a multitude of benefits for the success and growth of your business.

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For business owners, this is good news – but it can make identifying an ideal partner more difficult. Fully integrated restaurant accounting software will capture and report information from the POS system. This information is then reconciled and posted to both the banking account and General Ledger within minutes. A complete audit trail is provided from the source of information to the destination.

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It’s a tool for a valuing a restaurant and gauges a restaurant’s earning potential. A start up costs report helps you stay focused and on budget, so you don’t get to the end of your money before you’ve got what you need to open . A restaurant balance sheet lists your assets, liabilities, and equity. Assets are things you own, like equipment, inventory, and straight cash. Liabilities are things like vendor bills and restaurant equipment loans.

What is a restaurant bookkeeper?

It’s great that a customer raved about a dish, but what are the numbers telling you? Your POS can give you deep insights on best and worst sellers, menu sales trends over time, and your inventory status. Prime costs are one of the most important KPIs for restaurateurs. Prime costs account for all the costs required to produce and distribute your product. For every dollar that comes in, your prime cost is the amount of that dollar that goes to people and product .

So here are the essentials of restaurant accounting and bookkeeping when it comes toreports, processes, and KPIs. Hurting the cash flow of businesses across many industries, handling accounting and bookkeeping internally may be your best option if you want to minimize expenses. Prime costs is the sum of your restaurant’s costs to sell its food, drinks and products—your COGS as mentioned above—plus the labor costs of your salaried and casual staff. Industry averages suggest your prime costs should be between 55% and 60%. Our affordable bookkeeping services keep restaurant owners from spreading themselves too thin.

Four ways restaurant operators can help make their bookkeepers’ and accounting teams’ lives easier:

Get clear reports that show how changes to your menu can change your cash flow. The role of an accountant cuts across all areas of operations in a restaurant. They need to count inventory on a weekly basis to ensure there’s neither too much nor too little.

You buy yourself time to develop, manage and hold your managers accountable. Make sure they know what you want done, how you want it done, how well you want it done and by when. You also need to manage all those new priorities and tasks, from manager meetings to a list of tasks you want them to get done to projects. You have to take an active role and then ultimately hold them accountable. They decide to do their job or not, and they’re answerable for the resulting consequences. I sit in amazement as I type to have had this opportunity to grow in my business.

Although accounting for restaurants is a topic that many restaurateurs try to avoid, it is an essential element of running a business. You cannot manage your restaurantproperly without going into the accounting details. Even if you hire a professional to handle all the financial aspects of your business, you need to understand what is involved. A strong understanding of the basic accounting practices allows you grow your profitability and run your restaurant in a financially sustainable manner.

Paying your bills on time and keeping your vendors and suppliers happy is essential for the efficient functioning of a restaurant. The accounts payable represents the amount you owe the suppliers. This is further broken down into business-specific categories or sub-accounts, such as inventory, sales, and marketing.

monthly reporting

The four-week cycle eliminates the need to accrue payroll if you have a bi-weekly pay period. Your P&L statements will then reflect 28 days of actual sales and 28 days of actual payroll. Putting a financial system and strong controls in place is only half the battle. Monthly reporting harnesses the power of information and puts it to work for your enterprise. SLC Bookkeeping can help you with, reconciliations, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, cash flow, and budgeting and forecasting. Make better decisions based on accurate and timely reporting that uses real-time financial data.

Make sure you hire a bookkeeper, an accountant, a combination of both, or an office that has it all. You want professionals who are going to gather all the information on a weekly basis or daily basis, make sure your bills are paid and that your books are tied out. Make sure they’re advising you and helping you make appropriate changes and that you have the right chart of accounts. Your books are a report card that you can look at to understand your business and use to make good decisions to move your business forward.

A couple of percentage points up or down in any of these categories can make the difference between survival and flailing through a sea of debt. No matter how busy the restaurant is if costs are too high, tight margins mean you can fail. This means designing a profitable menu, scheduling staff to match demand, tracking waste, checking inventories, and establishing an ordering system that avoids spoilage. The smartest and most sensible step here is, of course, becoming a Hone client. We can help you with every aspect of the foodservice industry, from tip-sharing to managing merchant fees, to food costing and planning location expansions.

• Pay your taxes.Part of the reasoning behind hiring an accountant is ensuring you correctly track your taxes.
• This can have a great impact on your payroll and other restaurant costs.
• Sadly, the odds are high that financial aspects shuttered the business and shattered dreams.
• With an automated invoice processing system, this is even easier!

Overhead rates are fixed costs of running your business, such as rent and insurance. This will give you an insight into how much your business costs to run. Depending on the type of restaurant you run, though, costs may be higher or lower. To evaluate the costs, divide the staff into groups of kitchen staff or managers to see which group is costing you more.

See how the bookkeeping boston industry is using technology to continually improve. Stories of how restaurants of all shapes and sizes succeed with Restaurant365. Whether you like to watch, read, or connect, Restaurant365 has a growing menu of information to keep you up-to-date on restaurant news and best practices. Restaurant365 seamlessly connects with leading vendor, technology, channel, and service partners to put your business in one place, one click away. Get actionable, dynamic data to power profits and efficient growth.