Restaurant Bookkeeping and Accounting 101

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how to do bookkeeping for a restaurant

Solid restaurant accounting will help your eatery become and stay a successful business. Think of it like “balancing the checkbook.” Taking time to reconcile bookkeeping with your bank accounts is critical. You should keep a watchful eye on things to make sure the money is getting to your bank account and that nothing is being left unaccounted for. Getting the right payroll data will help you understand these costs and make adjustments to your workforce to optimize profitability.

In the fast-paced, tight-margin world of restaurant management, a professional bookkeeper can be a steady organizing force. Restaurant Point-of-Sale or Point-of-Service software enables all customer transactions at touch screens, payment terminals, and other points of sale. Many have back-end functionality that also tracks and manages your expenditures. Accurately predicting your cash flow is crucial to making key decisions about your business—such as whether you can afford to hire more staff or upgrade your kitchen equipment. Running a restaurant can be an incredibly rewarding job, but it’s also a challenge. One of the more difficult parts, and a key factor in any restaurant’s success or failure, is how well you manage your restaurant’s finances.

Using Bill.com for Restaurant Accounts Payable

You may feel that they are pulling you away from where the real action is, out front and in the kitchen. Many new restaurant owners manage their own bookkeeping and work with a certified public accountant (CPA) at tax time. That’s why it’s essential to put strong bookkeeping and accounting systems in place before you open your doors.

  • Restaurants handle a lot of money from individual customers throughout the day.
  • The more information you have, the more accurate your account will be.
  • The truth is, once restaurants start outsourcing bookkeeping, the benefits can be profound.
  • The daily sales report is your quintessential end-of-day report that measures costs, sales, and future sales.
  • When you own a restaurant, proper bookkeeping and accounting are necessary if you want to keep your doors open.

We recommend brand-name products, such as QuickBooks, because they offer specialized modules that are specifically meant for restaurant accounting. You may have some burning questions about accounting for restaurants and its importance. For instance, what is the difference between accounting and bookkeeping? What role does an accountant play in a restaurant, among other questions. Let’s have a look at some of these questions and what you really need to know. Even in small businesses, restaurant accounting is a function that requires the contribution of several players.

How do you handle bookkeeping for a restaurant? 5 Easy Steps!

It can also be integrated with over 1,000 other programs, including accounting systems, vendors and inventory companies, and payroll companies. However, QuickBooks has a variety of plans that offer different features depending on your business structure. You can contact them via phone or through their site to discuss your business needs and budget.

What are 3 powerful restaurant revenue management strategies?

Extending your operation hours, training your staff to upsell orders, offering special discounts on low business days, additional food services and adding seats at your restaurant are all ways of managing revenue for your restaurant.

A balance sheet spells out the restaurant’s equity, liabilities, and assets during a specified time frame. This report is used to assess the financial health of the restaurant and to forecast short-term and long-term cash flow. The chart of accounts how to do bookkeeping for a restaurant includes assets, liabilities, revenue, expenses, and owner’s equity. This chart can be broken down into subcategories that specifically tailor to your business. That way, each category can easily be monitored and compared to industry averages.

Best Accounting Software for Restaurants

While there are many restaurant accounting solutions, it’s important for you to understand restaurant accounting basics and how it applies to your business. Restaurants handle a lot of money from individual customers throughout the day. Managing money can get overwhelming and time-consuming very quickly. And let’s be honest, it really can be if you don’t have the right tools to keep everything under control. At SynergySuite, we plug into your restaurant’s bookkeeping operations, so your business runs smoothly.

how to do bookkeeping for a restaurant

Whether you hire outside help for your bookkeeping or do it all yourself, these 5 restaurant accounting concepts break down the basics… in plain English. At NEXT, we offer customizable, affordable insurance for food and beverage businesses to keep your cash flow healthy. We’re fully online, so restaurateurs get a quote, choose a policy and get their certificate of insurance in a process that could take less than 10 minutes. Schedule a demo of our restaurant management system today to discover which features and modules will work best for your business. When it comes to restaurants bookkeeping, you may have a lot on your mind.

See what’s on our menu

If you incorrectly file your payroll taxes or file them late, the penalties and interest you will be assessed can be quite large. Released in 2012, Restaurant365 is a cloud-based software solution designed specifically for restaurant owners. It offers a comprehensive platform to meet the needs of restaurants of all sizes, as well as owners ranging from beginners to experienced bookkeepers. If you’re not sure which type of loan is the best fit, you may want to consult your accountant. An experienced accountant can also help you navigate the loan application process, which includes preparing financial statements and a business plan.

Pricing for Xero ranges from $12 to $65 per month, and you can try each one with unlimited users free for 30 days. The $12/month plan is called Early and includes 20 invoices, five bill entries, reconciles bank transactions and captures bills and receipts. Insureon has licensed agents who work exclusively https://www.bookstime.com/ with restaurant owners. These dedicated agents know the specific risks restaurant owners face, and can help ensure your business is protected with the right policies and coverage limits. Though paying employees may seem like a straightforward task, it’s more complex than you might think.

Connecting Shogo to Your POS System

This entails reporting what you’ve withheld from employees’ paychecks for federal income and Social Security / Medicare taxes, and then paying those amounts to the IRS. If your business is subject to excise tax, that will also need to be paid quarterly. Depending on the laws in your state, you may also be required to make quarterly tax payments to the state. Although there are lots of best practices to consider in accounting, it is more helpful to start with the fundamental.

Restaurant owners typically don’t have access to a traditional employer-paid 401(k) plan, but there are other retirement plans designed with small business owners in mind. Some options to consider include the Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA or Roth IRA. A financial planner can help you choose a plan to help you meet your retirement goals. Staying on top of the day-today bookkeeping is essential to staying ahead of your competition and turning a profit. Food cost management enables you to see where you’re doing well… and what areas need improvement. And a small restaurant will probably have a low prime cost in comparison.

Restaurant365

You must record precise amounts of money for every expense and all revenue. Rounding up or down by a few cents or dollars can add up over the course of a week or month and begin to affect your bottom line. If the restaurant is going to make a go of it, the first thing a restaurant accountant should do is work with the owner to have a business strategy and budget in place. Fred Decker learned business fundamentals at second hand as an insurance and mutual funds broker, and at firsthand as a retail store manager and the chef/proprietor of his own restaurants. He has written hundreds of business-related articles for sites including Zacks.com, Chron.com, Vitamix.com, Bizfluent and GoBankingRates and many others. He was educated at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

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