4 Restaurant Bookkeeping Templates to Keep on Top of Your Accounting

The next restaurant accounting area you’ll need to pay attention to is the expenses. Tracking expenses monthly and even weekly helps you understand how you can improve and cut down spending. It’s imperative that your bookkeeper or firm maintain an accurate record of your restaurant’s bookkeeping san francisco sales tax obligations, and stay on top of actually paying the sales tax on time. You will want to find out from the bookkeeper how much you are actually paying each month. And it saves the average restaurant 9 hours per month managing invoices, inventory, and food cost work.

Most restaurants would have an inventory turnover of times for food and times for beverages,” he said. Food cost is the ratio of a restaurant’s cost of ingredients (food inventory) and the revenue those ingredients create when you sell menu items. Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the total cost of all the ingredients you use to make menu items, right down to the garnishes, condiments, and herbs. Usually, about a third of a restaurant’s gross revenue goes towards paying for COGS. It’s an important number for your business, so check out our complete guide to learn more about COGS and grab a formula to help you calculate it.

Menu item profitability

Restaurant accounting software can help you to manage your books and records yourself. Going with the right software may even help you save money in the long run. Restaurant accounting software includes financial software and point of sale (POS) systems. These programs are designed to help you organize your inventory counts and transactions quickly and accurately. A restaurant profit and loss statement, or P&L, keeps all restaurant accounting information organized in one concise document. This method is usually best for restaurant accounting because you have to regularly track your inventory, and it gives you a more accurate view of your financial situation.

That’s because there are liability issues and high penalty fees on the line for mistakes made in payroll. On the downside, outsourcing accounting for your restaurant could lead to communication lapses, especially if they’re in a different time zone or city. You’ll also give them your financial information, trust their financial decisions, and might have to pay a higher price upfront.

Calculating Costs

Restaurant operators can see their establishments improve sales, purchases, and even smoother payroll and inventory managements. That’s why we want to take you through some of the common terms, reports and processes for understanding bookkeeping and accounting for restaurants. Whether you’re curious about how to do bookkeeping, or working with a bookkeeper and accountant, this guide is here to help. A balance sheet lists your assets, liabilities (debt) and equities at a given time, providing an overarching view of your restaurant’s financial health.

• If you’re opening a franchise restaurant business, such as Pizza Hut or TGI Friday’s, you’ll source your food directly from suppliers as instructed by the home office.
• The cash accounting method is a simpler way to do accounting for your restaurant.
• From an accounting perspective, I think Gusto has one of the best general ledger QuickBooks imports of all the payroll providers.
• Most restaurants accept credit cards and settle the batch on a daily basis.
• These systems include financial software and point of sale (POS) systems to help you quickly organize inventory counts and execute transactions.
• Analyze your overall food costs often and stack it up compared to your total projects for virtually every item on your menu.

As with anything in your business, it’s crucial to set measurable and achievable goals to keep on track and continuously improve to attain sustainable growth. It’s estimated https://www.bookstime.com/bookkeeping-services/dallas that the average profit margin for a full-service restaurant sits around 3-5%. Restaurant accounting is an essential part of running a business and has several benefits.