The restaurant’s owner will look at the sales, and then the bottom line, before closing the report.

Do you recognize the sound?

The report could be completely correct, but if they are the only two numbers being reviewed the bulk of its value is put to waste.

A reliable bookkeeping system for restaurants should not increase the dependence of restaurant owners on accountants. It should help them become more confident with their own financials. It’s not required to sit long hours completing invoices, or be aware of every accounting rule. It is important to know the reasons why profit fluctuated, what happened to the cost of food and labor and which issues require attention next week.

Bookkeeping Chef’s philosophy is to automate bookkeeping tasks that don’t require the time of restaurant owners, and provide the restaurant owners with better financial data they can access.

You Should Start By Looking at Weekly Numbers and Not Just Month-End

Although restaurants are not operating in a calendar month, they still need to have a P&L. The managers plan the work for the week. Chefs order food today. Vendors change prices now.

Bookkeeping Chef’s weekly prime-cost reports are published alongside the monthly financial statements.

The principal cost includes the labor and goods costs, two areas in which an establishment can make rapid progress. The information provided by the Bookkeeping Chef indicates that prime costs usually comprise approximately 60% of sales in restaurants.

Imagine sales haven’t drastically changed, but prime cost rises. This percentage doesn’t provide an answer. It provides the person with the reason to conduct an investigation.

Was there an increase in the number of hours working? Was there overtime? Food costs changed? Did a vendor invoice seem uncharacteristically high? Did the sales mix change?

This is far more beneficial than finding the same issue two weeks later.

Automate repetitive tasks

DIY bookkeeping doesn’t need to be done manually by transferring POS (point of sale) totals into spreadsheets.

Automating restaurant bookkeeping can help in the repetitive movement of financial data. The service can connect to systems such as POS as well as QuickBooks, payroll vendor platforms, inventory and recipe management as well as tools for AP/payment.

Automating just for the sake of automated is not the aim.

It’s to make it easier for manual data entry, and keep financial records up-to-date so that owners have the ability to spend time reviewing information instead of gathering it.

That creates a different model of bookkeeping for restaurants: technology handles more of the mechanics while the owner remains engaged with the financial meaning.

P&L Questions: Learn How to Ask More Effective Questions

A P&L can be a lot less intimidating when you stop thinking of it as an accounting exam.

Begin with sales. Then, you can look at the cost of production. Compare food and beverage performance. Think about the labor. Move down through operating expenses and then look at what’s left.

Also, you should compare the time periods.

If sales increase but profits do not, there is an alteration between them. Find out what happened in the company in the event that food costs went up. Examine sales and staffing levels to see if labor percent has changed. Find out if a figure seems odd, rather than assuming that the restaurant went through a bad period.

Bookkeeping Chef delivers monthly P&Ls with five days. This allows owners to view recent performance without waiting for financial reports that typically arrive months after the conclusion of an operational period.

Understanding is more important than speed for owners searching for bookkeeping solutions in restaurants.

DIY Doesn’t Mean Making Everything You Need

There’s a middle-ground between delegating the entire financial functions to someone else and establishing yourself as your own full-time bookkeeper.

Owners can still be involved in the process of accounting without needing to complete every task by hand.

This may mean the use of automated systems to keep track of information flow, reviewing an annual P&L and a weekly report on primary expenses and asking questions in the event that something unexpected occurs.

Specialized bookkeeping services for restaurants can aid in this process by organizing the books while helping the proprietor understand what the reports mean.

This doesn’t mean the bookkeeper will be competent to handle every bookkeeping task.

Owners who are able take a seat and converse intelligently about their business and the P&L will have more success.

The goal is financial security without reporting

Restaurants generate a lot of data. Another dashboard might not be efficient.

Real value occurs the moment an operator opens a P&L report, and see that there has been a change and then look at the prime-cost reports.

Bookkeeping Chef’s method combines restaurant accounting automation, weekly reports, monthly P&Ls as well as special financial assistance for restaurants, making this process possible.

Automate repetitive work. Examine your prime costs each week. Learn to speak the same language as your P&L.

It’s not necessary to become an accountant.

You must be a successful owner who knows the financial story behind your own restaurant.