Build a Restaurant Back Office That Teaches You About Your Own Business

Restaurant owners open the monthly P&L, looks at sales, then skips to the bottom line, and closes the report.

Do these sound like familiar?

The report may be totally correct, but if they are the only two numbers being reviewed the bulk of its value is left unreviewed.

A reliable bookkeeping system for restaurants will not put more restaurant owners on accountants. It should help them feel confident in their own financials. You don’t have to know every accounting rule or spend nights entering invoices. You do need to understand the reasons why profit fluctuated from the costs of food and labour and what issues need attention next week.

That’s the philosophy Bookkeeping Chef’s mission: to Automate the bookkeeping task that doesn’t require a proprietor’s time and gives restaurant managers greater financial transparency that they can utilize.

You must begin looking at the Weekly Numbers and not just month-end numbers.

While restaurants don’t operate in a calendar month, they still need to have a P&L. Managers plan the labor for this week. Chefs order food today. Vendors change prices now.

Bookkeeping Chef offers weekly flash reports on prime costs and monthly financial statements.

Prime cost combines the price of the goods sold and labor. These are two main areas that can move quickly in an establishment. Bookkeeping Chef’s supplied information notes that the prime cost typically accounts for roughly 60% of the sales at restaurants.

Imagine sales haven’t drastically changed and the prime cost has increased. The percentage alone does not give the answer. It provides the person with a reason to investigate.

Is the hourly wage increasing? Was there overtime? Was the cost of food fluctuating? A vendor’s invoice appeared to be unusually big? Did sales mix changes?

It’s better to identify the issue sooner rather as opposed to later.

Automate repetitive tasks

DIY bookkeeping does not have to be a manual process of transferring POS (point of sale) amounts onto spreadsheets.

Automating bookkeeping for restaurants can assist in the repetitive movement of financial data. The service is able to integrate systems such as POS as well as QuickBooks payroll vendor platforms, and inventory management.

Automatization is not the aim.

This is to decrease the amount of manual data entry. Also, it keeps current financial records so that owners can focus on reviewing information, rather than 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.

Learn to ask the P&L More Questions

If you stop thinking of the P&L as a test it will become less daunting.

Begin with sales. Look at the cost necessary to achieve the sales. Compare the food and beverages performances. Study the cost of labor. Keep working to cut down your operating expenses.

The importance of comparing periods.

Something that lies between these two lines has changed if sales have been increasing, but profits have not. Consider what has changed in the company as food prices increased. If the labor rate changed by a significant amount, you can compare sales and staffing activity. Find any data that seems odd, instead of assuming that the restaurant was not doing well during the week.

Bookkeeping Chef provides monthly P&Ls finalized within five business days. This gives owners the chance to examine recent performance, not receiving accounts long after the operating period is over.

If you are a restaurant owner looking for bookkeeping solutions, speed is a must however understanding is the greater goal.

It’s not necessary to take on everything by yourself when you make it DIY

It is not necessary to be your own full time bookkeeper in order to avoid transferring the entire accounting responsibility to another person.

You could be a part of a business owner and not be required to complete all accounting duties manually.

That might mean making use of automated system connections to keep information flowing by reviewing a weekly prime-cost report, studying the monthly P&L, and asking questions in the event of an unexpected change.

A specialist in restaurant bookkeeping can aid in this manner by maintaining the books in order and helping the owner to know what they are.

The result is not an owner who knows how to perform every bookkeeping function.

An owner can talk to an P&L regarding the business.

The objective of financial independence is not to produce more reports, but to be able to live a life of financial freedom.

Restaurants create a lot data. A different dashboard might not be efficient.

Value is realized when an operator can open an P&L report, and see that there has been a change, and then review the reports on the cost of prime.

Bookkeeping Chef s approach combines restaurant accounting automation, daily reports, monthly P&Ls and special financial assistance for restaurants, making this possible.

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

You don’t have to be an accountant to be an.

Owners who are knowledgeable about the financial aspects of their own restaurants are able to make better choices.