A Step-by-Step Guide to Bookkeeping for Restaurants
Owning and running a restaurant can be a lot of fun. As any owner knows, it's also a lot of work. Between managing staff, inventory, guests, and your books, there are hardly enough hours in the day. We're here to help with the bookkeeping side of things, and that includes sharing this step-by-step guide for bookkeeping for restaurants.
The truth is, once restaurants start outsourcing bookkeeping, the benefits can be profound. From streamlined systems to cost savings and a lot more time back for other things, you'll be so glad to have this critical task taken care of.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Bookkeeping for Restaurants
Here's how it works!
Find the right bookkeeper for your restaurant
The first step is finding the right bookkeeper for your business. In this case, that means finding a bookkeeper with plenty of experience working with restaurants. The food and beverage industry is a unique one. The right bookkeeper for your restaurant will be familiar with FOH and BOH operations and how to optimize your books for your business.
Not to mention, they'll be able to share their wealth of insight and experience with your business. That means you can benefit from the lessons other restaurants may have learned the hard way!
Choosing accounting software
Have your receipts and records been kept in a shoebox under your desk until now? It's time to get accounting software set up!
If you're outsourcing bookkeeping for restaurants, this will be included in the services. Accounting software takes a lot of guesswork out of the process, and tracking things digitally will save copious amounts of time.
Create the chart of accounts
You need to know the money that's going in and out of your restaurant, right? That's what your chart of accounts is for.
This needs to be set up to include assets, owner's equity, liabilities, expenses, and revenue. From there, this report gets broken down into even more categories, including inventory and marketing. Depending on your restaurant's operations, these categories can be further specialized.
POS System
If your restaurant has yet to get a POS system up and running, it's time to do that now! This is used for cash and inventory management, back-office reporting, and much more. It can even be connected to your accounting software to further streamline your operations.
Bookkeeping for Restaurants: Important Reports
While there are some basic reports virtually every business needs, there are several additional reports you may need when it comes to bookkeeping for restaurants.
These reports will be incredibly helpful:
- Payroll
- Sales
- Reconciliation
- Cash Management
- Inventory
- Accounts Payable
Within these reports, there are certain numbers that will be especially important. Overhead rates, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), Prime Costs, Food Costs, and Gross Profits, to name a few.
If it's already up and running, you probably already know the work that goes into bookkeeping for restaurants. But if you have yet to experience how outsourcing bookkeeping for restaurants can change the course of your business, now is the time!
Two Roads works with businesses of all kinds, including restaurants. We offer CFO advisory and bookkeeping services to help business owners get their books in order, get more time back, and get the peace of mind that their numbers are handled.
This post has been updated in 2024.