The owner of the restaurant looks at the sales and then at the bottom line, before closing the report.

Sound familiar?

If only these two numbers are scrutinized then the real value is lost.

A good bookkeeping program for restaurants shouldn’t increase the dependence of owners on accountants. It should make them more confident with their own financials. It doesn’t require an expert in accounting or spend at night filling out invoices. You need to understand the way profit has fluctuated in relation to the cost of food and labor, and the other questions that must be answered next week.

This is the concept Bookkeeping Chef’s mission: to Automate the bookkeeping task that doesn’t need an owner’s time. It also provides restaurant owners with better financial information that they can actually use.

Do Not Stop at the month-end Numbers. Start with Weekly Numbers

A monthly P&L matters, but restaurants don’t run monthly. The managers schedule the labor for the week. Chefs ordered food this morning. Vendors change prices now.

That’s why Bookkeeping Chef provides weekly prime-cost flash reports alongside monthly financial statements.

The primary cost is comprised of the cost of the goods and labor both of which are areas where restaurants can quickly progress. The data provided by the Bookkeeping Chef indicates that prime costs generally account for 60 percent of the sales in restaurants.

Imagine the sales remained static, however the primary cost increased. This percentage doesn’t provide an answer. This gives the owner an excuse to do some study.

Did you notice an increase in the number of hours worked? Did there occur overtime? Has the cost of food increased? The invoice for a vendor was unusually high. Did you notice any changes in your sales mix?

It’s far more beneficial than identifying the same issue several weeks later.

Automate repetitive tasks

DIY bookkeeping doesn’t have to involve manually transferring POS (point of sale) totals into spreadsheets.

Modern bookkeeping automation in restaurants can manage a lot of the routine movement of financial data. The service can connect POS systems and QuickBooks, vendor platforms recipes and inventory management, and Payment instruments/AP.

Automating for the sake automated is not the aim.

This is done to reduce the time spent on manually entering data. This also helps keep current financial records so that owners can spend time on looking over information instead of gathering it.

This creates a new model of bookkeeping for restaurants: technology can handle the mechanical aspects, while the restaurant owner is active in the financial aspect.

You can ask better questions regarding P&L

A P&L is less daunting when you stop thinking of it as an accounting test.

Start with sales. Start with sales. Compare food and beverage performance. Take a look at the labor. Examine labor.

Comparing periods.

If profits increased but sales grew, but profit was not, something between the two lines has changed. If food cost increased, ask what happened operationally. If labor percentage moved, compare staffing and sales activity. Investigate any numbers that seem odd rather than just assuming a restaurant had a bad week.

Bookkeeping Chef sends monthly P&Ls with five working days. This allows owners to view recent results without having to wait for financial reports that are often received months after the close of an operating period.

Understanding is more important than speed when it comes to owners searching for bookkeeping solutions in restaurants.

It’s not necessary to build everything.

It’s not necessary to become your own full time bookkeeper to avoid handing over the whole financial responsibility over to another person.

The owner is able to remain in the loop without manually completing each accounting task.

This could mean automatizing systems to ensure information flow, reviewing a monthly P&L and a weekly report on the primary costs and asking questions in the event that something unexpected happens.

Specialized restaurant bookkeeping services can support that approach by keeping the underlying books organized while helping the owner understand what the reports mean.

It is unlikely that you will have a bookkeeper who can perform all of the tasks.

It’s an owner who can sit down with a P&L and engage in a thoughtful discussion on the business.

The goal is financial independence Not more reports

Restaurants already generate enormous amounts of data. Another dashboard might not be efficient.

The real value comes when an operator is able to look at a weekly report on prime costs and see that something has changed, then access the P&L and determine the best way to look into it.

Bookkeeping Chef’s strategy combines restaurant bookkeeping automation weekly reporting, monthly P&Ls, and special financial assistance to restaurants in order for making this possible.

Automatize repetitive tasks. Check your prime costs every week. Understand the language used within your P&L.

You do not need to be an accountant.

You should be an owner who is aware of the financial story of your restaurant.