The owner of the restaurant looks at the sales, and then the bottom line, before closing the report.
Does this sound familiar to you?
It may be a perfectly complete report, however when you only look at those two numbers, it leaves a lot of its value to be debated.
Good restaurant bookkeeping shouldn’t make owners more dependent on an accountant. They should be more confident of their financials. It is not necessary to be aware of all accounting rules or be a slave to invoices for hours. You need to understand the way profit has fluctuated, what’s happened to labor and food costs, and the issues that need to be answered next week.
This is the premise Bookkeeping Chef’s mission: to automate the bookkeeping work that doesn’t need an owner’s time while giving restaurant operators more precise financial data they can actually use.
Don’t stop at Month-End Numbers. Begin with Weekly Numbers
Restaurants don’t operate on per month. Managers plan the labor for the week. Chef orders food today. Vendors change prices now.
Bookkeeping Chef offers weekly flash reports on costs of the day along with monthly financial statements.
The prime cost comprises two crucial aspects that can be easily moved in a food service establishment: cost of the goods sold, and labor. The Bookkeeping Chef’s information notes that prime costs usually comprise about 60% of sales in restaurants.
Take a look at a scenario where sales aren’t even changing, but prime costs are rising. This number does not give an answer. The owner has an excuse to do some research.
Did you notice an increase in the hours employed? Did there occur overtime? Did food prices change? Did a vendor invoice seem abnormally high? Does the mix of sales changed?
It is much better to discover the issue earlier rather instead of waiting until later.
Automate repetitive tasks
DIY bookkeeping doesn’t have to require manual transfer of POS totals into spreadsheets after the.
Automating the restaurant’s bookkeeping process can help eliminate repetitive data movement. The service can connect POS systems including QuickBooks, QuickBooks, vendors platforms recipes and inventory management, as well as payments instruments.
The goal is not automation to achieve its own ends.
The goal is to eradicate the need for manual data entry and to keep financial records current to allow owners to take more time in reviewing the data rather than assembling it.
This has created a new form of bookkeeping in restaurants. The software is able to handle more of the mechanics, while the owner is still tasked with the financial implications.
Learn to Ask the P&L More Questions
A P&L becomes much less intimidating when you don’t treat it as an accounting test.
Start with sales. Then look at the costs necessary to achieve those sales. Compare the effectiveness of drinks and food. Examine labor. Look at labor.
Comparing periods is important.
If profits increase, but sales aren’t, there’s a difference between them. If the cost of food increased, ask what happened operationally. Review the staffing numbers and sales activities if the labor percentages have changed. Investigate if a number seems unusual, rather than believing that the restaurant had an unfavorable time.
Bookkeeping Chef gives monthly P&Ls that are finalized within five business days. Business owners can look over the financial performance of their business without waiting months before receiving financial statements.
Speed is crucial, but the aim is to comprehend.
It’s not necessary to do everything.
You can find a middle between having someone handle your entire financial functions and having your own accountant full-time.
Owners are still able to participate in the process of accounting without being required to do every job manually.
This could mean automatizing systems to ensure information flow, reviewing a monthly P&L and weekly reports on primary expenses and asking questions in the event that there is an unplanned event.
The specialization in restaurant bookkeeping can assist in this way by keeping the books in order as well as helping the owner understand what they mean.
The result isn’t a owner who is skilled enough to accomplish every bookkeeping job.
Owners who can have a conversation about their business with the P&L will have more success.
The goal is financial independence and not the need for more reports
Restaurants already generate huge amounts of data. The dashboards aren’t always making sense.
Real value occurs when an operator can open an P&L report, recognize that there was a shift and then examine the reports on prime costs.
Bookkeeping Chef’s method incorporates restaurant accounting automation, daily reports, monthly P&Ls, and special financial assistance for restaurants, making this process possible.
Automatize repetitive tasks. Examine your prime cost each week. Learn to speak the language of your P&L.
It’s not necessary to become an accountant.
Owners who are familiar with the financial aspects of their restaurants will be able to make better choices.
