The restaurant’s owner examines the sales and then at the bottom line prior to closing the report.

Do these sound like familiar?

If only those two numbers are examined the report’s true worth is diminished.

This shouldn’t force them to be more dependent on an accounting company. They should be more confident in their own numbers. You don’t have to know every accounting rule or be a slave to invoices for hours. You need to understand how profit has changed, what’s happened to food and labor costs and the other questions that must be addressed in the coming week.

Bookkeeping Chef is an application that helps automate bookkeeping so the owners can focus in other activities while receiving clearer financial reports.

Begin with the Weekly Numbers Don’t Just Focus on Month-End

Restaurants aren’t operating on per month. The managers plan the work for this week. The chef is ordering food today. Vendors change prices now.

The weekly reports on Bookkeeping Chef’s prime-cost report are provided alongside the financial statements for the month.

Prime cost is the sum of costs of selling goods and labor, two sectors that can quickly move in the restaurant. Based on the information provided by Bookkeeping Chef, prime costs account for around 60% of the sales at restaurants.

Consider a situation where sales aren’t changing much while the prime cost is rising. This alone won’t be the solution. It provides the owner with a reason to investigate.

Did you notice an increase in hours employed? Did overtime happen? Food prices changed? A vendor invoice seemed unusually big? What changes have occurred in the sales mix?

This is much better than finding the same issue after a few weeks.

Automate the repetitive Work

DIY bookkeeping doesn’t have to be difficult. It can simply involve manually transfer POS (point of sale) totals into spreadsheets.

Automating the restaurant’s bookkeeping process can reduce repetitive data movements. This service can be connected to POS systems and QuickBooks, vendor platforms as well as recipe management and inventory management as well as payment instruments and AP.

Automatization is not the aim.

It is to reduce manual data entry and to keep financial records updated so that owners have the ability to spend time looking over data 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.

Learn to ask the P&L Better Questions

A P&L becomes much less intimidating when you stop treating it as an accounting exam.

Begin with the sales. Next, examine the cost of production. Compare food and beverage performance. Look at labor. Move down through operating expenses and then look at what’s left.

Comparing the time spans is crucial.

If the sales increased, but the profit was not, something between the two lines was changed. Consider what has changed within the organization when food costs grew. If the labor percentage changed in the past, look at sales and staffing activity. Look into any numbers that appear strange, rather than assuming a restaurant had a bad week.

Bookkeeping Chef provides monthly P&Ls finalized within five business days. This provides owners the opportunity to evaluate recent performance, not receiving accounts long after the operational period is completed.

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

You don’t have to be a pro by doing it yourself

There is a middle ground between handing the entire accounting function to a third party and establishing yourself as your own full-time bookkeeper.

The owner is able to remain involved without manually performing each accounting task.

The process could be as simple as using automated system connections in order to ensure that the information is flowing. However, it could be as complicated and complex studying the monthly P&L or a study of the weekly Prime Cost Report.

Restaurant bookkeeping services that specialize in the restaurant industry can assist owners to understand the purpose of reports by organizing the books and keeping them organized.

The result is not an owner who is skilled enough to do every bookkeeping function.

A business owner is able to have a discussion with a P&L regarding the business.

The aim is financial independence, not more reports

Restaurants already produce huge quantities of data. Another dashboard isn’t automatically useful.

The real value is when an employee can look at the weekly report of prime cost and see that something has was different, then look at the P&L and figure out what to do next.

Bookkeeping Chef’s strategy combines restaurant bookkeeping automation weekly reports and monthly P&Ls. restaurant-specific financial support for making this possible.

Automatize repetitive tasks. Review prime cost every week. Be aware of the language employed in your P&L.

You don’t have to become an accountant.

It is best to be an owner who is aware of the financials of your own restaurant.