The owner of a restaurant opens the monthly P&L examines sales, skips down to the bottom line and closes the report.

Does this sound familiar?

It could be an amazingly complete report, however just by examining two figures, you leave the bulk of its value on the table.

Good restaurant bookkeeping shouldn’t make proprietors more dependent on accountants. It should make them more confident with their own numbers. There is no need to spend all night entering invoices or be aware of every accounting rule. It’s important to understand how the profit fluctuated as well as what happened to food and labor and what questions require focus next week.

That’s the philosophy Bookkeeping Chef’s mission: to automate the bookkeeping work which doesn’t require the owner’s time and gives restaurant managers more precise financial data they can actually use.

Start with the Weekly Numbers, Not Just Month-End

Although restaurants are not operating within a calendar month they do require an P&L. Managers plan the labor for this week. Chefs order food right now. Vendors change prices now.

Bookkeeping Chef’s weekly Prime-cost reports are provided alongside the financial statements for the month.

Prime cost includes costs of selling goods and labor, two areas that are able to move quickly in an establishment. According to the data provided by Bookkeeping Chef, prime costs account for around 60% of restaurant sales.

Take a look at a scenario where sales aren’t even changing however, the cost of prime services are growing. The percentage by itself does not answer the question. It gives the person in charge a reason to investigate.

Did hourly labor grow? Did overtime happen? Did food costs change? Was a vendor invoice abnormally high? Does the mix of sales changed?

This is a lot more useful than locating the same issue after a few weeks.

Automate the repetitive work

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

Automating the bookkeeping process in restaurants will eliminate repetitive data movement. It integrates various systems such as POS Payroll, QuickBooks, vendor platforms and inventory management.

Automating for the sake automating is not the main goal.

It’s a way to streamline data entry, and keep accounting records up to date so that owners have the ability to spend time reviewing information 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 More Questions

Stop taking your P&L as something that could be an accounting test.

Begin with sales. Begin with sales. Compare food and beverage performance. Look at the cost of labor. Reduce your operating expenses.

Comparing periods.

If sales improved but profit didn’t, something between those two lines occurred. Consider what has changed within the organization in the event that food costs went up. Review the staffing numbers and sales activities if the labor percentages have changed. Examine if the number appears strange, instead of assuming that the restaurant had an unfavorable time.

Bookkeeping Chef provides monthly P&Ls that can be completed within five business days. Business owners can look over the performance of their company without waiting for months before receiving financial statements.

For owners searching bookkeeping restaurant solutions, speed is a must however understanding is the greater aim.

DIY doesn’t have to mean doing everything yourself.

There’s a middle way between delegating all accounting function to a third party and establishing yourself as your own bookkeeper full-time.

You can be involved as a business owner without performing every accounting task manually.

This could mean making use of automated system connections to ensure information flows, reviewing a weekly prime-cost report, looking at the monthly P&L and asking questions whenever something happens unexpectedly.

Specialized restaurant bookkeeping can help with this approach by keeping the books in order and helping the owner to be aware of what they represent.

It is highly unlikely that you will have an accountant who is able to perform all of the functions.

Business owners who can sit down and talk intelligently about their business with the P&L are more likely to succeed.

The Goal Is Financial Independence Not More Reports

Restaurants already produce huge quantities of data. Dashboards don’t always make sense.

When an operator is able examine the weekly prime cost report and discover that something has changed, they are able to then access their P&L to find out what is in need of additional investigation.

Bookkeeping Chef’s approach to bookkeeping incorporates restaurant accounting automation, weekly reports, monthly P&Ls, and restaurant-specific financial assistance to make this feasible.

Automate repetitive work. Examine your prime cost each week. Learn the terminology that is used within your P&L.

There is no need to become an accountant.

Restaurant owners who are aware of the financial aspects of their own establishments can make better decisions.