Restaurant owners open their monthly P&L reports, look at sales, then scroll down to the bottom and close the report.

Are you familiar with the situation?

It may be a perfectly exact report, but in focusing on just two figures, you leave the bulk of its value on the table.

They shouldn’t be more dependent on an accounting company. They should be more confident with their own numbers. It’s not necessary to spend in the dark putting together invoices or master every accounting rule. 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 addressed next week.

This is the premise Bookkeeping Chef’s mission: to Automate the bookkeeping process that doesn’t require a proprietor’s time and gives restaurant managers more precise financial data they can use.

You Should Start By Looking at the Weekly Numbers and Not Just Month-End

Although restaurants do not operate within a calendar month they do require an P&L. Managers schedule labor for this week. Chefs order food today. Vendors change prices now.

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

Prime cost brings together costs of selling goods and labor. Both of these are major areas that are able to move quickly in an establishment. The data provided by the Bookkeeping Chef reveals that prime costs usually represent 60 percent of sales at restaurants.

If sales haven’t changed much, but prime cost rises. This percentage by itself will not give the answer. It provides the person with a reason to investigate.

Did the hourly rate increase? Did you have an overtime? The cost of food increased? A vendor’s invoice appeared to be unusually big? Did sales mix changes?

This is much better than finding the same issue two weeks later.

Automate repetitive tasks

DIY bookkeeping doesn’t need to be difficult. It can simply involve manually transfer POS (point of sale) amounts onto spreadsheets.

Automating the process of bookkeeping for restaurants can reduce repetitive data movement. It integrates various systems such as POS, QuickBooks payroll, vendor platforms, and inventory management.

Automating for the sake of automation is not the goal.

This is done to reduce the amount of manual data entry. It also keeps current financial records so that owners can spend time on studying data, not gathering it.

This creates a brand new method of bookkeeping in restaurants. The technology takes care of more of the mechanics, while the owner remains involved in the financial aspects.

You can also ask more questions regarding P&L

If you stop thinking of the P&L like a test, it will become less daunting.

Start with the sales. Start with sales. Compare food and beverage performance. Consider labor. Go through operating costs and examine what’s left.

Compare the different periods.

If profit increased but sales rose, did not, something in between those two lines changed. What changed when the cost of food were rising? Check the levels of staffing and sales activities in case labor percentages have changed. If a figure appears to be odd, investigate rather than assuming the restaurant simply had poor month.

Bookkeeping Chef can provide monthly P&Ls which are completed in five days. Owners are able to review the financial performance of their business without having to wait for months to receive financial statements.

For those who are looking for bookkeeping restaurant solutions, speed is important but understanding is the main objective.

It’s not necessary to build everything.

There’s a middle way between outsourcing the entire financial functions to someone else and establishing yourself as your own bookkeeper full-time.

Owners are still able to participate in the accounting process without being required to do every job manually.

The process could be as easy as using automated system connections to ensure that the information is flowing. However, it could be as extensive and intricate a study of the month’s P&L or a review of the weekly Prime-cost Report.

Specialized restaurant bookkeeping services can assist in organizing the books while helping the proprietor know what the reports mean.

It is very unlikely that you will end up with an accountant who is able to perform all the duties.

An owner can take a seat with the P&L and engage in a thoughtful discussion about the company.

Financial independence is not to produce additional reports, but to reach financial freedom

Restaurants already produce huge amounts of data. A dashboard may not always make sense.

The real value is when an operator looks at a weekly report on prime costs and recognize that something changed, then open the P&L and understand where to investigate further.

Bookkeeping Chef’s approach combines restaurant bookkeeping automation, weekly reporting, monthly P&Ls, and restaurant-specific financial support to make that possible.

Automate repetitive tasks. Review the prime cost each week. Learn to understand the language of your P&L.

There is no need to become an accountant.

It is important to understand the financials of your restaurant prior to when you are able to become the proprietor.