The restaurant’s owner examines the sales and then the bottom line, before closing the report.
Are you familiar with the situation?
The report may be perfectly accurate, but if those are the only two numbers to be reviewed the majority of its value is being left on the table.
A reliable bookkeeping system for restaurants will not put more the owners on accountants. It should help them feel confident in their own financials. There is no need to spend the night completing invoices or knowing every accounting principle. It’s important to understand why the profit changed as well as what happened to the labor and food items, and which questions need consideration next week.
Bookkeeping Chef is a computer program that makes bookkeeping easier, meaning the owners can focus on other things while getting better financial reports.
Start with the Weekly Numbers, Not Just Month-End
A monthly P&L is crucial, but restaurants don’t run monthly. Managers set up their work schedules for the week. Chefs order food today. Vendors change prices now.
The Bookkeeping Chef’s weekly reports on prime costs are published alongside the monthly financial statements.
Prime cost brings together price of the goods sold and labor two major sectors that can quickly move in the restaurant. The information provided by the Bookkeeping Chef indicates that prime costs generally comprise roughly 60% of restaurant sales.
Imagine that sales have barely changed, but the cost of production increased. This percentage isn’t an answer. This gives the person in charge an excuse to do some study.
Is the hourly wage increasing? Did you have overtime? Did the price of food increased? An invoice from a vendor appeared unusually large? What changes have occurred in the sales mix?
It’s far more beneficial than discovering the same issue several weeks later.
Automate repetitive tasks
Self-bookkeeping doesn’t mean manually transfer of POS numbers into spreadsheets.
Automating bookkeeping for restaurants can assist in the repetitive movement of financial data. The service is connected to POS systems, QuickBooks, vendors platforms Recipe and inventory management, as well as payments instruments.
Automation isn’t the only goal.
This is to decrease the time spent on manual data entry. This also helps keep current financial records so that owners can spend time on looking over information instead of gathering it.
That creates a different model of bookkeeping for restaurants: technology takes care of more mechanics while the owner remains engaged with the financial meaning.
P&L Questions: Learn to Ask Better Questions
Stop taking your P&L as like an accounting test.
Begin by looking at the number of sales. Next, examine the costs of production. Compare food and beverage performance. Look at the cost of labor. Reduce your operating costs.
Comparing periods is important.
If profit increased but sales rose, wasn’t, something else between those two lines changed. If food cost increased, ask what happened operationally. If the labor percentage changed by a significant amount, you can compare sales and staffing activity. Check if the percentage seems odd, rather than assuming that the restaurant was in an unfavorable time.
Bookkeeping Chef provides monthly P&Ls which are finalized in just five business days, giving owners the chance to examine recent performance rather than receiving financial statements long after the period of operation is completed.
Speed is essential, but the objective is to learn.
It’s not necessary to do everything.
You can find a happy middle between having someone manage all of your financial tasks and being your own accountant full-time.
You can be involved as a business owner without performing the entire accounting process manually.
It could be as simple as the use of automated system connections in order to ensure that information is flowing by reviewing a weekly prime-cost report, studying the monthly P&L and posing queries in the event of an unexpected change.
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 end up with a bookkeeper who can perform all the functions.
A business owner is able to have a discussion with a P&L regarding the company.
The Goal Is Financial Independence Not More Reports
Restaurants already generate huge quantities of data. Another dashboard isn’t automatically useful.
If an operator is able to examine the weekly prime cost report and notice that something has changed, they can then open up their P&L to determine what requires an examination.
Bookkeeping Chef’s strategy combines restaurant bookkeeping automation weekly reports along with monthly P&Ls and specific financial assistance for restaurants to make that possible.
Automatize repetitive tasks. Review prime cost every week. Know the language employed in your P&L.
There is no need to be a professional accountant.
Owners who are familiar with the financial aspect of their restaurant will be able make better decisions.
