The owner of a restaurant opens the monthly P&L and looks at the sales, then jumps to the bottom line, and then closes the P&L.
Do you recognize yourself?
It might be a completely accurate report, but just by examining two figures, you leave the bulk of its value left to chance.
This shouldn’t force them to be more dependent on an accounting firm. It should make them more confident with their own numbers. You don’t need to know every accounting rule or spend nights entering invoices. You should know the way profit has fluctuated in relation to food and labor costs and the issues that need to be addressed in the coming week.
Bookkeeping Chef’s mission is to automate tasks in bookkeeping that do not require the time of restaurant owners, while providing them with clearer financial data they can use.
You must begin looking at the Weekly Numbers and not just month-end numbers.
Restaurants don’t run on a monthly basis. Managers schedule labor for this week. The chef has ordered food for today. Vendors change prices now.
Bookkeeping Chef’s weekly prime-cost reports are published alongside the financial statements for the month.
Prime cost brings together cost of goods sold and labor. These are two main areas that can move quickly in a restaurant. Bookkeeping Chef’s supplied information notes that prime costs generally comprise about 60% of restaurant sales.
Imagine the sales remained static, however the primary cost increased. This percentage doesn’t provide an answer. It provides the owner with a reason to investigate.
Did the hourly rate increase? Did overtime happen? Costs of food changed? A vendor’s invoice appeared to be unusually large? Did the sales mix change?
This is far more beneficial than finding the same problem two weeks later.
Automate repetitive tasks
Bookkeeping for DIY isn’t just about manually transferring POS figures into spreadsheets.
Automating bookkeeping for restaurants can assist in the repetitive movement of financial data. The service is able to connect systems like POS Payroll, QuickBooks, POS vendor platforms inventory management and recipe management, and Payment and AP tools.
Automating for the sake automated is not the aim.
The aim is to reduce the manual entry of data, and to keep financial records current to allow owners to spend more time looking over the information rather than assembling 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.
If you have more questions, you can ask them regarding P&L
Stop taking your P&L as if it were an accounting test.
Begin by looking at the sales. Examine the costs necessary to achieve the sales. Compare the efficiency of food and beverages. Take a look at the labor. Make sure you reduce your operational expenses.
In addition, it is important to compare timeframes.
If the sales increased, but the profit didn’t, something between those two lines occurred. What did happen when prices for food went up? Review the staffing numbers and sales activity if labor percentages have changed. Investigate any numbers that seem odd rather than just assuming that the restaurant was not doing well during the week.
Bookkeeping Chef provides monthly P&Ls on five days. This lets the owners look at recent performance without waiting for financial statements, which usually arrive months after the end of an operational period.
Speed is important, however the objective is to learn.
It’s not necessary to DIY everything.
You can find a happy medium between hiring someone to manage your financial needs and becoming your own accountant full-time.
You are able to be an owner of a business without having to perform the entire accounting process manually.
This may mean automatizing systems to ensure the flow of information, examining the monthly P&L and a weekly report on primary expenses, or asking questions if something unexpected occurs.
The specialization in restaurant bookkeeping can assist with this method by making sure that the books are organized as well as helping the owner be aware of what they represent.
It’s not an owner who can accomplish every bookkeeping job.
It’s an owner who can take a seat with a P&L and engage in a thoughtful discussion about the company.
The objective of financial independence is not to produce more reports, but rather to achieve financial freedom
Restaurants already generate huge amounts of data. Another dashboard might not prove useful.
The most valuable thing is when an operator can look at the weekly report of prime cost and realize that something has changed, then access the P&L and determine where to investigate further.
Bookkeeping Chef s approach integrates restaurant accounting automation with weekly reports, monthly P&Ls, and the provision of financial support for specific restaurants to make this possible.
Automatize repetitive tasks. Review prime costs every week. Learn the language of your P&L.
You don’t need to be a professional accountant.
It is best to be a successful owner who knows the financial story of your restaurant.