Restaurant owners open their monthly P&L reports, check sales, then scroll down to the bottom and close the report.
Do you recognize the sound?
If just those two numbers are examined then the real value is not realized.
Good restaurant bookkeeping shouldn’t make owners more dependent on an accountant. They should feel more secure about their numbers. It’s not required to sit the night completing invoices or knowing every accounting principle. You must understand how profit has changed as well as what’s changed with food and labor costs, and the issues that need to be answered next week.
Bookkeeping Chef’s ethos is to automate bookkeeping chores that do not require the attention of restaurant owners while also providing users with better financial information they can use.
Don’t stop at Month-End Numbers. Start by calculating Weekly Numbers
Although restaurants do not operate within a calendar month they must still have a P&L. This week, the managers plan their labor. The chef placed an order for food today. Vendors change prices now.
This is the reason Bookkeeping Chef provides weekly prime-cost flash reports, along with monthly financial statements.
Prime cost is the sum of the cost of goods sold as well as labor. These are two main areas that can move quickly in an establishment. The data provided by the Bookkeeping Chef reveals that the prime cost typically accounts for 60 percent of sales in restaurants.
Think about a situation where sales aren’t even changing while the prime cost is rising. This percentage alone isn’t enough to provide the answer. This gives the person in charge an excuse to do some research.
Did you notice an increase in the number of hours working? Did you have overtime? Did food prices change? A vendor’s invoice appeared to be unusually big? Did the sales mix change?
This is a lot more useful than finding the same problem several weeks later.
Let Automation Handle the Repetitive Work
DIY bookkeeping doesn’t have be a manual process of transferring POS amounts into spreadsheets after service.
Automating the bookkeeping process in restaurants will eliminate repetitive data movement. The service integrates systems such as POS and QuickBooks payroll vendor platforms and inventory management.
Automation isn’t the only goal.
It is to reduce manual data entry, and keep financial records updated so that owners can spend their time reviewing information instead of gathering it.
This is a completely new way of bookkeeping in restaurants. The software takes care of more of the mechanical aspects, but the owner remains involved with the financial implications.
P&L Questions: Learn How to Ask Better Questions
When you stop treating a P&L as a type of test, it becomes less intimidating.
Begin by studying the sales. Begin with sales. Compare the food and drink performance. Check the cost of labor. Move down through operating expenses and see what remains.
Also, you should compare the time periods.
If the sales rise but the profits do not, there is a difference between them. What happened when food prices rose? If labor percentage moved, compare staffing and sales activity. If you notice a strange number take a look instead of assuming the restaurant was simply having poor month.
Bookkeeping Chef gives monthly P&Ls that can be completed within five business days. Business owners can look over the financial performance of their business without waiting for months before receiving financial statements.
Speed is essential, but the objective is to learn.
It’s not necessary to handle everything on your own when you make it DIY
There is a middle ground between delegating all financial responsibility to another and becoming your own full-time bookkeeper.
Owners can remain engaged without having to manually complete each accounting task.
This could mean automatizing systems to ensure the flow of information, examining a monthly P&L and weekly reports on prime costs, or asking questions if something unexpected happens.
Specialized restaurant bookkeeping services could support that approach by maintaining the book’s structure while helping the proprietor know what the reports mean.
It is unlikely that you will have a bookkeeper who can perform all the duties.
Business owners who can sit down and talk intelligently about their business to the P&L are more likely to succeed.
The aim is financial independence Not More Reports
Restaurants already generate massive quantities of data. Another dashboard isn’t automatically useful.
The most valuable thing is when an operator is able to look at a weekly report on the prime cost and realize that something has was different, then look at the P&L and determine where to investigate further.
Bookkeeping Chef’s method is a combination of financial support for restaurants weekly reporting and automated bookkeeping in restaurants to achieve this.
Automate repetitive tasks. Review your primary costs every week. Be aware of the language employed in your P&L.
It’s not necessary to become an accountant.
Owners who are knowledgeable about the financial aspects of their restaurants are able to make better choices.