The restaurant’s owner will look at the sales and then at the bottom line, before closing the report.
Sounds familiar?
It may be an extremely exact report, but when you only look at those two numbers, it leaves most of its worth in the dust.
The proper bookkeeping of a restaurant shouldn’t force proprietors more dependent on their accountant. It should help them become more confident in their own numbers. It is not necessary to be aware of every accounting rule or have to spend hours completing invoices. You must be aware of the reason why profits moved, what happened to the costs of food and labour and what questions need focus next week.
That’s the idea Bookkeeping Chef’s mission: to Automate the bookkeeping task which doesn’t require the owner’s time and gives restaurant managers more precise financial data they can actually utilize.
Begin with the Weekly Numbers Start with the Weekly Numbers, Not just Month-End
A monthly P&L matters, but restaurants aren’t operating monthly. This week, the managers plan their labor. Chefs order food today. Vendors change prices now.
That’s the reason Bookkeeping Chef provides weekly prime-cost flash reports, along with monthly financial statements.
The primary cost is comprised of the cost of goods and labor both of which are areas where restaurants can accelerate its progress. Bookkeeping Chef’s supplied information notes that prime costs generally comprise approximately 60% of the sales at restaurants.
Suppose sales have barely changed however the price of prime is increasing. This alone won’t be the answer. It provides the owner with a reason to investigate.
Did hourly labor rise? Did overtime occur? The cost of food changed? The invoice from the vendor seemed oddly big? What changes have occurred in the sales mix?
It’s better to know about the issue now rather than later.
Automate repetitive tasks
Bookkeeping for DIY isn’t just about manually transfer of POS numbers into spreadsheets.
Automating the bookkeeping processes of restaurants can eliminate a lot of repeated data movement. The system integrates with systems like POS and QuickBooks payroll vendor platforms and inventory management.
Automatization is not the aim.
It’s a way to streamline data entry and keep the financial records up-to-date so that owners can spend their time reviewing information instead of gathering it.
It provides a completely new bookkeeping model for restaurant establishments. Technology takes care of the mechanical aspects and the proprietor remains involved with the financial aspects.
P&L Questions: Learn How to Ask More Effective Questions
A P&L will be much more manageable when you don’t treat it as an accounting exam.
Begin with the sales. Then look at the costs necessary to achieve those sales. Compare the food and beverages performance. Take a look at the labor. Examine labor.
Compare the different periods.
If the sales rise but the profits don’t, there is an alteration between the two. Ask what changed in the operation when food costs grew. Examine sales and staffing levels to see if the labor percent has changed. If a figure appears to be odd examine it instead of thinking that the restaurant had a bad month.
Bookkeeping Chef provides monthly P&Ls that are completed in five business days. This gives owners the opportunity to evaluate recent results rather than receive financial statements long after the operating period is completed.
Understanding is more crucial than speed for those seeking bookkeeping solutions for restaurants.
It’s not necessary to DIY everything.
It is not necessary to be your own full time bookkeeper in order to avoid handing the complete bookkeeping responsibility to a different person.
You can be involved as the business owner, but not have to do every accounting task by hand.
That might mean connecting to automated systems to ensure information flows through, examining a weekly prime cost report, looking at the monthly P&L and posing questions whenever something happens unexpectedly.
Specialized restaurant bookkeeping services can support that approach by keeping the underlying books organized while helping the owner understand what the reports mean.
The result is not a bookkeeping owner who knows how to accomplish every bookkeeping job.
Owners who are able take a seat and converse intelligently about their business with the P&L will have more success.
The objective of financial freedom is not to generate more reports, but rather to reach financial freedom
Restaurants generate a lot of information. Dashboards don’t always make sense.
If an operator is able to examine the weekly prime cost report and see that something has changed, they may then access their P&L to find out what is in need of additional analysis.
Bookkeeping Chef’s plan includes automated bookkeeping for restaurants, weekly reporting along with monthly P&Ls and the financial support for specific restaurants to make that possible.
Automate repetitive tasks. Review the prime cost each week. Study the language used in your P&L.
You don’t need to be a professional accountant.
It is essential to be aware of the finances of your restaurant before you can become a proprietor.