The restaurant’s owner will look at the sales before focusing on the bottom line, before closing the report.
Do these sound like familiar to you?
It might be a completely exact report, but just by examining two numbers, it leaves most of its worth in the dust.
A good bookkeeping program for restaurants shouldn’t increase the dependence of restaurant owners on accountants. It should help them feel confident in their own numbers. There is no need to be familiar with all accounting rules or be a slave to invoices for hours. It’s important to understand how the profit fluctuated as well as what happened to the use of labor and food and which areas require focus next week.
Bookkeeping Chef’s ethos is to automate tasks in bookkeeping that do not require the time of restaurant owners, and provide customers with more precise financial information they can use.
Do Not Stop at the month-end Numbers. Start with Weekly Numbers
A monthly P&L is crucial, but restaurants do not operate on a monthly basis. Managers set up their work schedules for the week. The chef has ordered food for today. Vendors change prices now.
That’s why Bookkeeping Chef provides weekly prime-cost flash reports in addition to monthly financial statements.
Prime cost is the sum of two key areas that are easily transferred in a food service establishment: the cost of goods sold, and the cost of labor. Bookkeeping Chef’s supplied information notes that prime costs typically represent around 60% of the sales at restaurants.
Take a look at a scenario where sales aren’t changing much and the costs of primary production are growing. This alone won’t be the solution. This gives the owner an excuse to do some digging.
Have the hourly wages increased? Did you have extra work? Was the cost of food changed? Did vendor invoices seem unusually high? Did sales mix changes?
It’s better to identify the issue sooner rather before it gets worse.
Automate repetitive tasks
DIY bookkeeping isn’t limited to manually transfer of POS figures into spreadsheets.
Automating restaurant bookkeeping can help in the repetitive movement of financial data. The service is connected to POS systems including QuickBooks, QuickBooks, vendors platforms recipes and inventory management as well as AP/payment instruments.
Automating for the sake automating is not the main goal.
This reduces the amount of manually entering data. Also, it keeps financial records updated so owners are able to focus on studying data, not collecting it.
This is a completely new way of bookkeeping in restaurants. The system will take care of the mechanical aspects, but the owner remains involved in the financial aspects.
Learn to ask the P&L Better Questions
Stop looking at your P&L as like an accounting test.
Start by analyzing the sales. Then, you can look at the cost of production. Compare food and beverage performance. Take into consideration the labor. Reduce operating expenses and then look at what’s left.
Check out the various periods.
If profit increased but sales rose, was not, something between the two lines occurred. If food costs increased, inquire about what changed operationally. Review sales and staffing numbers to see if labor percent has changed. Examine if the number appears odd, rather than assuming that the restaurant experienced poor times.
Bookkeeping Chef will send monthly P&Ls on five working days. This lets the owners look at recent results without having to wait for financial statements, which often arrive months later than the conclusion of the operating period.
Speed is important, however the goal is to understand.
You don’t need to do everything yourself when you make it DIY
There’s a middle way between delegating all financial functions to someone else and having your own bookkeeper full-time.
An owner can stay in the loop without manually completing every accounting task.
It could be as easy as using automated system connections to ensure that information flows. Or it could be as complex and involved a study of the monthly P&L or a study of the weekly Prime Cost Report.
The bookkeeping services of restaurants that specialize in the restaurant industry can assist owners get the most from the reports by arranging the books and ensuring they are organized.
It is very unlikely to get a bookkeeper who can perform all the duties.
An owner is someone who can engage in a dialogue with an P&L regarding the company.
The Goal Is Financial Independence and not More Reports
Restaurants already generate massive quantities of data. A different dashboard won’t be as effective.
The real value comes when an operator is able to look at the weekly report of prime cost and see that something has changed, then access the P&L and determine 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.
Automatize repetitive tasks. Review your primary costs every week. Learn the terminology employed in your P&L.
You don’t have to be an accountant professional.
It is crucial to know the financials of your restaurant prior to when you take over as the owner.
