The owner of the restaurant looks at the sales and then the bottom line before closing the report.
Do these sound like familiar to you?
It may be a perfectly precise report, but when you only look at those two numbers, it leaves a lot of its value to be debated.
Good restaurant bookkeeping shouldn’t make owners more dependent on an accountant. It should provide them with confidence in their own numbers. You don’t have to know all accounting rules or spend nights entering invoices. You need to understand the way profit has fluctuated and what’s happened to food and labor costs, and the other questions that must be addressed next week.
Bookkeeping Chef’s goal is to automate the bookkeeping process that do not require the time of restaurant owners, and provide users with better financial information they can access.
Don’t stop at Month-End Numbers. Start by calculating Weekly Numbers
Although restaurants do not operate in a calendar month, they still need to have a P&L. Managers schedule labor this week. Chefs order food right now. Vendors change prices now.
This is why Bookkeeping Chef provides weekly prime-cost flash reports in addition to monthly financial statements.
Prime cost is the sum of the cost of goods sold as well as labor, two areas that can be swiftly moved in a restaurant. According to the data from Bookkeeping Chef, prime costs represent approximately 60% of the sales at restaurants.
Take a look at a scenario where sales are barely changing however, the cost of prime services are rising. This percentage doesn’t provide an answer. This gives the person in charge an opportunity to conduct some research.
Did you notice an increase in the number of hours working? Was overtime a factor? The cost of food increased? An invoice from a vendor appeared unusually big? Did sales mix changes?
This is much better than having the same issue several weeks later.
Automate repetitive tasks
DIY bookkeeping doesn’t need to be difficult. It can simply involve manually transfer POS (point of sale) amounts onto spreadsheets.
Modern bookkeeping automation for restaurants can take care of a large portion of the repeated movement of financial data. It integrates various systems such as POS and QuickBooks payroll vendor platforms, and inventory management.
Automating for the sake automating is not the main goal.
The goal is to eliminate manual data entry, and keep financial records up-to-date to allow owners to spend more time reviewing the data instead of trying to assemble it.
This has created a new form of bookkeeping for restaurants. The software will take care of the mechanical aspects, but the owner is still tasked with the financial implications.
You can also ask more questions regarding P&L
Stop taking your P&L as like an accounting test.
Start with sales. Look at the cost necessary to achieve the sales. Compare the performance of drinks and food. Think about the labor. Examine labor.
Comparing periods is important.
If the sales rise but the profits aren’t, it is some variation between them. If food cost increased, inquire about what changed operationally. Compare staffing with sales to see if labor percent has changed. Find out if a figure seems odd, rather than assuming that the restaurant had poor times.
Bookkeeping Chef provides monthly P&Ls with five days. This lets owners review the latest results without having to wait for financial statements, which often arrive months later than the end of an operating time.
Speed is important, but the aim is to comprehend.
You don’t have to be a pro by doing it yourself
There is a middle ground between outsourcing the entire financial function to someone else and establishing yourself as your own full-time bookkeeper.
You are able to be the business owner, but not have to do all accounting tasks manually.
This could mean the use of automated system connections in order to ensure information flows and analyzing a weekly prime-cost report, looking at the monthly P&L and posing queries when something moves unexpectedly.
The bookkeeping services of restaurants that specialize in the restaurant industry can assist owners understand the meaning of the reports by organizing the books and keeping them in order.
It does not mean the bookkeeper will be able to perform all bookkeeping tasks.
An owner can have a conversation with a P&L and have an intelligent discussion on the business.
The objective is financial freedom without reporting
Restaurants already generate enormous amounts of data. A different dashboard won’t be as effective.
Real value occurs when an employee can open a P&L report, be aware that there was a change and then look at the reports on prime costs.
Bookkeeping Chef’s plan combines restaurant bookkeeping automation weekly reports monthly P&Ls, as well as specific financial assistance for restaurants to make that possible.
Automate repetitive tasks. Review prime cost every week. Be aware of the language used within your P&L.
You don’t have to become an accountant.
Owners who know the financial aspect of their restaurants will be able make better choices.