Restaurant owners open their monthly P&L reports, check the sales and then move down to the bottom of the report and close the report.
Do you recognize the sound?
The report may be perfectly correct, but if they are the only two figures reviewed, the majority of its worth is being left on the table.
Good restaurant bookkeeping shouldn’t make owners more dependent on an accountant. They should become more confident with their own financials. You don’t have to be an accountant or stay up all the night entering invoices. You do need to understand the reasons why profit fluctuated from food and labor costs and what questions need consideration next week.
Bookkeeping Chef is an application which automatizes bookkeeping, so users can focus on other things while getting more precise financial reports.
Do Not Stop at the month-end Numbers. Start by calculating Weekly Numbers
Even though restaurants do not operate on a calendar month, they do require a P&L. Managers set up their work schedules for the week. The chef has ordered food for today. Vendors change prices now.
Bookkeeping Chef’s weekly Prime-cost reports are available alongside the financial statements for the month.
The primary cost is comprised of the cost of labor and the purchase of goods both of which are areas where a restaurant can quickly progress. The information provided by the Bookkeeping Chef reveals that prime costs usually represent 60 percent of sales in restaurants.
Imagine that sales have barely changed, but the price of production grew. This percentage does not provide an answer. It gives the owner reason to investigate.
Was there an increase in hours worked? Was there overtime? Costs of food changed? Was the invoice of a vendor abnormally high? Did the sales mix change?
This is far more beneficial than finding the same issue several weeks later.
Automate repetitive work
DIY bookkeeping isn’t limited to manually moving POS numbers into spreadsheets.
Automating the bookkeeping processes of restaurants can reduce repeated data movement. It integrates various systems like POS Payroll, QuickBooks, vendor platforms and inventory management.
Automatization is not the aim.
The aim is to reduce manually entering data and to ensure that financial records are kept up-to date so that the owners are able to spend more time looking over the data instead of trying to assemble it.
This creates a new model of bookkeeping for restaurants. The technology is able to handle more of the mechanical aspects, but the proprietor is still involved in the financial aspects.
P&L Questions: Find out How to Ask Better Questions
If you stop thinking of the P&L as a test it will become less daunting.
Start with the sales. Then, take a look at cost of production. Compare the effectiveness of beverages and food. Consider labor. Reduce operating expenses and then look at what’s left.
Compare periods.
Something that lies between these two lines is changing if sales have increased, but profit has not. Consider what has changed within the organization in the event that food costs went up. If the labor rate changed, compare staffing and sales activity. Investigate if a number seems unusual, rather than believing that the restaurant went through an unfavorable time.
Bookkeeping Chef will send monthly P&Ls in five days. This allows owners to view recent performance without waiting for financial statements that are often received months after the conclusion of an operating time.
Speed is important, but the aim is to comprehend.
You don’t need to handle everything on your own when you make it DIY
There is no need to be the sole bookkeeper to avoid transferring the entire financial responsibility over to another person.
Owners are still able to participate in the accounting process, without needing to complete every task manually.
That might mean making use of automated system connections to maintain information flow and analyzing a weekly prime-cost report, studying the monthly P&L and asking questions in the event of an unexpected change.
Specialized bookkeeping for restaurants can help with this approach by keeping the books in order and helping the restaurant owner comprehend what they mean.
The result isn’t a owner who is skilled enough to complete every bookkeeping task.
It’s an owner who can sit down with a P&L and engage in a thoughtful conversation about their business.
The objective is financial freedom without reporting
Restaurants already produce huge quantities of information. Another dashboard isn’t automatically useful.
Real value is when an employee can open the P&L report and recognize the change, and then review the prime-cost reports.
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.
Automate repetitive tasks. Check your top costs each week. Learn to speak the language of your P&L.
You don’t need to be an accountant professional.
It is crucial to know the finances of your restaurant before you can become a proprietor.