Restaurant owners open their monthly P&L reports, examine sales, then go down to the bottom and close the report.
Do these sound like familiar to you?
The report could be completely correct, but if they are the only two numbers being reviewed, the majority of its worth is being put to waste.
Good restaurant bookkeeping shouldn’t make owners more dependent on an accountant. They should feel more confident about their numbers. It doesn’t require an accounting expert or spend the night entering invoices. It’s essential to know the reason for the fluctuation in profits, what happened with food and labor, and which questions need attention next week.
This is the concept behind Bookkeeping Chef: Automate the bookkeeping task that doesn’t require a proprietor’s time, while providing restaurant owners with clearer financial information they can use.
Do Not Stop at the Month-End Numbers. Start with the Weekly Numbers
Restaurants don’t operate on a monthly basis. The managers this week plan their activities. Chefs order food today. Vendors change prices now.
This is why Bookkeeping Chef provides weekly prime-cost flash reports along with monthly financial statements.
The prime cost combines the labor and goods costs both of which are areas where the restaurant could accelerate its progress. The information provided by the Bookkeeping Chef indicates that the prime cost typically accounts for 60 percent of the sales in restaurants.
Imagine sales haven’t drastically changed however the price of prime is increasing. The percentage by itself does not answer the question. It gives the owner reason to do some research.
Was there an increase in the hours employed? Did overtime happen? Was the cost of food changed? An invoice from a vendor appeared unusually big? Did the sales mix change?
This is a lot more helpful than identifying the same issue several weeks later.
Automate repetitive tasks
DIY bookkeeping does not need to involve manually transferring POS (point of sale) amounts onto spreadsheets.
Automating bookkeeping for restaurants can assist in the repetitive movement of financial data. The service connects POS systems and QuickBooks, vendor platforms recipes and inventory management, and payments instruments.
Automation isn’t the only goal.
It’s a way to streamline data entry, and keep financial records up-to-date so that the owner can spend time looking over data instead of gathering it.
This has created a new form of bookkeeping in restaurants. The software handles more of the mechanical aspects, but the owner is still involved with the financial implications.
P&L Questions: Find out to Ask More Effective Questions
If you stop thinking of the P&L as a test it becomes less intimidating.
Start by studying sales. Next, look at the expenses needed to make those sales. Compare the effectiveness of drinks and food. Look at the cost of labor. Continue to reduce your operating expenses.
The importance of comparing periods.
If the sales rise but the profits aren’t, it is an alteration between the two. Find out what happened in the company in the event that food costs went up. If labor percentage moved between staffing and sales activity. Examine if the number appears odd, rather than thinking that the restaurant experienced poor times.
Bookkeeping Chef’s monthly P&Ls are that are completed in five business days, giving owners the chance to examine recent performance, not receiving accounts long after the period of operation is completed.
Speed is important, however it is important to know.
It’s not required to make everything.
There is a middle ground between outsourcing the entire financial function to someone else and being your own full-time bookkeeper.
Owners can be still involved in the accounting process without needing to complete every task by hand.
It could be as simple as automatizing systems to ensure the flow of information, examining a monthly P&L and a weekly report on the primary costs or asking questions when something unexpected occurs.
A specialist in restaurant bookkeeping can aid in this way by maintaining the books in order and assisting the proprietor to understand what they mean.
It is unlikely to end up with a bookkeeper who can perform all the duties.
An owner is someone who can have a conversation with a P&L about the business.
The goal of financial independence isn’t to create more reports, but to attain financial freedom
Restaurants already generate huge amounts of data. A dashboard may not always make sense.
Value is realized when an employee can open an P&L report and recognize the change, and then review the prime-cost reports.
Bookkeeping Chef’s method incorporates financial support for restaurants, weekly reporting and automated bookkeeping of restaurants to achieve this.
Automate repetitive tasks. Examine the cost of your prime each week. Learn the language of your P&L.
You don’t need to be an accountant.
Restaurant owners who are aware of the financial aspect of their restaurant can make better choices.
