The owner of a restaurant opens the monthly P&L then looks over sales, skips down to the bottom line and closes the report.

Sound familiar?

The report may be perfectly correct, but if they are the only two figures reviewed, the majority of its worth is ignored.

It shouldn’t make them more dependent on an accounting company. They should be more confident in their own numbers. It is not necessary to be aware of every accounting rule and do a lot of work in the evenings completing invoices. However, you must understand the reason why profits moved and what happened to the cost of food and labor and what issues need focus next week.

Bookkeeping Chef’s philosophy is to automate the bookkeeping process that do not require the attention of restaurant owners, and provide users with better financial information that they can make use of.

Don’t stop at month-end Numbers. Begin by calculating Weekly Numbers

A monthly P&L is crucial, but restaurants don’t run monthly. This week, the managers plan their activities. Chef has ordered food. Vendors change prices now.

Bookkeeping Chef offers weekly flash reports on the top costs, and monthly financial statements.

Prime cost includes cost of goods sold and labor. Both of these are major areas that can move quickly in the restaurant. The data provided by the Bookkeeping Chef shows that prime costs usually represent 60% of sales in restaurants.

Imagine a situation in which sales are barely changing and the costs of primary production are increasing. The percentage by itself does not give the answer. It gives the owner an opportunity to research.

Is the hourly wage increasing? Was there overtime? Food prices changed? A vendor’s invoice was abnormally high. What changes have occurred in the sales mix?

That is far more useful than discovering the same issue several weeks later.

Let Automation Handle the Repetitive Work

The DIY bookkeeping process doesn’t have to be limited to manually transposing POS numbers into spreadsheets.

Modern bookkeeping automation in restaurants can handle a significant portion of the repeated flow of financial data. The service is able to connect systems like POS, QuickBooks, payroll, vendor platforms inventory and recipe management as well AP/payment tools.

Automating for the sake automation is not the goal.

This is done to reduce the manual data entry. This also helps keep the financial records up-to-date so that owners can spend time on reading information rather than gathering it.

This creates a new model of bookkeeping in restaurants: technology can handle the mechanics, while the owner stays engaged with the financial meaning.

P&L Questions: Learn How to Ask Better Questions

Stop thinking of your P&L as if it were an accounting test.

Begin with sales. Start with sales. Compare the effectiveness of drinks and food. Examine the cost of labor. Keep working to cut down your operating costs.

Comparing the time spans is crucial.

If the sales increased, but the profit was not, something between the two lines changed. What happened when food prices increased? Review the staffing numbers and sales activities if the labor percentages changed. Examine any figures that appear unusual, instead of just thinking that the restaurant experienced a poor week.

Bookkeeping Chef’s monthly P&Ls are that are completed in five business days, allowing owners the chance to examine recent performance rather than receiving accounts long after the period of operation is completed.

Understanding is more important than speed for owners seeking bookkeeping solutions for restaurants.

You don’t need to handle everything on your own when you make it DIY

There is a middle ground between outsourcing the entire financial functions to someone else and becoming your own full-time bookkeeper.

A business owner can be involved without manually performing every accounting job.

This could mean connecting to automated systems to ensure that information is flowing by reviewing a weekly prime-cost report, studying the monthly P&L, and asking questions when something is happening unexpectedly.

The bookkeeping services of restaurants that specialize in restaurant bookkeeping can help proprietors comprehend the significance of reports by organizing the books and keeping them in order.

It is highly unlikely that you will find an accountant who is able to perform all of the tasks.

An owner is able to have a discussion with the P&L regarding the business.

The objective of financial freedom is not to generate more reports, but rather to attain financial freedom

Restaurants already generate enormous quantities of data. Dashboards don’t always make sense.

The real value comes when an operator can look at the weekly report of prime cost and notice that something was different, then look at the P&L and figure out 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.

Automate repetitive work. Check your prime costs every week. Learn the language of your P&L.

You don’t need to be an accountant.

It is best to become an owner who understands the financial story of your restaurant.