Restaurant owners will open their monthly P&L reports, examine sales, then scroll down to the bottom of the report and close the report.
Are you familiar with the situation?
It may be a perfectly precise report, but by only examining those two figures, it leaves the majority of its value on the table.
It shouldn’t cause them to become more dependent on an accounting company. They should have confidence in their own financials. You don’t need to be an accounting expert or spend in the dark completing invoices. It is important to know the reason why profits moved, what happened to food and labor costs and what issues need focus next week.
That’s the idea Bookkeeping Chef’s mission: to Automate the bookkeeping task that doesn’t require a proprietor’s time. It also provides restaurant owners with more precise financial data they can actually use.
It is recommended to begin by looking at Weekly Numbers and Not Just Month-End
A monthly P&L is important, however restaurants aren’t operating monthly. Managers plan the labor for this week. The chef has ordered food for today. Vendors change prices now.
Bookkeeping Chef offers weekly flash reports on top costs as well as monthly financial statements.
Prime cost includes costs of selling goods and labor, two sectors that can quickly move in an establishment. The information supplied by the Bookkeeping chef indicates that prime costs usually represent 60% of sales in restaurants.
Think about a situation where sales aren’t even changing while the prime cost is rising. The percentage by itself does not give the answer. This gives the owner an opportunity to conduct some investigation.
Have the hourly wages increased? Did overtime happen? Costs of food changed? A vendor’s invoice was abnormally high. What changes have occurred in the sales mix?
This is much better than finding the same issue two weeks later.
Let Automation Handle the Repetitive Work
DIY bookkeeping doesn’t have to mean manually transferring POS totals into spreadsheets, after service.
Modern bookkeeping automation in restaurants can handle much of the repetitive movement of financial data. The system integrates with systems like POS and QuickBooks payroll vendor platforms, and inventory management.
Automating just for the sake of automation is not the goal.
This helps to cut down on the amount of manually entering data. This also helps keep accounts of financial transactions up to date so that the owners can focus on studying data, not collecting it.
This is a completely new way of bookkeeping in restaurants. The technology takes care of more of the mechanics, while the owner is still involved with the financial implications.
P&L Questions: Learn to Ask More Effective Questions
When you stop treating the P&L like a test, it will become less daunting.
Start by taking a look at the sales. Next, examine the cost of production. Compare the food and beverages performance. Look at labor. Take a look at the labor.
Compare periods.
If the sales increased, but the profit did not, something in between those two lines has changed. Ask what changed within the organization in the event that food costs went up. Compare staffing with sales to determine if the labour percent has changed. Examine any figures that appear unusual, instead of just thinking a restaurant had a bad week.
Bookkeeping Chef can provide monthly P&Ls which are completed within five days. Owners can review the financial performance of their business without waiting months to receive financial statements.
If you are a restaurant owner looking for bookkeeping solutions, speed is useful however understanding is the greater purpose.
It’s not necessary to build everything.
You can find a compromise between hiring someone else to handle your entire financial functions and being your own personal accountant.
You can be involved as the business owner, but not have to do every accounting task manually.
This could mean the use of automated systems to keep track of the flow of information, examining an annual P&L and weekly reports regarding prime expenses or asking questions when an unexpected event occurs.
Specialized restaurant bookkeeping services can assist in keeping the books in order while helping the owner comprehend what the reports are saying.
This doesn’t mean the bookkeeper is in a position to complete all bookkeeping tasks.
A business owner is able to have a discussion with a P&L regarding the business.
The aim is financial independence Not More Reports
Restaurants already generate massive quantities of data. Another dashboard might not be helpful.
If an operator is able examine the weekly prime cost report and notice that something has changed, they may then look into their P&L to see what needs more analysis.
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. Examine your prime costs each week. Learn the terminology that is used in your P&L.
There is no need to become an accountant.
It is crucial to comprehend the financials of your restaurant before you can become a proprietor.