Restaurant accountant
Restaurants fail on margin, and margin is invisible without current books. Daily reconciliation is not administrative tidiness in this industry, it is how you find out in time.
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Why quarterly bookkeeping does not work in this industry
A restaurant operating on a single-digit net margin cannot wait ninety days to learn that food cost moved three points. By then a quarter of trading is gone and the decision that would have fixed it, a menu reprice, a supplier change, a portion adjustment, was available in week two.
This is the industry where current books have the most direct operational value. Not for compliance, for the next order.
The reconciliation problem
No other small business has this many payment streams. Card settlements arrive net of processor fees on their own timing. Cash goes to the bank separately. Each delivery platform, whether Uber Eats, DoorDash, or SkipTheDishes, takes a different commission, remits on a different cycle, and reports gross and net differently.
Every one of those has to be tied back to what the point-of-sale system says was sold. If they are not reconciled, you cannot tell the difference between a bad week, a processor fee change, and money going missing.
Food cost is a bookkeeping output
Food and beverage cost as a percentage of sales is the number that runs the business, and it is only as good as the underlying records. That means supplier invoices coded consistently, inventory counted on a schedule, and cost of sales kept separate from operating overhead.
Booked properly, your income statement gives you a gross margin you can act on. Booked as one big expense pile, it gives you a net figure months later and no way to find out why.
HST on food is not one rate
Prepared food and restaurant meals are taxable. Some grocery-type items are zero-rated. If you run a mixed operation, a cafe with retail bags of coffee beans, a restaurant with a market counter, a caterer selling both prepared trays and unprepared goods, you have both treatments in one business and the split has to be right in the records rather than estimated at filing.
Ontario specifics are covered in our guide to HST for Ontario small business.
Tips, and why they are a payroll question
How tips are handled changes your payroll obligations, and the distinction between controlled and direct tips matters. That is dealt with in detail on our restaurant payroll page, because getting it wrong is one of the more common and expensive errors in the industry.
What’s included
- POS sales reconciled daily against card settlements, cash, and delivery apps
- Delivery platform commissions and remittance timing tracked per platform
- Food and beverage cost tracked as cost of sales, separate from overhead
- HST handled correctly across taxable prepared food and zero-rated items
- Payroll including tipped staff, with source deductions remitted on time
- Records of Employment filed as staff turn over
- Year-end corporate tax return prepared by the same team, included
Also: Restaurants in Ontario · Restaurants in Toronto · Restaurants & hospitality. More for this industry: Restaurant accounting · Restaurant bookkeeping · Restaurant payroll
All four services: Bookkeeping · Tax · Payroll · Business advisory
Common questions
Why do restaurants need daily bookkeeping?
Because margins are thin and the levers are operational. A three-point move in food cost has to be caught in weeks, not at a quarterly close, or a quarter of trading is lost before anyone can reprice a menu or change a supplier.
How do you handle delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash?
Each platform takes a different commission, remits on a different cycle, and reports gross and net differently. Each is reconciled separately against what the point-of-sale system recorded as sold, so the fees are visible rather than absorbed into a net deposit.
Is all restaurant food subject to HST?
No. Prepared food and restaurant meals are taxable, while some grocery-type items are zero-rated. Mixed operations such as cafes selling retail coffee or caterers selling unprepared goods have both treatments and the split has to be right in the records.
Can you work with my POS system?
Yes. Bring it up on the call along with your processors and delivery platforms so the reconciliation is scoped before we quote.
Know your margin while you can still act on it
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