Restaurant bookkeeping
Every sale arrives through a different channel with a different fee and a different deposit date. Bookkeeping in this industry is reconciliation, done daily or not really done.
CRA EFILE authorized · Every file reviewed by an accountant · Switching is free — about an hour of your time
Four channels, one day of sales
A single trading day produces card settlements net of processor fees, a cash deposit, and separate payouts from every delivery platform you use, each on its own schedule. Your point-of-sale system says what was sold. Nothing else agrees with it directly.
Reconciling that daily is the whole job. Done as a monthly batch, discrepancies become impossible to attribute, because you cannot tell whether a shortfall was a fee change, a refund, a comp, a void, or a till problem three weeks ago.
What gets reconciled
Gross sales from the POS against the deposits that followed them. Processor fees separated out rather than netted invisibly into revenue. Delivery commissions recorded as the cost they are. Comps, voids, and refunds posted so that discounted sales are visible instead of appearing as missing money.
Once that is happening every day, your sales figure is a fact rather than an estimate, and everything downstream depends on it.
Food cost, properly
Cost of sales has to be separated from operating overhead for gross margin to mean anything. That means supplier invoices coded consistently to food, beverage, and where relevant paper and packaging, and inventory counted on a regular schedule so cost of sales reflects what was used rather than what was bought.
Restaurants that skip inventory counts get a cost of sales figure that swings with purchase timing, which makes month-to-month comparison useless precisely when it matters most.
The liability accounts nobody watches
Two balances need visibility in this industry. HST collected is not revenue; it is money held for CRA. Payroll source deductions withheld from staff are the same. Both belong in liability accounts and both need to be visible, because a restaurant with a cash-flow squeeze can drift into spending them without noticing, and CRA treats unremitted source deductions as trust funds that directors can be personally liable for.
Our guide on the chart of accounts covers how these should be structured.
How it runs
Transactions are categorized and reconciled as they land, so the books are current within twenty-four hours. You approve what the AI categorized, a couple of minutes a week. Every account is balanced at month-end and a Canadian accountant reviews and signs the report, files the HST, and prepares the year-end corporate return.
What’s included
- POS gross sales reconciled daily to card settlements, cash, and app payouts
- Processor fees and delivery commissions recorded as costs, not netted away
- Comps, voids, and refunds posted so discounts are visible
- Food, beverage, and packaging coded as cost of sales for real gross margin
- Inventory counts reflected so cost of sales matches what was used
- HST collected and source deductions held in visible liability accounts
- Month-end close reviewed and signed by a Canadian accountant
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
What does restaurant bookkeeping actually involve?
Mostly reconciliation. A single trading day produces card settlements net of fees, a cash deposit, and separate delivery platform payouts on their own schedules, and all of it has to tie back to what the point-of-sale system recorded as sold.
Why does it need to happen daily?
Because discrepancies become unattributable in a monthly batch. You cannot tell whether a shortfall was a processor fee change, a refund, a comp, a void, or a till problem from three weeks earlier.
How is food cost calculated properly?
Cost of sales is separated from operating overhead, supplier invoices are coded consistently to food, beverage, and packaging, and inventory is counted on a schedule so cost of sales reflects what was used rather than what was purchased.
Why do HST and source deductions need their own accounts?
Because neither is your money. HST collected is held for CRA and withheld source deductions are held in trust for it. Keeping both visible as liabilities prevents a cash squeeze quietly turning into an unremitted balance, which directors can be personally liable for.
Your restaurant books, current every day
One flat monthly price. Book a call and we’ll quote it live.
Get Started