Independent restaurants and cafés
Agree the sales categories, payment methods and reports for your operation. Card receipts, cash takings, refunds and tips need an explained path into the books.
Restaurant bookkeeping services.
See the sales, fees and costs behind your restaurant’s bank balance. Bookeeping.us brings agreed POS summaries, delivery statements and financial accounts into reviewed monthly books in your accounting software. AI assists preparation; your named bookkeeper checks the work and asks about anything unclear.
Get my bookkeeping quoteAI-assisted work. A named bookkeeper. A dedicated account manager.
Make month-end clearer.
A busy service can produce card settlements, cash takings, tips and delivery-platform payouts. Those deposits do not all represent food sales. We help explain the monthly activity, investigate differences and keep the supporting records organized.
Takeaway and delivery businesses
Use each included platform’s transaction and payout reports to identify commissions, adjustments and settlement timing. Check what the POS already recorded before adding entries.
Multi-location and franchise operators
Identify entities, sites and shared costs before requesting location reports. We assess records and software; consolidation and specialist franchise reporting need explicit scope.
Records we’ll discuss
Prepare POS sales/payment summaries, processor and delivery statements, cash-count and paid-out logs, supplier bills, payroll accounting summaries and prior reconciliations. Identify every location and account, the reporting periods and any existing connection to the ledger.
Manual statement uploads are an option. A bank connection is not required.
Reports & agreed scope
Agree the monthly profit and loss statement, balance sheet, reconciliations and unresolved-item list. Location views and food/labor cost reporting depend on reliable allocations, stock and payroll records. A payout report alone does not establish restaurant profitability.
We work in QuickBooks, Xero, Sage or your current software after checking the workflow. Your proposal confirms the accounts, transaction limits, reports, fees and delivery schedule.
Explore the monthly bookkeeping service for the process, deliverables and scope.
Close the month.
Explain the moving parts.
Map the sales and payment sources
Identify locations, entities, POS systems, delivery channels and cash/card accounts. We check reporting dates and how activity already enters QuickBooks, Xero or your current system.
Check settlements, cash and costs
Explain receipts, refunds, fees and outstanding processor balances using the included records. Supplier bills and payroll summaries support the entries. We ask for context rather than hiding a difference in an unsupported adjustment.
Review and deliver
Your named bookkeeper reviews the month before finalization, with your input on open questions. Your dedicated account manager coordinates records and updates. Reports follow the agreed schedule once those dependencies are met.
Explore the monthly process and month-end checklist. Restaurant operations continue daily; our core delivery is monthly.
Six records to bring.
Fewer unexplained differences.
Agree the location, period and source of truth for each included account. A daily closing report and monthly bank statement may describe different dates and activity.
| Record | What it helps explain |
|---|---|
| POS sales and tender summaries | Sales categories, discounts, comps, refunds, taxes, tips, service charges and cash/card splits. Check the report definitions rather than relying on one total. |
| Card and delivery settlements | Transaction references, commissions, fees, adjustments, payout dates and unsettled amounts. Identify platform orders already recorded by the POS. |
| Cash counts and paid-out logs | Float, takings, deposits, tip payouts and documented spending from the till. A cash sale can exist without a same-day deposit. |
| Supplier bills and credits | Purchases, unpaid bills, returns and credits, with the location and purpose. Ingredient purchases and actual food usage are separate questions. |
| Payroll and tip summaries | Supported wage, deduction, liability and tip-payment entries. Reconcile payroll-provider output without treating bookkeeping as payroll processing. |
| Bank, loan and stock records | Included account balances and payment components. Stock counts and the agreed method are needed before accepting an inventory or cost-of-sales scope. |
See the records checklist and expense-records guide. Discuss unpaid supplier bills and agreed accrual adjustments before closing the month.
Illustrative example · Fictional restaurant
A $12,000 deposit.
$10,000 of net sales.
A fictional restaurant has $10,500 food and drink sales before $300 discounts and $200 refunds. The remaining $10,000 of sales, $800 collected sales tax and $1,500 voluntary employee tips are paid by card. The processor deducts $300 fees and settles the rest in the same month.
Food and drink activity
Start with sales.
Explain reductions.
- Sales before discounts/refunds
- $10,500
- Discounts
- − $300
- Refunds of sales
- − $200
- Net food and drink sales
- $10,000
Collections to settlement
Then explain
the bank receipt.
- Net sales collected
- $10,000
- Sales tax collected
- + $800
- Employee tips collected
- + $1,500
- Total collected after refunds
- $12,300
- Processor fees
- − $300
- Bank deposit
- $12,000
In this example, the restaurant owes the $800 tax and $1,500 tips; neither is food-sales revenue. The $300 processing fee is separately identified. Coding the $12,000 deposit as sales would hide these components. If a connector already posted the activity, adding another sale could also duplicate it.
Assumptions: one location, card-only receipts, no opening processor balance, holds, delivery orders, gift cards, service charges or other movements. Fictional tax/tip amounts remain unpaid at month-end. Actual treatment follows the records and accounting basis. This is settlement arithmetic, not profit, taxable income, closing cash or a prescribed tax rate. Read the reconciliation guide.
Keep the distinctions.
Make the reports useful.
Transaction dates and payout dates
DoorDash’s US guidance explains that monthly transactions and payouts received within a month can differ because the periods do not align. Review your included channels’ actual reports rather than forcing payouts to equal that month’s orders.
Tips and service charges
The IRS distinguishes discretionary tips from mandatory service charges. Keep the source categories identifiable and coordinate the balances with your payroll/tax professional. We do not decide tip-pool policy or provide wage-law advice.
Purchases and food cost
Inventory counts, waste, transfers, supplier credits and the agreed method affect cost reporting. A payment-only view should not be presented as a verified food-cost or menu-margin calculation.
Report definitions and integrations
Square documents separate sales, payment and fee metrics, and notes that timing and calculation methods can differ. Your POS may label totals differently. We assess exports and existing entries before accepting a connector or reconciliation workflow.
Supplier balances, operating costs and financing matter too. A positive bank movement alone does not show profitability; see profit versus cash flow.
Know the scope.
Before you commit.
We confirm the work, fee, limits, reports and extra charges after assessing your locations, accounts, sales channels and records. A single-site café and a multi-entity group need different proposals.
Use the cost guide to compare scope. Missing months need catch-up work; incorrect balances may need cleanup before regular delivery.
If you need daily posting, payroll administration, tax filings, real-time dashboards or recipe-level inventory control, discuss a provider or system with that explicit scope. Those capabilities are not automatically part of our month-end service.
Your questions, answered.
Does restaurant bookkeeping include daily sales posting?
Our core service is month-end bookkeeping, not daily posting or live till monitoring. Daily POS and cash records may support the monthly work. We agree how those records are summarized, reviewed and reconciled; your team remains responsible for day-to-day cash handling and timely source records.
Who will manage and review my books?
Your dedicated account manager is your main contact for updates and records needed. A named bookkeeper manages the work, resolves questions with you and reviews the books before finalization.
Can you help if my books are behind?
Yes. Catch-up and cleanup are assessed separately, with their own agreed records, price and timeline. Regular monthly bookkeeping starts from the baseline agreed with you.
Can you use our POS reports and existing QuickBooks or Xero account?
We assess your POS, accounting software, exports and existing posting setup before accepting the work. Square, Toast or another POS name does not guarantee a supported integration. We can assess manual exports and statements; a bank connection is optional. New connectors, migrations and subscriptions are separately scoped.
How do you handle delivery payouts without double-counting sales?
We identify which orders are already in the POS or ledger, compare the included transaction and payout reports, and explain commissions, adjustments and unsettled amounts. A payout period may cross a calendar month. Recording the net deposit as another sale can duplicate activity already posted; source records and the accounting basis determine the entries.
Are tips and mandatory service charges treated the same way?
No automatic equivalence is assumed. The IRS distinguishes voluntary tips from mandatory service charges for federal tax purposes. We need the POS breakdown, cash payout records and payroll summaries to explain related book balances. Your payroll or tax professional confirms the applicable treatment and reporting; payroll processing, tip-pool design and employment-law advice are outside the core monthly service.
Will you calculate food cost, inventory and prime cost?
We can discuss the reporting you need, but ingredient purchases alone do not establish food consumed or cost of sales. Stock counts, waste, transfers, the valuation method and reliable payroll records affect food and labor views. Inventory valuation, recipe costing, menu engineering and specialist prime-cost reporting need a separate assessment.
Does the service include sales-tax returns or paying suppliers?
Recording supported taxes, bills and payments is different from filing returns or authorizing payments. Your proposal identifies additional work explicitly. We do not assume a delivery platform remits every tax in every location. Your tax professional confirms the responsibilities; payment execution and tax filing are outside the core offer unless separately agreed.
What determines the monthly price and report delivery date?
We assess locations, entities, accounts, sales channels, record volume, accounting basis, reports and the condition of prior books. The proposal sets fees, limits, extra-work approval and a month-end schedule dependent on complete records and answers. Catch-up, cleanup, software and complex reporting have separate scope and timelines; no fixed package price is established here.
A clear next step
for your books.
Tell us your POS and accounting software, locations, delivery channels and the monthly help you need. We will assess records, reporting and any backlog before confirming fees and delivery dependencies.
Please share a short description only. Keep financial documents, passwords and account numbers out of this enquiry form.
Your books.
A clear next step.
Tell us what you need help with. We’ll discuss the work, records and price before you decide.
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