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Bookkeeping for restaurants, with prime cost you can actually see.

Our bookkeeping for restaurants books daily POS sales, tips, delivery-app payouts and vendor bills correctly, so food cost, labor cost and prime cost are real numbers every month, not a year-end surprise. Fixed monthly fees start at $150, and plans with payroll start at $350.

Payroll included from $350/month

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A chef chopping on a board in a stainless-steel restaurant kitchen

What we usually find first.

Thin margins make small bookkeeping errors add up fast. Here is each common one, what is really going on, and what we do.

  • “We’re packed every night and still not making money.”

    Prime cost, which is food, drink and labor together, stays invisible until the profit and loss shows up months late.

    What we doA monthly profit and loss with every line as a share of sales, and prime cost on one line.

  • “My bank deposits never match my POS.”

    Card deposits arrive net of fees, include card tips and sales tax, and settle in batches across days. Cash runs over or short.

    What we doA daily sales entry from your POS summary, then card and cash deposits matched against it.

  • “Delivery apps pay me less than the orders, and I don’t know why.”

    Payouts are gross sales less commission, promotions and adjustments. In many states the app has already collected the sales tax.

    What we doRecord gross delivery sales and commissions separately, and reconcile each payout to the bank.

  • “Tips are a mess.”

    Card tips are your staff’s money until you pay them out, they count as wages for tax, and 2026 W-2s report them in a new way.

    What we doRun tips through payroll, so the tips you owe clear every pay period and your W-2s are right.

  • “Food cost is a guess.”

    Invoices pile up unentered and purchases go straight to cost with no counts, so food cost swings with delivery days.

    What we doEnter vendor bills and your counts each period, before we close the month, then work out food cost from stock and purchases.

  • “I don’t know which location is carrying the others.”

    Every site is blended into one set of numbers, so a strong location hides a weak one.

    What we doKeep books per location inside your file, so each site has its own profit and loss.

Months behind on sales entries and vendor bills? Catch-up bookkeeping brings the books current on a fixed quote first, then the monthly work keeps them there.

Prime cost, in focus.

Food and labor cost as a share of sales decide whether a restaurant makes it. Those figures need purchases, counts and payroll booked on time.

We keep those inputs current, so prime cost is a number you manage against every month while the month still matters. Good targets vary by concept; our guide sets out the usual ranges.

Prime cost, tips and food costRestaurant bookkeeping guideRead the guide

Prime cost for one period

Example

Food and drink sales for the period: $50,000. Each cost is shown as a share of those sales.

Example: prime cost for one period with $50,000 of sales, as amounts and as a share of sales
CostAmountShare of sales
Food and drink cost, from counts$15,00030%
Labor, with payroll taxes$16,00032%
Prime cost$31,00062%

Prime cost is food and drink cost plus labor. The other 38% of sales has to cover rent, utilities, every other cost and your profit.

  • Restaurant payroll and tips

    Tips belong to your staff. Card tips are money you owe until they go out through payroll or in cash, and for tax they are wages: reported, withheld on and shown on the W-2. Get that wrong and both your sales and your payroll taxes are off.

    • Card tips held as money owed to staff and cleared every pay run
    • Tips run through payroll as wages, with withholding and payroll taxes right
    • Tip records kept so whoever prepares your return can claim the FICA tip credit on Form 8846
    • 2026 W-2s that show tips and each employee’s occupation the new way
    • Payroll across state lines when your locations sit in more than one state
    • Payroll liabilities on the balance sheet tied to your payroll reports

    Payroll runs, filings and year-end W-2s are part of Growth, from $350/month. See restaurant payroll and what it covers.

  • Delivery apps and POS deposits

    Your POS knows what you sold; the bank only sees batches. Card batches arrive net of processing fees, include tips and sales tax, and settle a day or two later. Delivery apps usually pay weekly, net of commission, promotions and adjustments.

    • A daily sales entry from your POS summary: food, drink, tips, sales tax, discounts and gift cards
    • Card and cash deposits matched to the day they belong to, with overs and shorts tracked
    • DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub recorded at gross sales, with commissions, promotions and fees on their own lines
    • App orders where the platform paid the sales tax kept off your own sales tax return
A cafe owner pouring coffee behind the counter of a small coffee shop

Cafes, bars, food trucks and catering

Smaller kitchens, same rules. Coffee shops live on card batches and tips. Bars need drink cost kept apart from food. Food trucks sell in different places, and the sales tax rate can change with the city or county you park in. Caterers take deposits before the event, and those are not sales until the event happens.

  • Drink cost and food cost on their own lines
  • Sales tax tracked by where each sale happened
  • Catering deposits held until the event, then booked as sales

Franchisees

A franchise agreement adds royalties and brand or ad fund fees, usually a share of sales, plus the reports your franchisor asks for. We book royalties and ad fund fees as their own costs and keep each location’s books separate inside your file, so the sales on your royalty report tie to your books.

  • A profit and loss for each location, plus a combined view
  • Royalties and ad fund fees as their own lines
  • Monthly numbers ready for your franchisor’s reporting

What we handle every month.

Everything runs inside your own QuickBooks or Xero for one fixed monthly fee. Each job links to the service that does it.

Most restaurants fit Growth, from $350/month: payroll and filings, sales-tax filing, tax preparation and a monthly review call.

  • One named contact who knows your file
  • A reply within one business day
  • No long-term contract
See full pricing

Every month, for restaurants

Reports you get each month

  • Profit and loss with every line as a share of sales
  • Food cost, drink cost, labor and prime cost
  • Comps and discounts as their own lines
  • Delivery commissions set against delivery sales
  • Profit and loss by location
  • Balance sheet with sales tax, payroll liabilities, tips owed and gift card balances

Starter covers the monthly profit and loss and balance sheet. Per-location reports and prime cost are priced into your fixed monthly fee after a short look at your locations and sales, and your quote lists each report.

Numbers you can watch: food, labor and prime cost as a share of sales, comps and voids, delivery fees and cash on hand. On Growth, a monthly review call to talk them through.

Free books review

What we check in a restaurant’s books. Free, in about 48 hours.

Add us as your accountant in QuickBooks Online, Xero or the software you use. You get a written list of what is misclassified or unreconciled, and how to fix it. Yours to keep.

  1. Send the form

    Two minutes. Your software, your POS and how many locations you run.

  2. Add us from your own account

    Invite hello@remotebookkeepersllc.com as your accountant in your QuickBooks Online, Xero or other software. We only read the file, and nothing in it changes.

  3. Get your findings

    Within about 48 hours, in plain English.

Get a free books review

No card. No sales call required. Nothing in your books changes.

What we look at in a restaurant file

  1. Sales built from depositsBank deposits booked as sales, with no daily POS entry behind them.
  2. Tips sitting in revenueCard tips in sales instead of a tips owed account that clears each payroll.
  3. Sales tax that does not tie outSales tax owed on the balance sheet against the returns you filed.
  4. Delivery apps booked netPayouts recorded as sales, with the commissions hidden inside.
  5. Gift cards and inventoryWhether gift cards sold and your stock counts are on the balance sheet.
  6. Payroll accountsPayroll liabilities that do not match your payroll reports.

Fractional CFO for restaurants.

Menu prices, a second location, a slow season, a loan for new equipment: decisions like these are where a restaurant wins or loses the year.

Our fractional CFO support starts from books that are closed on time, with prime cost already in them. That means the planning uses this month’s numbers, not last year’s tax return.

See fractional CFO support

What it covers

  • Cash planned for the quiet months and big bills
  • Menu pricing checked against food and labor cost
  • The numbers behind a new location or a remodel
  • A clear read before you take on a loan or a lease

Part of Scale, from $650/month, with cash-flow reporting.

Who we work with, and where we stop.

We would rather tell you up front than take on work we cannot do well.

A good fit if you run…

  • One restaurant or several
  • A cafe or a bar
  • A franchise location
  • A food truck or a catering business
  • Your books on QuickBooks Online or Xero, or you are happy to move

Probably not the right fit if you…

  • Need someone on site to count cash, make deposits or count stock. You or your managers count; we book it.
  • Want legal advice on tip pools, tip credits or service charges. That is employment law.
  • Only want a once-a-year tax filing with no monthly books
  • Are not ready to keep your books in cloud software

Works with the tools you already use

You keep your POS, your apps and your own QuickBooks or Xero file. Nothing to switch, and your data stays yours.

  • Square
  • Gusto
  • ADP
  • QuickBooks
  • Xero
  • We also work with Toast, Clover, DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub.

Questions restaurant owners ask.

Why don’t my deposits match my POS sales?

Card deposits arrive net of processing fees, include card tips you then pay out, include sales tax, and settle in batches that cross days. Cash adds overs and shorts. Matching each deposit to the day’s POS summary explains every difference.

How do you handle DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub?

Each order is recorded at its gross sale price. The platform’s commission, marketing or promotion charges and any adjustments go on their own expense lines, and the payout is reconciled to your bank, so you can see what delivery really costs you.

Where the platform collects and pays the sales tax on its orders, those sales are kept apart on your sales tax return so you do not pay the tax twice.

What does “no tax on tips” change for us?

Your tipped staff may be able to deduct qualified tips on their own federal returns for 2025 to 2028. Withholding, Social Security and Medicare still apply. What changes for you is reporting: 2026 W-2s show tips and the employee’s occupation separately, so tip records need to be right every pay period.

Do you work with Toast, Square and Clover?

Yes. Each of them produces a daily sales summary, and that is what we book from: food and drink sales, tips, sales tax, discounts, comps and gift cards, each to its own account. You keep running your POS and payroll app as you do today; we connect what they report to your QuickBooks Online or Xero file.

Do you report prime cost every month?

Yes. Vendor bills go in before each month closes, your inventory counts go in each period, and labor comes from payroll, including payroll taxes. Each month’s profit and loss shows food cost, labor cost and prime cost as a share of sales, by location if you have more than one.

Per-location reports and prime cost are priced into your fixed monthly fee after a short look at your locations and sales, and your quote lists each report.

Do you work with franchisees?

Yes. Royalties and ad fund fees are booked as their own costs, each location keeps its own books inside your file, and the monthly sales figures tie to what you report to the franchisor. If your franchisor requires a particular chart of accounts or software, tell us on the first call and we will say honestly whether we can work within it.

Do you keep books for food trucks and coffee shops?

Yes. The work is the same as for a larger restaurant, just smaller: daily sales from your POS, card deposits matched, tips through payroll and vendor bills entered on time. For a truck we also track where each sale happened, because the sales tax rate can depend on the location. A small operation without payroll can start on Starter (from $150 a month); Growth adds payroll once you have staff.

Which plan fits a restaurant?

Most restaurants have staff and sales tax, which is Growth (from $350 a month): payroll processing and filings, sales-tax filing, tax preparation and a monthly review call. Groups planning to grow may need Scale (from $650) for cash-flow reporting and fractional CFO support.

The exact fee is confirmed after a short look at your volume and complexity. If your volume grows a lot, we talk first, and any change is agreed with you in advance. No long-term contract.

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Other industries we keep books for.

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