Restaurants & Food Service
At 5% margins, a small error wipes out the month. We track food costs, labor, and daily sales so you know your real numbers.
The Margin Reality
A good restaurant makes 5% net profit. Many make less. Some make nothing and don’t realize it until the bank account runs dry. At those margins, there is no room for guessing at your numbers. A slight increase in food cost or a week of labor overruns can wipe out your profit for the entire month.
Restaurants also generate a volume of transactions that most businesses don’t experience. Hundreds of tickets per day, cash drawers, card tips, voids, comps, and vendor invoices coming in constantly. Your POS tracks sales. Your bank shows deposits. Your vendors want to get paid. Getting all of that to line up requires daily attention that most owners don’t have time to give.
Who We Work With
Who We Work With
Restaurants, cafés, diners, food trucks, bars, catering companies, and bakeries across Benton County and Northwest Arkansas. Different formats and different menus, but the same need for tight financial tracking.
What Makes It Hard
What Makes It Hard
Cash and cards coming in all day. Tips that need proper reporting. Food cost that fluctuates with vendors and waste. Labor that changes based on the season and the schedule. Too many moving pieces to track when you’re also running service.
What We Handle
We focus on the numbers that matter most in food service. Food cost gets tracked against sales so you can see your actual percentage, not what you assume it should be based on menu math. Labor gets monitored as a percentage of revenue so you can spot when staffing is running hot before it becomes a pattern. Daily sales get reconciled so discrepancies get caught early instead of compounding for weeks.
We also handle the compliance side. Tip reporting is tracked correctly for payroll and taxes. Sales tax gets calculated and filed on time. Vendor bills get organized so you know what you owe and when it is due. Your QuickBooks stays current so you can actually see where you stand each month instead of wondering.
Food Cost Monitoring
Food Cost Monitoring
We track your purchases and sales to calculate actual food cost. You see the real percentage you are running, not an estimate. When costs creep up, you know about it early enough to adjust menu prices or portions.
Daily Reconciliation
Daily Reconciliation
POS sales matched to deposits matched to your books. Every day accounted for. Cash discrepancies, voids, and comps tracked so nothing slips through the cracks or piles up until year end.
What Goes Wrong
Food cost is where profit disappears. You set menu prices based on a 30% cost assumption, but actual cost creeps up over time. Vendors raise prices without announcement. Portion sizes drift as staff changes. Waste increases during slow periods. Without regular tracking, you are at 35% before you notice and half your margin is gone.
Labor follows the same pattern. A busy week means extra shifts. Training a new cook means inefficiency. Overtime sneaks in when someone calls out sick. You think you are running 28% labor but the reality is 33%. Between food and labor taking more than expected, there is nothing left at the end of the month and you cannot figure out why.
The Slow Creep
The Slow Creep
Food cost does not jump overnight. It moves a point at a time. A vendor price increase here, some extra waste there. Without monthly tracking, you do not see the trend until it has already cost you thousands in lost profit.
Reconciliation Gets Skipped
Reconciliation Gets Skipped
When things get busy, daily reconciliation is the first thing to go. Cash drawers do not get counted carefully. Deposits get lumped together. Small discrepancies add up over weeks. By the time you notice, you cannot trace where the money went.
What Changes
You start making decisions based on actual data. You know your real food cost and can adjust menu prices or portions accordingly. You see labor costs weekly and can adjust scheduling before the month is already lost. You understand which parts of your operation are profitable and which are not worth the effort.
The monthly scramble goes away. Books get closed on time. When tax season comes, the numbers are already organized. You spend less time worrying about the financial side and more time focused on food and customers. The business runs smoother because you can see what is happening instead of guessing.
Monthly Clarity
Monthly Clarity
Financial statements closed every month. You see exactly what you made and what it cost to make it. No more waiting until tax time to find out how the year actually went.
Room to Breathe
Room to Breathe
When the books are handled, you get time back. No more doing accounting at midnight after service. No more dreading the pile of receipts. You focus on running the restaurant and we handle the numbers.
Northwest Arkansas's Dedicated Bookkeeping Partner
The Next Step:
A Quick Conversation
Tell us about your business and where you need help. We'll listen, ask a few questions, and give you a clear plan and honest price.
