Who this is for
Catch-Up Bookkeeping for Restaurants and Food Businesses
A restaurant that is behind usually has three sources of sales data that disagree: the POS, the delivery platforms and the bank. The cleanup rebuilds sales from the POS and the platform statements, matches the bank to both, and puts tips, sales tax and payroll where they belong.
Daily sales, from the POS not the bank
Card deposits arrive net of processing fees, a day or two late, batched across days. Cash is deposited when someone gets to the bank. Neither is sales. The cleanup uses the POS daily summaries as the source of sales, sales tax and tips, and reconciles the bank to them, so the profit and loss shows what was sold and the fee line shows what the processor took.
Delivery platforms
DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub pay out net of commissions that can run to thirty percent. Books built on the payouts understate sales by that commission and show no delivery cost at all. The cleanup records gross platform sales and the commissions as a cost, from the platform statements, so the margin on delivery is visible and usually sobering.
Tips, payroll and the pay types
Tips collected on cards are a liability until paid to staff; payroll with tipped minimum wage, overtime and sometimes service charges needs reconciling to what was filed. Where payroll filings were missed, that is identified and caught up in any state. The FICA tip credit is a tax-return matter for your preparer; the books supply the reported tips it is calculated from.
Sales tax, food cost and the two-column P&L
Sales tax is separated from sales and tracked as a liability against what was remitted. Food and beverage purchases are coded so cost of goods can be read as a percentage of sales, which is the one number every restaurant owner wants and few books provide. From here on, a weekly rhythm rather than a monthly one is what keeps a restaurant’s books from slipping again.
Send which POS you use, which delivery platforms, and how many months are behind. The reply within a business day says what the deposit would be.
Restaurants & Food Businesses: common questions
Do you need the POS reports or just the bank?
Both. The POS is the source of sales; the bank confirms what arrived. Daily or weekly summaries are enough.
Can tipped payroll be caught up?
Yes, in any state, including missed filings.
Can the books show food cost as a percentage?
Yes, once purchases are coded to food and beverage rather than to a general supplies line. It is one of the first reports set up.
What your bookkeeper handles
- QuickBooks Cleanup Services
- Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services
- Bookkeeping Cleanup Services
- Behind on Bookkeeping Before a Tax Deadline
- Multiple Years of Bookkeeping, Rebuilt
- Monthly Bookkeeping After the Cleanup
Also written for Sole Proprietors & Single-Member LLCs, S Corporations, Contractors & Trades, E-commerce Sellers, Real Estate Agents & Brokers, Medical & Dental Practices and Switching From Another Bookkeeper.
Request a quote for your restaurant
Tell us how far behind the books are and whether there is a date. Your bookkeeper replies within one business day with a plain answer: what it would take, whether the date is reachable, and what the deposit would be. Requests answered within one business day · Calls Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm Eastern Or call (888) 786-6502 if you would rather talk it through first.