What to Look For in a Restaurant Bookkeeper

In the high-flying world of business, there are a lot of exciting and interesting jobs to do and none of them are bookkeeping. Bookkeeping is necessary though. Bookkeepers are the scorekeepers. If you are aren’t keeping score, then you don’t really know if you’re winning or losing. What can be just as bad or worse is, keeping the wrong score, so it’s important to have a good Bookkeeper who can be trusted. Restaurants like any business need a bookkeeper to keep track of the score, but restaurants are not like any business. Restaurants require specialized personnel experienced in the restaurant industry.

Many small business people will do their own bookkeeping, and Restaurant Owners are no different. Doing the bookkeeping right takes too much time and ties up an Owner. Having a professional Bookkeeper is the way to go and in the restaurant industry, it should be someone experience and familiar with the way restaurants are run. Here is what to look for in a Restaurant Bookkeeper.

Reconciliation

One of the most important tasks, if not the most important task is adding up all the receipts and making sure they match the money brought in. There is a lot of cash flying around in restaurants and there can be a lot of confusion. There is an ugly history of less than ethical employees taking advantage of everyone being so busy to skim money. The smoothest operation is going to be one in which temptation is reduced by having a Bookkeeper and an overall program which has a close eye on all the money coming in.

Budgeting

A good Restaurant Bookkeeper will help with budgeting as well. Keeping track of the money spent on food and supply inventory budgets. This is especially necessary if more than one person, such as the Restaurant Manager and Head Chef are ordering supplies. A lot of food, beverage and supplies are coming and going out every day. In order to minimize ordering mistakes, and loss, it is important to keep track of it all. Some Restaurants run on such tight margins, that mistakes in ordering can wipe out all their profits.

Payroll

A Restaurant Bookkeeper can set up and perform the necessary payroll service. Your employees might argue this is the most important function for a Restaurant Bookkeeper. Definitely everyone likes to get paid, and not getting paid on time can cause hurt feelings, and lead to a disgruntled staff. Payroll services are something a Bookkeeper should be performing to keep payroll streamlined and consistent.

Reports

The Restaurant Owner or Manager may be more interested in financial reports generated by the Bookkeeper. With today’s technology a good Restaurant Bookkeeper should be able to produce some of the financial reports, that only Accountants used to be able to do. These reports will guide the Restaurant Owner or Manager in making decisions on things like the food budget, menu prices, and even how many employees to schedule for a certain day or night of the week.

Information is power, and a good Restaurant Bookkeeper will be able to keep track of what is coming in and going out and put it into organized reports which will allow for proper planning and money management of the restaurant.

Bookkeepers fill an important role in all businesses, however restaurants are specialty businesses and as such, its very helpful to have a Bookkeeper who is familiar with the restaurant business. You want to find a Bookkeeper who is specifically knowledgeable of restaurant operations and all of the tasks required to run an efficient restaurant operation. The skills discussed above are an example of the capabilities you should look for in a Restaurant Bookkeeper.