Make Butchered Inventory Perpetual

The majority of the cost of most entrées comes from the “protein” component – meat or fish.  Chefs try to maintain a consistent portion size, usually based on weight.  Despite consistent portions, the cost will fluctuate depending on the raw purchase cost and the butchering yield.  Even if you don’t have recipes fully documented and costed [...]

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Cooking the Books

Rest assured, today’s post is not about tax evasion.  But, it does have a very important implications.  If your food recipes use any alcohol, it’s important to account for it properly. Proper Accounting Your food cost of sales should include all of the costs that are incurred in preparing the food menu items.  Sometimes, restaurants forget to [...]

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POS for Thought

I’ve purchased several POS systems for my restaurants over the years.  As an accountant and restaurant owner, I think I can give you a bit of practical advice when it comes to implementing a POS system in your restaurant.  I visited a few web sites to see whether this topic had been adequately covered and [...]

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Internal Controls for Fun & Profit

I confess, the title of today’s post was the best I could come up with to try and make internal controls sound interesting.  Truth is, the mere mention of internal controls makes most accountants’ eyes glaze over.  While they may not be “fun”, they certainly are profitable.  I’ll be writing extensively on the topic in the [...]

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Coupon Accounting

When the economy went into a tailspin, a lot of restaurants experienced an alarming drop in sales.  Not only were guests spending less, fewer were dining out and those that were, dined out less often.  Pretty much every restaurant that I knew saw their sales drop by a minimum of 20% – some as much [...]

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