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Industry guide

Restaurant bookkeeping

Restaurant bookkeeping connects daily POS sales, tips, delivery platforms, payroll, food and beverage costs, merchant deposits, and cash activity.

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CLOSE FILE · ILLUSTRATIVE USD EXAMPLE

Close one day from the till to the bank

Friday’s illustrative POS close

Food and beverage sales
$4,000
Sales tax collected
$320
Voluntary tips collected
$600
Total tender
$4,920 = $820 cash + $4,100 card

Cash drawer

$820 received plus the opening $200 float gives $1,020 counted. Deposit $820 and retain the $200 float, assuming no cash payouts.

Card settlement

$4,100 card tender less an assumed $123 processing fee gives a $3,977 payout. Match the settlement date separately from the sales date.

Record $4,000 in sales, not $4,920. The $600 voluntary tips are owed to employees under this example’s facts. Mandatory service charges, tip distribution and tax treatment require separate rules; they are not automatically interchangeable with voluntary tips.

Follow the employee-liability side →

What the monthly close has to prove

  • Reconcile POS tenders to processor and bank deposits.
  • Separate sales, discounts, comps, refunds, tips, and sales tax.
  • Track food, beverage, packaging, delivery, and labor costs consistently.
  • Tie payroll journals and tip liabilities to provider reports.

Documents to collect

  • POS monthly summary
  • Merchant settlement reports
  • Delivery-platform statements
  • Bank and card statements
  • Payroll registers
  • Inventory counts and vendor bills

Common failure points

  • Delivery payouts recorded net of commissions
  • Tips recorded as revenue
  • Cash sales missing from deposits
  • Food purchases mixed with operating supplies
  • Payroll withdrawals posted as one expense

Example

A delivery-platform payout is the net result of customer sales, tax, refunds, promotions, and platform fees; each component must be mapped before the bank deposit is reconciled.

Sources

Keep learning

Gross profitGross profit is revenue minus the direct cost of producing the goods or services sold.Bank reconciliationBank reconciliation explains the difference between the book balance and an external bank statement for the same date.Accounts payableAccounts payable is money a business owes vendors for goods or services already received.Cash receivedCash received is money deposited or otherwise collected, regardless of whether it is current-period revenue.Reviewed bookkeepingReviewed bookkeeping adds a documented quality-control step before records and reports are delivered.

Educational information only. Booksmrt provides bookkeeping services, not tax, legal, audit, or investment advice. Confirm material accounting and tax decisions with the appropriate professional.