Finance & Accounting
29 practical guides to help you make better decisions about finance & accounting.
Year-End Tax Planning for Restaurant Owners
Year-end tax planning for restaurant owners — the Q4 moves (equipment, timing, retirement, tip credit) that cut your 2026 bill before December 31.
How to Handle Credit Card Chargebacks at Your Restaurant
A chargeback pulls the sale, the food, and a fee out of your account at once. Here's how to fight one, what evidence wins, and how to stop the next ten.
Should Your Restaurant Add a Credit Card Surcharge?
More restaurants are adding 3% card surcharges. Here's the math, the legal rules by state, and how to decide without driving guests away.
How to Sell Your Restaurant
What your restaurant is really worth, how to get the books ready, where buyers come from, and how much you actually keep after debt, fees, and taxes.
Understanding Restaurant Valuation
How restaurants are valued - SDE and EBITDA multiples, what drives the number up or down, and how to estimate what your restaurant is worth before you sell.
Managing Debt and Restaurant Loans
How to manage restaurant debt and loans without drowning - track every balance, prioritize payoff, keep your debt-service ratio safe, and borrow on purpose.
How to Set Up Restaurant Financial Reports
Set up the core restaurant financial reports - P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, and weekly flash - so you always know how your restaurant is really doing.
How to Improve Cash Reserves
How to build a restaurant cash reserve that survives slow seasons and surprises - set a target, fund it automatically, and protect it from being spent.
How to Do a Monthly Financial Close
A step-by-step monthly financial close for restaurants - reconcile sales, count inventory, book expenses, and produce clean statements in a repeatable checklist.
Depreciation and Equipment Write-Offs Explained
Depreciation and Section 179 write-offs for restaurants explained in plain English - how to spread or deduct equipment costs and cut your tax bill legally.
When to Hire an Accountant or Bookkeeper
Doing your own books until 2am? Here's when a restaurant should hire a bookkeeper vs. an accountant, what each does, what it costs, and how to know it pays off.
Understanding Sales Tax for Restaurants
Sales tax you collect isn't your money. Here's how restaurant sales tax works, what's taxable, how to set it aside, and how to file without a costly surprise.
Understanding Restaurant Cash Handling Controls
Cash goes missing when nobody's accountable. How to set up cash handling controls — drawer counts, deposits, separation of duties — that stop theft and errors.
Setting Up a Chart of Accounts for Restaurants
A restaurant chart of accounts organizes your money so your P&L actually tells you something. Here's a standard structure you can copy and adapt.
How to Reduce Credit Card Processing Fees
Card fees quietly skim 2-4% of your sales. Here's how restaurant processing fees work and the legitimate ways to cut them without hurting the guest experience.
How to Price for a Target Profit Margin
Want a specific profit margin? How to price menu items backward from your target — accounting for food cost, labor, and overhead — so the margin is built in.
How to Handle Payroll and Payroll Taxes
Restaurant payroll means tips, tip credits, overtime, and withholding done right. Here's how to run payroll and stay compliant with payroll taxes without a mess.
How to Forecast Restaurant Revenue
Learn how to forecast restaurant revenue using covers, average check, and seasonality — a practical method to project sales for budgeting, staffing, and cash flow.
How to Build a Financial Dashboard
Stop waiting for month-end to know how you're doing. How to build a restaurant financial dashboard around the handful of numbers that actually run the business.
Controlling the 5 Biggest Restaurant Expenses
The five costs that decide your profit — food, labor, occupancy, and more — what each should run as a percent of sales, and how to control each one.
Restaurant Break-Even Analysis Explained
Break-even is the sales number where your restaurant stops losing money and starts making it. Here's the formula, a worked example, and how to lower it.
Restaurant Bookkeeping Basics
Good books are the foundation of a profitable restaurant. Here are the bookkeeping basics — accounts, daily sales, reconciliation, and reports — done simply.
Key Restaurant Financial Metrics to Track
You can't manage what you don't measure. Here are the essential restaurant financial metrics — with formulas and targets — every owner should track.
How to Set a Restaurant Budget
A restaurant budget turns hope into a plan. Here's how to build one from your sales forecast, set target percentages for every cost, and hold the line.
How to Read a Restaurant P&L Statement
Your P&L is the scoreboard for your restaurant. Here's how to read every line — sales, COGS, labor, prime cost, and profit — and what each number should be.
How to Manage Restaurant Taxes
Restaurant taxes are more than April 15. Here's how to manage sales tax, payroll tax, tip reporting, and deductions so you stay compliant and keep cash safe.
How to Improve Your Profit Margin
Restaurant margins are thin, but they're improvable. Here are the highest-impact levers — pricing, prime cost, waste, and mix — to grow your bottom line.
Cash Flow Management for Restaurants
A profitable restaurant can still run out of cash. Here's how to manage cash flow — timing, reserves, and forecasting — so you never miss payroll or rent.
Understanding Prime Cost and Why It Matters
Prime cost = cost of goods sold + total labor. Here's how to calculate it, what a good prime cost is, why it beats food cost alone, and how to control it weekly.