Bookkeeping for Full-Service Restaurants
Full-service restaurants operate on margins that punish financial imprecision — food cost running 2% over budget, labor creeping past threshold, and tip reporting done wrong can quietly erase a profitable month. Simple Books Now builds the financial discipline your restaurant needs, with Luisa's Enrolled Agent credential ensuring the tax strategy behind your books is as carefully managed as your kitchen.
Book a Free ConsultationThe financial operation of a full-service restaurant is genuinely one of the most complex in the small-business world. You're managing food cost against a menu priced months ago, beverage cost with its own spoilage and variance dynamics, labor split across FOH and BOH with different tip credit treatments, and daily sales reconciliation across multiple revenue streams including dine-in, private events, and catering. On top of that, the IRS requires specific tip reporting — FICA tip credit claims, 8027 reporting for larger establishments, and proper allocation for pooled tip arrangements — that most restaurant owners don't realize has formal requirements until they're audited.
Luisa's Enrolled Agent credential matters enormously in the restaurant industry because the IRS targets restaurants specifically for cash handling and tip reporting compliance. As an EA, Luisa not only sets up your books to capture tip income correctly — she understands the FICA tip credit (Form 8846) that most restaurant operators are leaving on the table. She also knows how to structure payroll for tipped employees under Florida law, handles sales tax on food and beverage correctly (a surprisingly nuanced area in Florida), and can represent your restaurant directly before the IRS if a tip or cash audit occurs.
The Financial Challenges We Solve
Food Cost & Menu Profitability Tracking
Running food cost as a single percentage against total revenue hides which menu categories and individual items are dragging your margin. We set up your purchases and COGS tracking so you can see food cost by category — protein, produce, dairy, dry goods — and identify where variance is coming from before it runs away from you.
Tip Reporting & FICA Tip Credit
Tip reporting compliance requires reconciling declared tips against credit card tip records, tracking tip pool distributions, and filing correctly for pooled arrangements. Beyond compliance, the FICA tip credit (Form 8846) lets you claim a tax credit for the employer portion of FICA taxes paid on tips above the federal minimum wage — a meaningful benefit that most restaurant owners never capture because their bookkeeper doesn't know to flag it.
Daily Sales Reconciliation
Restaurants generate daily revenue across cash, card, gift card redemptions, and delivery platform deposits — each arriving on a different schedule and net of different fees. Without a daily reconciliation process, discrepancies accumulate until your books don't match reality. We build a reconciliation workflow that keeps your books current without requiring you to do it yourself.
Labor Cost Management by Department
FOH and BOH labor have different cost structures, different tip credit implications, and different overtime exposure. When labor is tracked as a single payroll line, you lose the ability to see which department is over-schedule and whether a labor spike was FOH, BOH, or management. We separate labor cost by department so you're managing with real data.
Beverage Cost & Liquor License Compliance
Beverage cost is notoriously hard to control without systematic pour tracking and regular inventory counts. Beyond cost control, liquor sales create specific tax reporting requirements in Florida. We track beverage cost separately from food cost and make sure your reporting correctly separates taxable beverage revenue from food revenue for Florida sales tax purposes.
More Than a Bookkeeper — A Federally authorized Enrolled Agent
Most bookkeepers record transactions and hand you a report. Simple Books Now does that — and more. Luisa is a Federally authorized Enrolled Agent: the highest credential the IRS grants. She can represent you in audits, file your returns, and negotiate directly with the IRS — with year-round tax strategy built into your bookkeeping from day one.
For a business owner in your industry, that means one professional who understands your numbers and handles your complete financial picture. No handoffs. No gaps. No surprises at tax time.
- Federally authorized by the IRS — represents you in audits, collections & appeals
- Bookkeeping + tax strategy in one engagement — no coordinating between vendors
- Direct access to Luisa — no junior staff
- Flat monthly rate — no hourly billing surprises
- Works with clients in all 50 states
- Books delivered by the 15th of each month
- Year-round availability, not just at tax time
Everything We Handle for Your Business
Bookkeeping
Monthly reconciliation, clean financials, and reports delivered every month.
Learn more →Tax Resolution
IRS notices, back taxes, audits, and payment plans — handled directly by our EA.
Learn more →Catch-Up Bookkeeping
Behind on your books? We'll get you caught up at a fixed project price.
Learn more →Bookkeeping FAQ
The FICA tip credit, claimed on Form 8846, allows restaurant employers to claim a tax credit for the employer portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on employee tips above the federal minimum wage. For most full-service restaurants, this is a significant annual credit — often thousands of dollars — that is separate from a deduction and directly reduces your tax bill. If your bookkeeper hasn't mentioned it, you may be leaving real money unclaimed. Luisa, as an Enrolled Agent, makes this part of every restaurant client's annual tax review.
In Florida, most food sold for on-premises consumption in a restaurant is subject to state sales tax, while groceries sold for off-premises consumption generally are not. Alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, and prepared foods have their own rules. The application varies by item type and how it's sold, and getting it wrong in either direction creates either a DOR liability or overcharging customers. We make sure your POS and accounting system tax settings match Florida's actual rules.
Cash-intensive businesses are a known IRS audit focus. For a full-service restaurant, you should maintain daily Z-reports from your POS, daily cash count sheets, deposit records, and a clear trail from daily sales to bank deposits. Any significant variance between POS-reported revenue and deposited cash is an audit flag. We build a recordkeeping system that documents your cash handling properly so it holds up under scrutiny.
Gift card sales are not income when sold — they're a liability you owe the customer. Revenue is recognized when the card is redeemed. Breakage (unredeemed cards) has specific income recognition rules under both GAAP and for tax purposes. We set up gift card accounting correctly so your revenue recognition matches when you've actually earned the income.
Industry benchmarks typically range from 28% to 35% for food cost, but the right target for your restaurant depends on your concept, price point, and menu mix. What matters more than hitting a benchmark is understanding your own cost structure clearly enough to know when something is off. We give you monthly food cost reporting by category so you're making decisions based on your actual numbers, not industry averages.
Ready to Get Your Restaurant's Books in Order?
Schedule a free consultation with Luisa — Enrolled Agent and restaurant bookkeeping specialist — and start managing your margins with the financial clarity your business deserves.
Book a Free ConsultationNo obligation · 30-minute call · Federally authorized Enrolled Agent