How to Handle Multi-Location Restaurant Bookkeeping

Operating restaurants in multiple locations presents both bookkeeping and accounting challenges, including:

• Monitoring and managing non-central payments or payments made at different locations and payments made in diverse forms such as cash, debit card, credit card, etc.
• Monitoring Point of Sale or Service, including financials to ensure the customer experience is consistent across locations.
• Ensuring communication between staff at all locations is seamless for smooth operations and to help keep staff and employees engaged in the overall profitability of the business.
• Least, but probably one of the most important aspects: taxation rules and compliance differ from state to state. It is vital to get the financial obligations right.

What is the Solution?

Adopting technology is quickly becoming a one-stop-solution for smooth, streamlined, and uninterrupted accounting. More businesses today are turning to cloud accounting for streamlined processes and operations.

Multi-location restaurant bookkeeping can benefit from deployment of relevant software, especially in the following areas:

• Tracking Payments

Standard accounting software, when applied correctly, helps trace all sales and payments, amount of money, mode of payment, etc. Depending on the methods accepted by the restaurant, including its different locations, software can be customized, in the form of apps, to ensure all payments are tracked. Taking a step further, software can be programmed to print checks, while restricting check-signing rights to a select few personnel within the business.

• Relevant Reporting, Point of Sale Systems, etc.

Restaurant Point of Sale or Service systems need to be supported by reporting systems that provide decision makers with relevant information. Point of sale information isn’t valid from the accounting perspective alone, but can also help overall business-building efforts through providing insights, including about customer experience.

• Centralized Data Management System

A central repository of all financial operational data is critical if the business owners are to be able to make decisions. Multiple-location restaurants can benefit greatly from tools and apps that allow authorized access to essential metrics across geographical locations and help decision making in a positive manner.

• Outsourcing to Professionals

For all of the points mentioned above, a fair amount of investment is required by the business. In addition, there are costs incurred in setting up and managing multiple-location premises. For restaurant businesses looking at high growth at a rapid pace, it is essential that infrastructure and resources maintain the pace. Outsourcing to professionals with a track record of managing restaurant accounting and bookkeeping can be invaluable. In addition, the most important benefit associated with outsourcing to a relevant provider is the money saved while accessing expertise and helping build the bottom-line simultaneously. Outsourcing can provide all of this without the hassle and effort of creating the infrastructure in-house.

Analytix Solutions offers customized solutions ranging from reliable accounting and bookkeeping to comprehensive operations planning for restaurants, including bookkeeping services for businesses with set-ups in multiple-locations. Align with us to understand your business accounting better and to witness for yourself how well-managed accounting can help grow the business faster. For more information on how we can assist your startup, call us at 781-503-9002 or email us at sales@analytix.com.

Meanwhile, how do you currently manage your restaurant accounting and bookkeeping? What are your areas of concern or worry-points? We are interested in knowing. Please leave your comments in the section provided below.

Written by

Analytix Editorial Team