Shea Business Solutions handles bookkeeping for restaurants and bakeries across Orlando, FL, the kind of business where card deposits, tips, and food cost make the books harder than they look. Run in QuickBooks Online by a Level 2 ProAdvisor and Certified Payroll Specialist who answers the same business day, with weekly payroll and monthly books kept in sync. If you can tell how busy last Friday was but not what your food cost ran last month, this is the fix.
Restaurants have a set of bookkeeping traps almost no other business shares. The point-of-sale system deposits net of fees, so revenue looks smaller than it was and merchant fees never hit the books as an expense. Tips flow through in ways that have to be tracked for payroll and reporting. And weekly pay runs mean payroll errors compound four times a month instead of twice, so a small mistake in the payroll setup turns into a monthly one fast.
Card Deposits, Merchant Fees, and Real Revenue
The most common restaurant bookkeeping error is booking the net deposit from the card processor as your sales. That understates revenue, buries the merchant fees you actually paid, and quietly distorts every margin you try to read. We record gross sales and break out the processing fees as their own expense, so your profit and loss shows what you truly earned and what it truly cost to collect it. We also close down undeposited funds, which is where restaurant income gets double-counted when nobody is reconciling the deposits.
Tips and Weekly Payroll, Kept Straight
Tipped wages and tip allocation are their own discipline, and getting them wrong creates both payroll and tax problems. One Orlando restaurant reached us with tip allocation errors and six months of bookkeeping behind. We corrected the tip allocation procedures, reconstructed the historical records, and automated reliable weekly payroll for their 15 employees. The bookkeeping and the payroll were repaired together, because on a restaurant they feed each other, and the owner walked away with accurate food-cost margins for the first time. If payroll is the piece that keeps slipping, our payroll services page covers how we run it.
Food Cost and the Numbers That Run a Kitchen
Once revenue and payroll are recorded correctly, the reports finally mean something. Food-cost percentage, labor as a share of sales, and prime cost are the numbers that decide whether a restaurant survives, and none of them are trustworthy on top of messy books. We build the chart of accounts so cost of goods sold and labor report cleanly every month, then deliver a profit and loss you can actually run the kitchen from.
- Gross sales recorded, fees broken out. Revenue and merchant fees both visible, not netted into one misleading number.
- Tips and weekly payroll. Tip allocation handled and payroll run on your weekly schedule, posted straight to the books.
- Food-cost and labor reporting. Cost of goods sold and labor tracked so prime cost is a number you can trust.
- Monthly reconciliations. Every account reconciled so undeposited funds never double-count your income.
Behind on the Books? Start There
Restaurants fall behind faster than most businesses because the day never ends. If you are months back, we get you current first with catch-up bookkeeping, then move you onto flat-rate monthly bookkeeping so it stays current. Monthly service starts at $200 and scales with volume, which for a busy restaurant reflects the card traffic. Everything is quoted before it starts.
Bakeries, Catering, and Mixed Revenue
Not every food business is a dine-in restaurant, and the bookkeeping shifts with the model. A bakery selling retail over the counter and wholesale to cafes has two revenue streams that need to report separately, because the margins are nothing alike. Add catering or events and there is a third, often with deposits collected weeks before the food goes out. We structure the accounts so each stream reads on its own line and so prepaid deposits are recorded as what they are, money owed as a service rather than revenue already earned. That keeps a strong catering month from making the retail side look healthier than it is, and it keeps the owner from spending a deposit that still has a cake attached to it. The same discipline that fixes a restaurant's card deposits fixes a bakery's mixed revenue: record what actually happened, in the period it happened, on a line you can read.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you handle restaurant payroll with tips?
Yes. We set up tipped-wage handling and tip allocation, run weekly payroll, and post it straight to your books. We have automated weekly payroll for a 15-employee Orlando restaurant while fixing its tip allocation errors.
Why do my sales look lower than my register total?
Usually because the card processor deposits net of fees and the net amount got booked as revenue. We record gross sales and break out merchant fees separately, so both your revenue and your true cost show correctly.
Can you give me an accurate food-cost percentage?
Yes. Once revenue and payroll are recorded correctly, we structure cost of goods sold and labor so food cost, labor percentage, and prime cost report cleanly every month.
How much does restaurant bookkeeping cost?
Monthly bookkeeping starts at $200 and scales with your transaction volume, which for restaurants reflects card traffic. Catch-up and cleanup work is quoted flat after a free review.
Do you serve restaurants across the greater Orlando area?
Yes. We work with restaurants, bakeries, and food businesses throughout Orlando and the surrounding Central Florida area, including Winter Park, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, Celebration, and Kissimmee. The bookkeeping runs remotely, with same-business-day answers whenever a question comes up.