Do Not Open a Restaurant Business Without a Certified Public Accountant

In the restaurant business, a profit and loss statement is the most powerful tool you will have. This simple statement will tell you, each month, exactly how your restaurant business is performing and give you the control needed in order to find success.

Without this tool you will not have the control you need to earn the profits you had wished for.

A certified public accountant is required in order to prepare this important tool for your restaurant business. Many restaurant owners choose a friend who is a bookkeeper or they choose to do the statement themselves and that could be a critical mistake. You should tend to the operations within your business and let a certified public accountant handle your profit and loss statement for you. A certified public accountant is a professional, they are accurate and they only cost a few hundred dollars per month.

Here is one small example of how a profit and loss statement can simplify your restaurant business and put you in control of your profits and your sales:

Labor Costs:

The labor costs for a fast food restaurant, for example, should be approximately 20%. Once you receive your profit and loss statement, from your accountant, you realize that your labor percent for the previous month was 22.7%. That is 2.7% too high. Let’s also say that your profit and loss statement also tells you that your net sales for the previous month were $37,500.

If you multiply the 2.7% times the $37,500, you will discover that you spent $1,012 too much for labor costs last month. Wow!

That is $1,012 that you can learn to put into your pocket, and here is how.

The greatest loss of labor cost, for any restaurant, is timing your business with your schedule. That means, if you have several employees standing around waiting for a customer, that is costing your money. If this happens often, try to schedule a few of your employees to come in fifteen to thirty minutes later. You will be surprised at the savings.

The key to controlling profits in the restaurant business us knowing when you have a problem. A profit and loss statement is designed to alert you of profit or sales problems and then you can begin to solve them. Have a certified public accountant and give yourself a chance in your restaurant business.