Fix Your Systems, Amplify Your Profits
Accounting for Restaurants

Accounting | Tax | Payroll | Advice

Schedule A Call

 

Matthew Accounting works with over 40 restaurant owners and operators in Michigan and beyond

You didn't open a restaurant to become an accountant. But somewhere between managing food costs, running payroll for tipped staff, and trying to figure out why last month looked busy but didn't feel profitable, the numbers became a second job.

Let us handle the books, the payroll, and the taxes.
You focus on the floor.

Most Restaurant Accountants Just Record What Happened.
We Help You Understand What To Do.

There's a difference between a bookkeeper who closes your books and an accounting partner who tells you what your books mean.

Most restaurant owners we talk to have one of three problems:

  • Their books are behind and tax season feels like a fire drill every year.
  • They have monthly financials but no idea how to use them to make decisions.
  • They're working with a general accountant who doesn't understand food cost percentages, tipped wage compliance, or what a healthy labor ratio actually looks like for their concept.

We fix all three.

Restaurant Accounting Services

icon - industry_expertise

Bookkeeping for Restaurants

Monthly bookkeeping built around your operation. Categorized transactions, reconciled accounts, and financials closed on time every month. No more guessing where the money went.

icon - payroll

Restaurant
Payroll Services

Tipped employees, variable hours, overtime, and tip credit calculations. Restaurant payroll is more complicated than most, and errors are expensive. We manage it so your team gets paid right, every time.

icon - business_tax

Tax Preparation
and Planning

We prepare your business tax return and work with you throughout the year to minimize what you owe. That means identifying every deduction available to restaurant owners, from equipment and supplies to meals, vehicles, and depreciation, before the year closes.

icon - accounting

Financial Reporting
and Profit Analysis

Monthly reports formatted around the numbers that actually drive restaurant profitability: food cost percentage, labor as a percentage of revenue, gross margin, and net profit. We review them with you so you know what to act on before a bad trend becomes a bad quarter.

icon - communication

Advisory and
CFO Support

Thinking about a second location? Trying to figure out why margins are shrinking? Need help setting targets for the year? We go beyond the books to give restaurant owners the financial perspective they need to make confident decisions.

Michigan Restaurant Owners Trust Us With Their Numbers

The greatest benefit of outsourcing our accounting is their understanding of typical internal controls at a bar and having a partner who takes on the workload that would otherwise fall to us as partners.

Tim Maxwell
Partner – Sans Souci Bar

The Four Numbers Every Restaurant Owner Should Know Cold

Restaurants fail at the margins, not because of bad food or bad service. Clean books give you visibility into the numbers that determine whether your restaurant is actually building toward something.

  • 1.

    Food Cost %

    Should run 28 to 35 percent of revenue for most concepts. When it creeps higher, the culprit is usually waste, over-portioning, theft, or supplier pricing that hasn't been revisited.

  • 2.

    Labor Cost %

    Front and back of house combined should land between 30 and 35 percent. Tipped wage complexity makes this one of the hardest lines to manage without accurate, timely data.

  • 3.

    Overhead Rate

    Rent, utilities, insurance, and fixed costs understood as a percentage of revenue. This number matters most when you're evaluating a slow season or deciding whether a new location pencils out.

  • 4.

    Net Profit Margin

    Restaurants need to consistently hit 10 percent or more to be sustainable long term. If you're not there, your financials will show you exactly why.

Who We Work With

We work with independent restaurants, bars, cafes, food trucks, catering companies, and small restaurant groups. Most of our clients are in DeWitt, Lansing, and mid-Michigan, but we work with restaurant owners remotely across the country.

You're a good fit if you're tired of reactive accounting, want someone who speaks restaurant, and are ready to use your financials as an actual management tool.

Getting Started Is Simple

Step 1:

Schedule a Call

We spend 30 minutes getting to know your operation, your current setup, and where the pain points are.

Step 2:

We Build a Plan

You get a clear proposal for getting your books current, your systems right, and your reporting useful.

Step 3:

We Handle It From There

Monthly bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, and regular check-ins so nothing falls through the cracks.

Schedule a Call

Common Questions From Restaurant Owners

Stop Running Your Restaurant on Gut Feelings

Your financial reports should tell you where to cut, where to invest, and whether this month was actually as good as it felt. That's what we build for every restaurant client we work with.

Schedule a Call