As a restaurant owner, you must have a solid understanding of your finances and a detailed record of all of your business transactions. Not only will it give you the upper hand when making important decisions, but it will also keep you organized and focused on achieving your goals. The health of your restaurant business relies upon this, and that's why finding the right tools to automate your restaurant bookkeeping process is vital.
The list of available tools to assist with your restaurant business's accounting and bookkeeping needs is endless. Whether you need help with payroll, reporting, taxes, or forecasting, there is a software program or accounting tool out there to meet your business's specific requirements. Today we will take a detailed look at the six most valuable tools that will provide the best assistance for your restaurant business.
1. Touch Bistro
Touch Bistro is an all-in-one POS system that is specifically designed with restaurants in mind. It allows you to manage your menu, inventory, staff, and reporting all in one simple to use platform.
It is perhaps best known for its kitchen and server features and works exceptionally well for independent restaurants that don't need enterprise-level functionality. Touch Bistro has a streamlined list of functions making it easier to navigate on a daily basis plus, it is cheaper than many of the other systems available, starting at just $69 USD per month.
2. Revel
Revel is an innovative POS system with a wide range of different functionalities like menu, inventory, staff, loyalty management, and multiple reporting functionalities. This platform is best used in multi-location restaurants such as quick-service restaurants with numerous chains.
Revel automatically integrates with QuickBooks online and syncs POS data, inventory adjustments, and employee hours with just the click of your mouse. While it is a bit more expensive than some other programs, starting at $99 per month, Revel does offer a flat fee for payment processing.
3. QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is a top-rated, cloud-based accounting software program. It has everything that a restaurant owner needs to track your expenses, manage your inventory, and create detailed financial reports. Plus, all of this is stored in the cloud, meaning you can access any pertinent information you need from anywhere at any time.
4. Payworks
Your employees are an essential part of your business, but unfortunately, dealing with the payroll issues that come along with your workforce can be a complicated hassle. Thankfully, Payworks has a solution. This program is extremely simple to use and allows you to manage all of your payroll and HR functions in one easy platform. It also allows you to manage employee schedules, benefits, absenteeism, and recruiting.
5. Dext Prepare
This popular software allows you to manage your restaurant's expenses easily.
It allows users the unique advantage of being able to take photos of their receipts using their smartphones. The program then reads the receipts and creates an appropriate transaction record. Once it has been categorized correctly, it can be uploaded directly and easily to your accounting software.
Dext Prepare can help organize your finances, assist with taxation issues, create expense reports and provide you with all the tools you need to create accurate and timely business reports.
This program is also capable of helping you keep track of your vendor invoices and day-to-day expenses. You can forward all of your vendor invoices to your Dext Prepare email or take a photo of the invoice, and the software will extract key information from it and upload the transaction to your accounting software. This makes it extremely easy to store invoices in the cloud in the event of an audit and reduces the need for manual data entry, simplifying your accounts payable process.
6. Plooto
Plooto is an online payment platform that has been specifically designed to automate all of your account receivables and account payable processes. It quickly and easily imports bills from your accounting software, emails you for payment approval, and then makes the payment online to the vendor, saving you considerable time and hassle. Plooto then reconciles and records this transaction in your accounting software program.
As an added bonus, Plooto integrates with QuickBooks Online and streamlines your accounts payable process so you can maintain a good working relationship with your vendors.
While bookkeeping can be a tedious and often confusing task, there is an abundance of tools and software programs available for every restaurant owner to make these processes much simpler and more manageable. If you are a restaurant owner and require bookkeeping support, the team of professionals at Enkel can help.
Contact us to find out how we can work together to provide accurate and timely financials for your restaurant business.
How We Select and Evaluate Our Recommended Software
We thoroughly research and test the apps we include in our regular workflow for Client bookkeeping services. After deciding on criteria for evaluating the software and then researching the app itself, we tested the app, noting its strengths and weaknesses. We then work with the app for at least a few weeks before deciding whether to recommend it to our readers. We use the software as it was designed for its intended tasks. For a detailed walk-through of how we select and evaluate software, please see the details of our process.
