Restaurants, cafes & food service
Books and taxes for bakeries.
Retail counter sales, wholesale grocery accounts on net-30 terms, wedding cake deposits, and day-old markdowns. Gus sorts every one, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one clear number each month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
December brought in $12,000. The wedding cake deposits taken back in September finally counted as sales once those cakes were delivered this month.
- Square POS batch depositRetail counter sales
- Wholesale grocery account paymentWholesale accounts
- Flour and butter orderIngredient purchases
- Cake boxes and packaging orderPackaging
- ADP payrollWages and payroll taxes
Why your books are different
A bakery's books go wrong in the same five places.
A generalist bookkeeper sees deposits and bills. A bakery runs on cake deposits paid months before delivery, wholesale accounts that pay 30 to 60 days late, and ingredient cost that swings by the week. When those pieces blend together, the owner cannot tell a real slow month from one that just has not been paid yet.
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1
Custom cake deposits book too early
A bride pays a deposit in September for an October wedding cake. Booked as income the day it lands, September looks busier than it was, and October, when the cake actually goes out, looks thin.
What we doHolds the deposit until the cake is delivered, then books the full price against that month's ingredient and labor cost. -
2
Wholesale accounts pay 30 to 60 days after the bake
A grocery store or cafe wholesale account often pays on net-30 or net-60 terms, so the bread baked and delivered in one month gets paid for in another. Without tracking what is owed, a real production month can look like it made nothing.
What we doTracks what wholesale accounts owe against what has already been paid, so a slow-looking month is not mistaken for a slow month of actual baking. -
3
Day-old markdowns blur with regular sales
Bread and pastries marked down at the end of the day, or given away instead of thrown out, get mixed in with full-price retail sales, hiding both the real waste rate and the true average sale.
What we doKeeps markdown and donated goods in their own line so real retail sales and real waste are both visible. -
4
Flour, butter, and sugar swing without warning
A bulk order of flour or butter can jump 10 percent overnight, and lumped in with packaging and small wares, a real ingredient cost increase hides inside an ordinary-looking supplies number.
What we doKeeps ingredient purchases apart from packaging so a real cost swing shows up clearly. -
5
Early shift premiums hide inside regular wages
Bakers who start at three or four in the morning often earn a shift differential on top of base pay, and lumped into one wage number, the owner cannot see what production labor costs against counter labor.
What we doKeeps production wages and counter wages in their own lines so labor cost is honest on both sides of the bakery.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a bakery.
Set up once for how the counter, the wholesale accounts, and custom orders each run. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Retail counter salesWalk-in sales rung through Square or Toast.
- Wholesale accountsGrocery stores and cafes billed on net-30 or net-60 terms.
- Custom cake and special order depositsHeld until the order is delivered, then booked as that month's sale.
- Catering and event ordersLarger one-off orders for parties and offices.
- Online ordersOrders placed through the bakery's own site or an ordering app.
Money out
- Ingredient purchasesFlour, butter, sugar, and chocolate, kept apart from packaging.
- Wages and payroll taxesProduction and counter pay, kept in their own lines.
- PackagingBoxes, bags, and cake boards.
- Wholesale delivery costsVehicle fuel and mileage for grocery and cafe drop-offs.
- Rent and building costsLease, utilities, and repairs on the kitchen and counter.
- Bakery equipmentOvens, mixers, and proofers, logged apart from ingredients so they get written off right.
- Marketing and eventsWedding show booths and local advertising.
What we watch for you
- Food cost percentage
Ingredient cost against sales, the number that catches a flour or butter price jump early.
- Wholesale receivables
What wholesale accounts owe against what has already been paid.
- Labor cost percentage
Production and counter wages against sales.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax time holds no surprise.
Ask Gus
Things bakery owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
It is this month's. I hold deposits until the cake actually goes out the door, so the income lines up with when the work happened.
No, I track what they owe against what has already landed, so a slow-looking month on paper does not get mistaken for a slow month of actual baking.
It does, in a good way. I keep it in its own line so your real waste and your real retail sales both stay visible, instead of blending together.
The tax side
The tax side of a bakery.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing: deposits booked early, wholesale cash arriving late, and equipment lost inside an ingredient order.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Section 179 on bakery equipmentOvens, mixers, proofers, and walk-ins can usually be written off in the year they are bought, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Worker classification for bakers and counter staffA baker or counter worker on your schedule using your equipment is almost always an employee, not a contractor, no matter how the pay is arranged.
- Form 1099-NEC for contracted cake decoratorsA decorator or delivery driver hired outside of payroll, paid $2,000 or more in 2026, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can deduct up to 20 percent of qualified business income before it is taxed, a benefit that is now permanent, with limits starting above $201,750 for a single filer or $403,500 for a joint filer.
Deductions bakeries miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Wedding cake tasting supplies
- Wholesale delivery mileage
- Proofer and mixer maintenance
- Custom cake stands and tools
- Food safety certification
- Local wedding show booth fees
- Packaging for wholesale accounts
- Employee shift meals
- Uniforms and aprons
- Pest control contracts
- Online ordering fees
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
A bakery's year, kept every month.
The oven runs before sunrise every day of the year. Your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, the 1099 list for any contracted cake decorators is readied, and you get a monthly set-aside so the holiday rush that just ended does not turn into an April surprise.
- April
Filed and signed
Your return is filed and signed. Because the set-aside has been running since January, a busy wedding cake season does not turn into a scramble for cash.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at the midpoint of wedding cake season, and whether summer custom orders changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the holidays
Before Thanksgiving pies and Christmas orders fill the calendar, Gus looks at oven or mixer purchases worth making before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for bakeries. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions bakery owners ask first.
How do you handle deposits for custom wedding cakes booked months ahead?
Gus holds the deposit until the cake is actually delivered, then books the full price against that month. A deposit taken early does not make a slow month look busy, or the delivery month look thin.
Our wholesale grocery account pays 45 days after delivery. Is that a problem for the books?
No. Gus tracks what wholesale accounts owe against what has already been paid, so you can always see how much of your baking is still waiting to be collected.
We mark down day-old bread instead of throwing it away. Does that change anything?
Yes, in a useful way. Markdowns and donated goods get their own line, so your real retail sales and your real waste rate both stay visible instead of blending together.
Flour and butter prices keep jumping around. Would I even notice from the books?
You would. Ingredient purchases are tracked apart from packaging and small wares, so a real price increase shows up clearly instead of hiding in a bigger supplies number.
Our books have never separated the wholesale side from the retail counter. Can we start now?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have and Gus starts splitting retail and wholesale from here forward. The accountant can help sort out anything from before once your books are current.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever