Craft beverage producers
Books and taxes for brewpubs.
Dinner checks, pints off the same taps you brew, delivery app payouts, and a kitchen and bar staff sharing tips. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
October came in at $19,500. Game day crowds carried the dining room, and I kept your beer cost separate from the kitchen's, so you can see the bar is still your best margin.
- Toast dining room depositFood and drink sales
- DoorDash payoutDelivery sales
- US Foods deliveryFood cost
- Briess Malt orderGrain and hops
- Payroll, kitchen and barStaff wages and tips
Why your books are different
A brewpub's books go wrong where the kitchen and the taps meet.
A generalist restaurant bookkeeper does not know your grain bill. A generalist brewery bookkeeper does not know your food cost. Your business runs both under one roof, one payroll, and one liquor license, and the books need to keep every piece of that straight.
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1
Food cost and beer cost get blended
One combined cost of goods line hides whether your kitchen or your bar is actually making money. A rough month in the kitchen can quietly eat into what your beer sales are really earning.
What we doKeeps food cost and beer cost in separate lines, so you can see each side of the business on its own. -
2
Tip pools between kitchen and bar get tangled
When servers, bartenders, and kitchen staff all draw from one tip pool, the payroll register can list it as one lump sum, making it hard to see what each role actually earns or to catch a payroll error.
What we doKeeps wages and tip distributions by role visible, so payroll errors surface early and labor cost is easy to read. -
3
Delivery app fees quietly shrink the ticket
A $40 DoorDash or Uber Eats order pays out well under that after the app's commission. Booked as the deposit amount, your food sales and your real costs both come out wrong.
What we doBooks the full order as the sale and the delivery app's cut as its own cost, so your menu pricing reflects what delivery really costs you. -
4
Comped pints and staff meals disappear
A round on the house for a regular or a shift meal for the kitchen crew is a real cost even though no ticket gets rung. Left untracked, your cost of goods never lines up with what actually left the cooler and the walk-in.
What we doLogs comped food and drink against inventory, so the true cost of hospitality shows up on the books instead of vanishing. -
5
A fermentation tank gets filed as kitchen equipment
A new fermenter or a walk-in cooler can each cost thousands, and when both get lumped into one equipment line, it is hard to tell what the brewery side owns versus the kitchen.
What we doFlags large purchases the day they post and files brewery equipment separately from kitchen equipment, so both sides are tracked and written off right.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a brewpub.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Food and drink salesDine-in tickets rung through Toast, split between kitchen and bar.
- Delivery salesDoorDash and Uber Eats orders, booked at the full ticket price.
- Growler and can salesBeer sold to go, kept apart from pours consumed on site.
- Catering and private eventsBuyouts and off-site catering, billed separately from regular service.
- Merchandise salesShirts, glassware, and gift cards.
Money out
- Food costUS Foods, Sysco, and local produce and meat suppliers.
- Grain and hopsMalt, hops, and yeast, kept apart from kitchen food cost.
- Staff wages and tipsKitchen, bar, and front-of-house payroll, with tips visible by role.
- Delivery app feesThe commission DoorDash, Uber Eats, or Grubhub keep before you get paid.
- Kegging and draft suppliesCO2, tap lines, and keg cleaning.
- Kitchen equipment and repairsRanges, fryers, and walk-in cooler service calls.
- Brewery equipmentFermenters and canning gear, kept apart from kitchen equipment.
- Liquor license and permitsCombined food and alcohol licensing fees.
What we watch for you
- Kitchen versus bar margin
Split cost of goods shows which side is actually carrying the other.
- Delivery cost as a share of sales
What the apps keep, so you can price a delivery-only special to actually make money.
- Labor cost against sales
Kitchen and bar payroll together against what came in, so a busy night that still lost money gets caught.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things brewpub 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.
Your food cost jumped this month, likely a produce price spike. Your beer margin actually held steady, it is the kitchen side pulling the number down.
On your delivery tickets, the app is keeping close to a third. I booked the full order as your sale and their cut as a cost, so you can see it plainly.
Probably not. Someone working your hours, in your kitchen, on your schedule is usually an employee. That one is worth a real accountant's look before you set it up that way.
The tax side
The tax side of running a brewpub.
Most of what goes wrong here is two businesses under one roof getting tangled. Food cost mixed with beer cost, and an excise tax bucket nobody separated from income tax.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Federal excise tax on alcoholA bonded brewpub generally owes federal excise tax on the beer it removes from bond for sale, separate from its income tax return. Rates depend on volume and alcohol content and are never guessed at here. Goatkeeper keeps the books clean for whoever files that return, it does not file it.
- Tip reporting for kitchen and bar staffTips reported through payroll still owe payroll tax, and accurate records matter for both the employee and the business. Gus keeps tip distributions visible by role so nothing gets missed.
- Fermenters, fryers, and kitchen equipmentBoth brewery and kitchen equipment can usually be written off the year you buy it, with bonus depreciation at 100 percent for property placed in service after January 19, 2025. Keeping the two separate makes the accountant's call easier.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated brewpubs can take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income. It comes out right when food, beer, and delivery sales are kept separate all year.
Deductions brewpubs miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Grain, hops, and yeast
- Food and beverage inventory spoilage
- Kitchen smallwares
- Keg cleaning and CO2
- Staff meals
- Liquor liability insurance
- Combined liquor and food license fees
- Delivery app commissions
- Uniforms and aprons with your logo
- POS and card processing fees
- Walk-in cooler repairs
- Menu printing and design
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 brewpub year, kept every month.
Game days, patio season, and holiday parties all pull your dining room and your taps in different directions. 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, kitchen and bar costs from the past year get squared away, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your income tax return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, since the set-aside has been running since January across both sides of the house.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at the height of patio season, and whether the summer dining room crowd changed the number.
- October
Before the holiday push
Before game day season and holiday parties fill the calendar, Gus looks at kitchen and brewery equipment worth buying 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 brewpubs. 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 brewpub owners ask first.
Can Gus keep our food cost and beer cost separate?
Yes. He books them in their own categories, so you can see whether the kitchen or the bar is actually driving your margin, instead of one blended cost of goods number.
We run everything through Toast. Does that change anything?
No. Keep running service the way you do. Gus works from your bank statement, and when a deposit is unclear he asks you once and remembers the answer.
How does Gus handle DoorDash and Uber Eats payouts?
He books the full order as your sale and the app's commission as a separate cost, so you can see exactly what delivery is costing you.
Will Goatkeeper file the excise tax return on the beer we brew?
No. Excise tax on the beer you brew is a separate filing from your income tax return, and it stays with whoever handles your excise tax paperwork. Gus keeps your brew and sales records organized so that filing is not a scramble.
Our tip pool covers both kitchen and bar. Can Gus track that?
Yes. He keeps wages and tip distributions visible by role, so you can see what each side of the house earns and catch a payroll error early.
Our books have never separated the brewery from the restaurant. Can you fix that?
Yes. Send the bank statements and payroll records you have. Gus sorts them into food, beer, and delivery from here forward, and the accountant checks it.
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.
More in craft beverage producers
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Bottle shops & craft beer stores
- Cideries
- Craft distilleries
- Custom-crush & alternating proprietor wineries
- Homebrew & winemaking supply shops
- Kombucha brewers
- Meaderies
- Vineyards (grape growers)
- Coffee roasters
- Craft breweries & taprooms
- Liquor stores
- Non-alcoholic beverage brands
- Wineries & tasting rooms
- Arcade bars (barcades)
- Artisan cheese makers
- Bagel shops
- BBQ sauce & rub brands
- Beer gardens
- Candy & chocolate makers
- Charcuterie board & grazing table businesses
- Cigar lounges
- Commissary & shared commercial kitchens
- Cottage food producers
- Custom cake studios
- Dive bars & neighborhood taverns
- Farmers market vendors
- Food hall vendors
- Fudge & candy shops
- Honey producers & apiaries
- Hookah lounges
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