Specialty food makers & markets
Books and taxes for commissary and shared commercial kitchens.
Hourly kitchen bookings, monthly membership fees, storage rentals, and equipment your members share. 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
March came in at $6,300. Two new members signed on for overnight hours, so I split that income out from your regular daytime bookings.
- Member dues, monthlyMembership fees
- Hourly booking payoutsKitchen rental hours
- Restaurant Depot supply runShared supplies
- Walk-in cooler repairEquipment upkeep
- Health inspector feePermits and inspections
Why your books are different
A shared kitchen's books go wrong where the members overlap.
You are not one food business, you are the landlord and utility company for a dozen of them. When hourly bookings, dues, storage, and shared equipment blur together, you cannot tell which part of the kitchen actually pays for itself.
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1
Hourly bookings and flat dues get mixed
One member pays a flat monthly rate for unlimited overnight hours, another pays by the hour for a Tuesday slot. Lumped into one deposit, you cannot tell which pricing model actually earns more.
What we doKeeps membership dues and hourly bookings in separate categories, so each pricing model's real return is visible. -
2
Shared equipment wear hides in one repair line
A dozen members running the same mixer, oven, and walk-in cooler wear it out faster than any one business would alone. Repairs pile up and get filed as a generic maintenance cost with no pattern.
What we doTracks equipment repairs as their own category so you can see which machines are earning their keep and which need replacing. -
3
Storage rental income gets buried in kitchen fees
Dry storage shelves and freezer space rented separately from kitchen time often get billed together with hourly fees, so you lose track of how much storage alone is worth.
What we doSplits storage rental into its own line, apart from kitchen time, so you know what each part of the space earns. -
4
A member who leaves owing hours is forgotten
When a member cancels mid-month or falls behind on an invoice, the unpaid balance often just disappears from the books instead of getting written off or chased down.
What we doFlags overdue member balances each month so you know what is owed and what should be written off as uncollectible. -
5
Bulk shared supplies are not split fairly
Paper towels, cleaning supplies, and shared pans bought in bulk for the whole kitchen get filed as one cost with no link to what members are actually charged for using them.
What we doKeeps shared supply purchases in one steady category so you can see if what you charge members for use actually covers it.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a shared commercial kitchen.
Set up once for how members pay and what the kitchen spends on. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Membership feesFlat monthly dues for unlimited or set kitchen access.
- Kitchen rental hoursHourly or day-rate bookings from members without a flat plan.
- Storage rentalDry shelving, freezer, and cooler space rented separately from kitchen time.
- Equipment add-on feesExtra charges for specialty gear like a tilt skillet or a commercial mixer.
- New member setup feesOne-time onboarding or key deposit charges.
Money out
- Equipment upkeepRepairs and service for ovens, mixers, coolers, and dish equipment shared across members.
- Shared suppliesCleaning products, paper goods, and pans bought for the whole kitchen.
- UtilitiesGas, water, and electric for a kitchen running far more hours than a single business would use.
- Permits and inspectionsHealth department fees and inspections covering the shared facility.
- Facility rent or mortgageThe building lease or loan payment for the kitchen space.
- InsuranceLiability coverage for a facility used by multiple businesses.
What we watch for you
- Revenue per member
What each member pays on average, useful for deciding when to raise rates or add capacity.
- Booked hours
How full the kitchen actually runs against its open hours, the clearest sign of room to add members.
- Overdue balances
What members owe past due, tracked so nothing quietly turns into a loss.
- Equipment repair cost
What upkeep is running month to month, a signal for when replacing a machine beats fixing it again.
Ask Gus
Things shared kitchen operators 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.
This quarter, overnight members are bringing in more per open hour than daytime hourly bookings. I kept them split so you can see that.
I am keeping it as an open balance for now, not a loss. If it stays unpaid past 90 days, that is worth flagging to the accountant to write off properly.
Usually yes, as a repair or as equipment depending on the size of the job. I logged it and flagged it so the accountant makes the right call.
The tax side
The tax side of a shared commercial kitchen.
Most of what matters here is treating the facility like the business it is: real rental income, real shared equipment, and real costs split fairly across what members pay for.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Equipment write-offsCommercial ovens, mixers, and refrigeration bought for the kitchen can usually be written off in the year you buy them. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent, permanent, for property bought after January 19, 2025.
- Contractor 1099sA cleaning crew or repair technician not on payroll who you pay $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- Bad debt from unpaid member balancesA member's unpaid balance can sometimes be written off once it is truly uncollectible. Timing and documentation matter, so Gus flags it for the accountant.
- The pass-through deductionMost owners can deduct up to 20 percent of business profit before it is taxed. It comes out right only when membership income and facility costs are tracked cleanly all year.
Deductions commissary and shared commercial kitchens miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Kitchen equipment repairs
- Cleaning supplies
- Health permit fees
- Facility insurance
- Pest control service
- Walk-in cooler maintenance
- Fire suppression inspection
- Storage shelving
- Utility costs
- Booking software fees
- Signage and member access cards
- Waste and grease disposal
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 shared kitchen year, kept every month.
New members join and leave all year, and bookings shift with everyone else's seasons. Gus keeps the facility's own numbers steady through it. 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 contractors is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your business return is filed and signed, with membership income and facility costs already sorted clean.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and how full the kitchen is running against last year's pace.
- October
Before the holiday rush
Members baking for the holidays book up fast. Gus looks at equipment worth buying before year end and what to plan for next year's rates.
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 commissary and shared commercial kitchens. 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 shared kitchen operators ask first.
Can Gus split my books by membership tier?
Yes. Flat dues, hourly bookings, and storage rental each get their own category, so you can see what each pricing model actually earns.
How do you handle a member who cancels with an unpaid invoice?
It stays as an open balance until you tell Gus it will not be collected. At that point the accountant can write it off properly instead of it just vanishing from the books.
I charge a deposit for keys and access cards. Is that income?
Usually not right away, since it is meant to be refunded. Gus keeps deposits separate from earned income until they are kept or returned.
Do you track which members are using the most kitchen time?
Gus tracks what each membership tier and booking type brings in, which shows usage patterns at the pricing level. Per-member scheduling detail comes from your booking software, not the bank statement.
We just added a second location. Does that change how the books work?
Gus can keep each location's income and costs apart so you can see which one is carrying the business, while the return still covers the company as a whole.
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 specialty food makers & markets
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Artisan cheese makers
- BBQ sauce & rub brands
- Candy & chocolate makers
- Charcuterie board & grazing table businesses
- Cottage food producers
- Custom cake studios
- Farmers market vendors
- Fudge & candy shops
- Honey producers & apiaries
- Hot sauce brands
- Jerky makers
- Maple syrup producers
- Pickles & fermented food makers
- Popcorn shops
- Salsa & dip brands
- Seafood markets
- Sourdough & microbakeries
- Spice blenders & seasoning brands
- Butcher shops & meat markets
- Ethnic grocery stores
- Specialty grocers & delis
- Bottle shops & craft beer stores
- Cideries
- Craft distilleries
- Custom-crush & alternating proprietor wineries
- Homebrew & winemaking supply shops
- Kombucha brewers
- Meaderies
- Vineyards (grape growers)
- Arcade bars (barcades)
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