Restaurants, cafes & food service
Books and taxes for cookie and cupcake shops.
Retail counter sales, custom cakes that take hours to decorate, nationwide shipping with its own breakage cost, and a Valentine's week that outsells the rest of the month. 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
February brought in $7,000. Valentine's week alone did $4,100 of that, so do not expect March to keep the same pace.
- Square POS batch depositRetail counter sales
- Custom order and shipping paymentsCustom orders and shipping
- Flour and butter orderIngredient purchases
- Insulated shipping box orderShipping supplies
- ADP payrollWages and payroll taxes
Why your books are different
A cookie or cupcake shop's books go wrong in the same five places.
A generalist bookkeeper sees deposits and bills. A cookie or cupcake shop ships nationally with real breakage risk, spends hours decorating one custom cake, and can double a month's revenue in a single holiday week. When those pieces blend together, the owner cannot tell a real trend from a one-time spike.
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1
National shipping orders carry a hidden breakage cost
A shop that ships cookies nationally sees a share of orders arrive broken or melted, and refunding or reshipping those at the shop's own cost is a real expense that disappears if it is not tracked apart from ordinary ingredient cost.
What we doKeeps shipping refunds and reshipments in their own line so the true cost of mail order is visible. -
2
Custom decorating labor gets lumped in with routine baking
A hand-piped custom cake or an elaborate cupcake tower takes far more decorator time than a walk-in dozen, and if that labor is not split out, the shop cannot tell whether custom order pricing actually covers what it costs to make.
What we doKeeps decorating labor apart from routine baking labor so custom order pricing can be checked against what it really costs. -
3
One holiday can double the whole month, then disappear
Valentine's Day or Mother's Day can bring in more revenue in a single week than an entire ordinary month, and an owner reading the monthly total without that context assumes the pace will hold into the next month.
What we doFlags a holiday spike so it reads as the seasonal event it was, not a new baseline for every month after. -
4
Subscription cookie clubs get counted like one-time sales
A monthly cookie-of-the-month subscription charged automatically is guaranteed income, but lumped in with walk-in and custom orders, the owner cannot see how much of next month is already locked in.
What we doTracks subscription income as recurring, separate from walk-in and custom sales, so what is already locked in is visible. -
5
Shipping supplies swing without anyone noticing
Insulated boxes, ice packs, and mailers for cookies shipped nationally can jump in price, and lumped in with regular packaging, a real cost increase hides inside an ordinary-looking supplies number.
What we doKeeps shipping supplies in their own line, apart from regular packaging, so a real cost swing is easy to spot.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a cookie or cupcake shop.
Set up once for how the counter, custom orders, and shipping 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.
- Custom orders and shippingCustom cakes and cookies, including nationwide shipping charges.
- Subscription club chargesRecurring cookie or cupcake of the month sales, kept apart from one-time orders.
- Wholesale accountsCoffee shops and retailers that buy bulk.
Money out
- Ingredient purchasesFlour, butter, sugar, and flavorings, kept apart from decorating supplies.
- Decorating suppliesFondant, buttercream tips, and edible decorations.
- Shipping suppliesInsulated boxes, ice packs, and mailers, tracked apart from regular packaging.
- Wages and payroll taxesBaking and decorating pay, kept in their own lines.
- Rent and building costsLease, utilities, and repairs on the kitchen and counter.
- Baking and decorating equipmentMixers and ovens, logged apart from ingredients so they get written off right.
- Shipping refunds and reshipmentsThe cost of replacing an order damaged in transit.
What we watch for you
- Food cost percentage
Ingredient cost against sales, the number that catches a supplier price jump early.
- Decorating labor share
Decorating time against custom order revenue, so pricing can be checked against real cost.
- Shipping refund rate
What breakage and reshipments cost against nationwide shipping sales.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax time holds no surprise.
Ask Gus
Things cookie and cupcake shop 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.
Yes, I keep shipping refunds and reshipments in their own line, so the true cost of mail order stays visible instead of blending into ingredients.
No, I flag a spike like that so it reads as the holiday it was, not a pace you are supposed to hit every month after.
As recurring income, separate from walk-in and custom orders, so you can see how much of next month is already locked in.
The tax side
The tax side of a cookie or cupcake shop.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and labels: a holiday spike misread as the new normal, decorating labor buried in baking, 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 baking and decorating equipmentMixers, ovens, and specialty decorating tools can usually be written off the year you buy them, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Worker classification for decoratorsA decorator who works your schedule and uses your equipment is almost always an employee, not a contractor, no matter how the pay is arranged.
- Form 1099-NEC for contracted helpA 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 cookie and cupcake shops miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Insulated shipping boxes
- Ice packs and cold shipping materials
- Cake stands and decorating tools
- Fondant and piping supplies
- Custom order photography
- Food safety certification
- Uniforms and aprons
- Employee shift meals
- Pest control contracts
- Online ordering fees
- Local wedding or event show 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 cookie or cupcake shop's year, kept every month.
One holiday week can outsell an entire slow month. 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 decorators is readied, and you get a monthly set-aside so Valentine's week 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 strong holiday season does not turn into a scramble for cash.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at the midpoint of the year, and whether subscription club growth changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the holidays
Before the holiday order rush, Gus looks at mixer or decorating equipment worth buying and any moves 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 cookie and cupcake shops. 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 cookie and cupcake shop owners ask first.
We ship cookies nationally and some arrive broken. Does Gus track what we spend reshipping them?
Yes. Shipping refunds and reshipments get their own line, so the true cost of mail order is visible instead of blending into your regular ingredient cost.
Valentine's week alone brought in more than a normal month. Will that mess up my numbers?
No. Gus flags a spike like that so it reads as the one big week it was, not a pace you are supposed to hit every month after.
How does Gus handle our cookie-of-the-month subscription club?
Subscription charges are tracked as recurring income, separate from walk-in and custom orders, so you can see exactly how much of next month is already locked in.
Custom cake decorating takes way longer than a walk-in dozen. Can Gus show me if we are pricing that right?
He can show you decorating labor against custom order revenue, so you can see whether the pricing actually covers what the work costs. What to charge from there is your call.
Our books have never separated shipping supplies from regular packaging. Can we start now?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have and Gus starts tracking shipping supplies in their own line going forward.
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