Restaurants, cafes & food service
Books and taxes for farm-to-table restaurants.
A menu that changes weekly with the harvest, a dozen small farms that all want to be paid differently, and specialty ingredients that cost far more than a broadline order. 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
August brought in $7,500. The heirloom tomato harvest commitment came out as a seasonal purchase, not an ordinary food cost line, so the month still reads clearly.
- Toast POS batch depositDine-in sales
- Farm dinner event paymentFarm dinner and event bookings
- Weekly farm produce orderFarm and specialty produce
- Broadline supplier orderFood purchases
- ADP payrollWages and payroll taxes
Why your books are different
A farm-to-table restaurant's books go wrong in the same five places.
A generalist bookkeeper sees deposits and bills. A farm-to-table kitchen changes its menu with what a dozen small farms actually have that week, pays each supplier differently, and sometimes commits to a whole harvest at once. When those pieces blend together, the owner cannot tell a real cost problem from the normal rhythm of sourcing this way.
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1
A shifting weekly menu makes fixed food cost targets useless
A farm-to-table kitchen's menu changes with what is actually available that week, so a fixed cost target per dish does not hold, and without tracking food cost as a rolling percentage instead, the owner has no reliable number to watch.
What we doTracks food cost as a rolling percentage of sales instead of a fixed per-dish target, so it holds up even as the menu changes weekly. -
2
A dozen small farm suppliers each pay differently
Some farmers want cash on delivery, some invoice monthly, and some want a standing weekly order paid in advance, and without tracking all of that consistently, the restaurant cannot see what it truly owes or has already paid across many small suppliers.
What we doTracks what is owed and what has been paid to each farm supplier, no matter how each one prefers to be paid. -
3
Specialty and foraged ingredients get lumped with regular produce
Wild mushrooms, heirloom produce, and other specialty items from a forager or small farm cost far more per pound than a broadline distributor equivalent, and lumped with regular produce, the owner cannot see whether menu pricing actually reflects the premium sourcing.
What we doKeeps specialty and foraged ingredient cost apart from regular produce so the real cost of premium sourcing is visible. -
4
A whole-harvest commitment lands as one big lump
A restaurant that commits to buying a farm's full harvest of a crop pays a big cost at once when it comes in, rather than steady weekly amounts, and that lump can distort a single month if it is not understood as a seasonal purchase.
What we doFlags a large harvest commitment as a seasonal purchase, so it does not read as an ordinary month's food cost gone wrong. -
5
Menu reprinting and sourcing storytelling is a real, recurring cost
Printing a new menu every week or two because dishes change, along with the photography and storytelling around where ingredients come from, is a real marketing cost specific to this kind of restaurant that a fixed-menu place does not carry.
What we doKeeps menu printing and sourcing storytelling costs in their own line so this real, recurring expense is visible.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a farm-to-table restaurant.
Set up once for how the farms, the menu, and the events each run. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Dine-in salesTable sales rung through Toast or Square.
- Farm dinner and event bookingsSpecial seasonal dinners tied to the harvest.
- Wine pairing add-onsSmall-production wine pairings, kept apart from the meal price.
- Catering and private eventsOff-site bookings billed directly to the client.
Money out
- Farm and specialty producePurchases from local farms and foragers, kept apart from broadline food purchases.
- Food purchasesStaples and proteins from a broadline distributor.
- Wages and payroll taxesKitchen and front of house pay.
- Rent and building costsLease, utilities, and repairs on the dining room and kitchen.
- Kitchen equipmentRanges, walk-ins, and dish machines, logged apart from food so they get written off right.
- Menu printing and sourcing storytellingFrequent menu reprints and photography around where ingredients come from.
- Card processing feesWhat the card networks keep on every swipe.
What we watch for you
- Food cost percentage
Tracked as a rolling number since a changing menu makes a fixed per-dish target useless.
- Farm payables
What is owed across a dozen small farm suppliers, no matter how each one is paid.
- Specialty ingredient share
How much of food cost is premium sourcing, so pricing can be checked against it.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax time holds no surprise.
Ask Gus
Things farm-to-table 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.
As a rolling percentage of sales instead of a fixed target per dish, so it still holds up even when the menu shifts every week.
Yes, I track what's owed and what's been paid to each one, whether they want cash on delivery, a monthly invoice, or a standing order.
No, I flag it as a seasonal purchase, so it reads as what it is, a lump for the season, not a bad month of ordinary food cost.
The tax side
The tax side of a farm-to-table restaurant.
Most of what goes wrong here is labels: specialty sourcing mixed with regular produce, a harvest lump misread as a bad month, and small farm payments that may need a 1099.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Form 1099-NEC for farms and foragersA farm or forager paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not incorporated may need a 1099-NEC by January 31, unlike a broadline distributor, which usually does not.
- Worker classification for kitchen staffKitchen and front of house staff who work your schedule and use your equipment are almost always employees, not contractors, no matter how the pay is arranged.
- Section 179 on kitchen equipmentRanges, walk-ins, and dish machines can usually be written off the year you buy them, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- The FICA tip creditBecause tipping is standard here, you can often claim a credit for the employer's share of Social Security and Medicare tax paid on tips above the minimum wage portion.
Deductions farm-to-table restaurants miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Farm delivery mileage reimbursement
- Menu reprinting costs
- Sourcing photography and storytelling
- Farm dinner event costs
- Specialty ingredient premiums
- Food handler certification
- Uniforms and aprons
- Employee shift meals
- Pest control contracts
- Wine pairing tastings
- Local farm show or market 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 farm-to-table restaurant's year, kept every month.
The menu follows the growing season more than any calendar. 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 farms or foragers paid directly is readied, and you get a monthly set-aside so peak growing season 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, there is no scramble for cash.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at the midpoint of peak growing season, and whether specialty ingredient cost is tracking with menu pricing.
- October
Before the season winds down
Before the growing season winds down, Gus looks at kitchen 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 farm-to-table restaurants. 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 farm-to-table owners ask first.
Our menu changes weekly based on what the farms have available. How does Gus track food cost with a moving target like that?
As a rolling percentage of sales rather than a fixed cost per dish, so the number still holds up even as the menu changes every week.
We buy from a dozen small farms and they all want to be paid differently. Is that hard to keep straight?
No. Gus tracks what is owed and what has been paid to each farm, whether they want cash on delivery, a monthly invoice, or a standing weekly order.
Do you handle 1099s for the small farms and foragers we buy from directly?
Gus keeps the list of anyone paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not incorporated, since farms and foragers paid directly sometimes need a 1099-NEC. The accountant confirms who actually needs one.
We committed to a farm's whole harvest of a crop this month and it's a big cost all at once. Does that wreck our numbers?
No. Gus flags it as a seasonal purchase, so it reads as what it is, a lump tied to that harvest, not an ordinary month of food cost gone wrong.
We reprint our menu every week or two since dishes keep changing. Is that tracked as its own cost?
Yes. Menu reprinting and the photography around where your ingredients come from are kept in their own line, since it is a real recurring cost specific to how you run the kitchen.
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