Restaurants, cafes & food service
Books and taxes for fast casual restaurants.
Counter tickets, loyalty app discounts, catering orders, and delivery payouts that never match the menu price. 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
May came in at $9,000. The office catering order from the building next door got kept separate from your counter sales, so you can see it is actually worth chasing more of.
- Toast POS batch depositCounter sales
- DoorDash payoutDelivery orders
- Restaurant Depot orderFood purchases
- Uber Eats commissionDelivery fees
- ADP payrollWages and payroll taxes
Why your books are different
A fast casual restaurant's books go wrong in the same five places.
A generalist bookkeeper sees deposits and bills. A fast casual counter runs on high ticket volume, loyalty discounts that quietly erode revenue, and food cost that swings week to week. When the books do not separate those pieces, the owner cannot tell whether a slow-looking month is really slow or just under-tracked.
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1
Digital tip prompts don't act like server tips
A counter screen suggested tip prompt collects real money even though there is no table service. Dumped in with wages instead of tracked on its own, the owner cannot tell whether tip income actually covers what the crew is owed.
What we doTracks tips collected through the prompt against what left the bank for staff, so the two numbers line up. -
2
Loyalty discounts erode revenue with no trace
Bounce-back coupons and app rewards cut the price on the register tape while ticket count stays the same, so revenue per ticket quietly drops if nobody tracks the discount as its own line.
What we doBooks the discount against the ticket so the sales number reflects what was actually collected, not the sticker price. -
3
Catering orders blend into daily counter sales
A big office catering order looks the same in the deposit as ten counter tickets, so the owner cannot tell if catering is worth chasing or just extra work for the same money.
What we doKeeps catering income separate from counter sales so you can see whether it is worth pursuing more of. -
4
Food cost swings without warning
Proteins and produce for a bowl or salad-driven menu can jump 10 to 20 percent in a single order. Buried in with paper goods and supplies, a real price spike hides in a category nobody watches.
What we doKeeps food purchases apart from paper and supplies and flags a jump the week it shows up. -
5
Part-time crew wages blur into one number
A fast casual counter runs mostly part-time hourly staff around a lunch and dinner rush, and when wages are not split from management pay, the owner cannot see if staffing is matched to the rush.
What we doKeeps crew wages and management pay in their own lines so labor can be checked against the hours it actually took to run the rush.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a fast casual restaurant.
Set up once for how the counter, delivery, and catering actually run. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Counter salesIn-store tickets rung through Toast, Square, or a self-order kiosk.
- Delivery ordersDoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub payouts, booked at the full order value.
- Catering ordersOffice lunches and event trays billed directly to the client.
- Own app and online ordersOrders through the restaurant's own site or ordering app.
- Gift card salesHeld as a liability until a card is redeemed, not counted as income the day it is sold.
Money out
- Food purchasesProteins, produce, and grains from a restaurant supplier like Restaurant Depot.
- Wages and payroll taxesCrew and shift lead pay, kept apart from management salary.
- Delivery commissionsWhat DoorDash, Uber Eats, or Grubhub keep before the payout lands.
- Card processing feesWhat the card networks keep on every counter and kiosk swipe.
- Rent and building costsLease, common area fees, and repairs on the counter and kitchen space.
- Kitchen equipmentMakeline coolers, ovens, and kiosks, logged apart from food so they get written off right.
- Compostable packagingBowls, lids, and utensils for dine-in and to-go.
- Marketing and loyalty app feesThe loyalty program subscription and local lunch-hour advertising.
What we watch for you
- Food cost percentage
Food cost against sales, the number that catches a supplier price hike before it eats the month.
- Ticket average
What a typical order brings in, tracked to see if loyalty discounts are cutting too deep.
- Labor cost percentage
Crew wages against sales during the lunch and dinner rush.
- Delivery share of sales
How much of the month came through delivery apps against counter and catering, since each carries a different cost.
Ask Gus
Things fast casual 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.
No, I book the discount against the ticket, so your sales number reflects what you actually collected, not the sticker price.
Keep that through payroll like the rest of the crew. Paid outside payroll, it usually still counts as wages, and I flag it if it looks off.
I keep catering separate from your daily counter sales, so you can see whether it is worth chasing more of that business.
The tax side
The tax side of a fast casual restaurant.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and labels: tips undercounted at the register, a shift lead paid off the books, and equipment buried in a food order.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- The FICA tip credit on counter tipsDigital tip prompts at the register still count as reported tips. If your crew reports them, you can often claim a credit for the employer's share of Social Security and Medicare tax on the portion above minimum wage.
- Worker classification for shift leadsA shift lead paid a small override to open and close is almost always still an employee. Paying that override as a contractor instead of through payroll is a common and costly mistake.
- Section 179 on makeline and kitchen equipmentA new makeline cooler, combi oven, or ordering kiosk can usually be written off the year you buy it, with 100 percent bonus depreciation available for property bought after January 19, 2025.
- Form 1099-NEC for catering helpAnyone hired outside of payroll to run a catering drop-off or help during a rush, paid $2,000 or more in 2026, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
Deductions fast casual restaurants miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Loyalty app subscription fees
- Self-order kiosk software
- Makeline pans and utensils
- Compostable to-go bowls
- Delivery bags and heat sleeves
- Uniforms and aprons
- Background music licensing
- Local lunch-hour advertising
- Catering delivery mileage
- Pest control contracts
- Online ordering fees
- Employee shift meals
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 fast casual year, kept every month.
The lunch rush shows up every day. 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, contractor 1099s are readied, and you get a monthly set-aside so it never turns into an April scramble.
- April
Filed and signed
Your return is filed and signed. Because the set-aside has been running since January, there is no surprise bill waiting.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at the midpoint of the year and whether food cost swings changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the fourth quarter
Before the year-end rush, Gus looks at 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 fast casual 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 fast casual owners ask first.
How does Gus handle tips collected through the digital tip prompt at checkout?
The same as any other reported tip. He tracks what came in through the prompt and what left the bank for staff, so the two numbers line up and nothing goes missing from either side.
We run three delivery apps plus our own online ordering. Is that too much to track?
No. Gus books each app's payout at the full order value with its commission as a separate cost, so you can compare what counter, delivery, and your own app each actually pay you.
Our food cost jumped last month and I don't know why.
Gus flags a jump in food purchases the moment it shows up and separates a one-time stock-up from an actual price increase on proteins or produce, so you know which one you are dealing with.
Do you manage our loyalty program rewards?
No, running the program is on you. Gus tracks what the discounts take off your sales number so your real revenue stays accurate, he just does not manage the app itself.
Can Gus tell if we are overstaffed during slow afternoons?
He can show you labor cost against sales for the month. Whether to cut a shift is a call for you, though he will flag it if labor keeps climbing against what you are bringing in.
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