Restaurants, cafes & food service
Books and taxes for ghost kitchens and virtual brands.
Delivery payouts for two or three brands out of one kitchen, shared ingredient purchases, and a promoted listing fee for each app. 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
November brought in $8,000. The wing brand's promoted listing fee on Uber Eats came out of its own line, so you can see if that spend is paying off.
- DoorDash payoutWing brand delivery orders
- Uber Eats payoutSandwich brand delivery orders
- Restaurant Depot orderFood purchases
- Ghost kitchen operator rentShared kitchen rent
- Uber Eats promoted listing feeDelivery app marketing fees
Why your books are different
A ghost kitchen's books go wrong in the same five places.
A generalist bookkeeper sees deposits and bills. A ghost kitchen runs two or three virtual brands out of one space, buys ingredients that overlap across menus, pays a commission on every single order since there is no dine-in, and can launch or kill a brand in a weekend. When the books do not separate those pieces, no single brand's real numbers ever show up.
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1
Shared ingredients get booked to one brand
When one kitchen runs several virtual brands, a case of chicken bought for both a wings brand and a sandwich brand often lands in the books as one brand's cost, making that brand look worse and the other look artificially better.
What we doSplits shared ingredient purchases across brands based on what each one actually uses, so each brand's real food cost is visible. -
2
Delivery commissions eat a bigger share with no dine-in to offset it
With every order coming through a delivery app, commissions take a much larger bite of revenue than a typical restaurant sees, and if that cost is not broken out per brand, the owner cannot tell which brand actually clears a profit after the cut.
What we doTracks each app's commission against each brand's orders, so real margin per brand and per app is visible, not assumed. -
3
The ghost kitchen operator's invoice bundles several costs
A monthly bill from the kitchen operator can bundle rent, utilities, and equipment access into one number, leaving the owner unable to see how much is fixed and how much moves with usage.
What we doSplits kitchen rent from utilities and equipment fees where the invoice allows, so each cost is its own visible line. -
4
Per-brand marketing spend disappears into one number
Each virtual brand often pays its own promoted listing fee inside a delivery app to stay near the top of the search results, and lumped together, the owner cannot tell which brand's ad spend is actually paying off.
What we doKeeps each brand's app marketing fees in their own line so spend and results can be compared brand by brand. -
5
A killed brand keeps showing up in the numbers
Virtual brands are cheap to launch and just as cheap to shut down, and if revenue and cost are not tagged to a brand and a month, a discontinued brand's old numbers linger and muddy the current picture.
What we doTags revenue and cost to the brand and the month they happened in, so a closed brand stops appearing the day it closes, not before.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a ghost kitchen.
Set up once for how many brands you run and how they each get paid. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Wing brand delivery ordersPayouts tied to one virtual brand's menu.
- Sandwich brand delivery ordersPayouts tied to a second virtual brand's menu.
- Bowl brand delivery ordersPayouts tied to a third virtual brand's menu.
- Bulk and catering ordersLarger one-off orders billed directly to a client.
Money out
- Food purchasesIngredients bought and split across brands based on use.
- Shared kitchen rentThe base cost of the kitchen space itself.
- Delivery commissionsWhat each app keeps before the payout lands, tracked per brand.
- Delivery app marketing feesPromoted listing fees paid per brand inside each app.
- Wages and payroll taxesKitchen staff pay, whether they cook for one brand or all of them.
- Kitchen equipmentFryers, packaging lines, and combi ovens shared across brands.
- Packaging, per brandBranded boxes, bags, and labels bought for each menu.
What we watch for you
- Food cost percentage
Food cost against sales across all brands combined, the number that catches a supplier price hike.
- Delivery commission share
How much of every order each app keeps, since it is a bigger bite here with no dine-in to offset it.
- Per-brand margin
Revenue against allocated cost by brand, so you know which one is actually carrying the kitchen.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax time holds no surprise.
Ask Gus
Things ghost kitchen 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.
Not for you. I split ingredient purchases across brands based on what each one actually uses, so each brand's real food cost stays visible.
I track each app's commission separately against what it brought in, so you can see which one is actually worth the traffic.
No. I keep its sales and costs tagged to the months it was actually running, so it stops showing up the day you close it, not before.
The tax side
The tax side of a ghost kitchen.
Most of what goes wrong here is allocation, not filing: shared cost split the wrong way, and equipment or help booked like an ordinary supply run.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Worker classification for kitchen staffA cook or packer who works your schedule with your equipment is almost always an employee, not a contractor, even in a delivery-only kitchen with no dining room.
- Section 179 on kitchen equipmentFryers, packaging lines, and combi ovens shared across brands can usually be written off in the year they are bought, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Form 1099-NEC for contracted kitchen helpAnyone hired outside of payroll for a brand launch or a busy stretch, paid $2,000 or more in 2026, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- Self-employment tax for owner-operatorsAn owner running the kitchen without a payroll paycheck owes self-employment tax of 15.3 percent on top of regular income tax, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500.
Deductions ghost kitchens and virtual brands miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Delivery app promoted listing fees
- Packaging for delivery-only orders
- Shared kitchen rent
- Kitchen equipment maintenance
- Menu photography per brand
- Food handler certification
- Liability insurance
- Pest control for the kitchen
- Uniforms and aprons
- Online ordering integration 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 ghost kitchen's year, kept every month.
A brand can launch or close any week of the year. 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 kitchen help is readied, and you get a monthly set-aside so a busy stretch 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, launching a new brand mid-year does not turn into a scramble for cash.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand at the midpoint of the year and whether a brand launched or closed since January changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the fourth quarter
Before the holiday delivery rush, 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 ghost kitchens and virtual brands. 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 ghost kitchen owners ask first.
We run three virtual brands out of one kitchen. Can Gus track them separately?
Yes. Ingredient and labor cost get allocated across brands based on what each one actually uses, so you can see which brand is carrying the kitchen and which one is not.
All our revenue comes through delivery apps. Does that change how Gus books it?
He books the full order value as your sales and each app's commission as its own cost, the same as any delivery-heavy kitchen, so your real margin per app is visible.
Do you help us decide which delivery apps to stay on?
No, that call is yours. Gus tracks what each app actually costs against what it brings in, so you have the numbers to make that decision yourself.
We are about to launch a new brand. Should we wait until next month to start?
No need. Send the bank statement whenever you are ready, and Gus starts tracking the new brand's sales and cost from day one.
Our packaging costs vary a lot by brand. Does that get sorted out?
Yes. Packaging bought for a specific brand gets tagged to it, and anything shared gets split the same way ingredients do.
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