Restaurants, cafes & food service
Books and taxes for supper clubs and private chef dinners.
Ticket sales through an event app, a different rented venue for every dinner, wine pairing add-ons, and the occasional full buyout by one client. 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 brought in $4,500 across two dinners. The barn venue for the second one cost more than usual, but ticket sales more than covered it, so the night still cleared a strong margin.
- Eventbrite payoutTicket sales
- Private buyout paymentBuyout bookings
- Venue rental feeVenue rental
- Wine and pairing orderWine and pairing purchases
- Event staff payrollEvent staffing
Why your books are different
A supper club's books go wrong in the same five places.
A generalist bookkeeper sees deposits and bills. A supper club rents a different venue for every dinner, sells tickets through an app that pays out late, and runs real quiet weeks between events. When those pieces blend together, the owner cannot tell a good venue from a bad one or a normal off week from a warning sign.
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1
Venue rental costs vary every single event
A rotating supper club renting a different barn, loft, or restaurant space for each dinner pays a different venue cost every time, and if that cost is not tracked per event, the owner cannot tell if a particular venue was worth what tickets brought in.
What we doKeeps venue rental cost tied to each event so ticket revenue can be checked against what that specific night actually cost to host. -
2
Eventbrite payouts arrive net and delayed
An event ticketing app holds funds and pays out days or weeks after the event, net of its own fee, so the deposit landing in the bank does not line up with the date of the actual dinner.
What we doBooks the full ticket value as the event's revenue and Eventbrite's fee as its own cost, matched to the event date, not the payout date. -
3
Wine pairing sales get lumped into the meal price
A wine pairing sold alongside a fixed dinner price has its own cost and markup that behaves differently from food cost, and lumped together, real per-ticket margin is unclear.
What we doKeeps wine and pairing sales apart from the dinner price so beverage margin is visible on its own. -
4
Full buyout bookings need different treatment than ticket sales
A private client who buys out the whole event for a birthday or corporate gathering pays one lump sum instead of many individual tickets, and if that is not distinguished from regular ticket sales, the owner cannot see which type of booking actually pays better.
What we doKeeps buyout bookings separate from individual ticket sales so each type of event can be compared on its own. -
5
Off weeks look like a failing business
A supper club running two or three dinners a month has real weeks with no ticket revenue at all between events, and without that context, a quiet week can look like trouble instead of the normal rhythm of an occasional-event business.
What we doNotes the event schedule against the calendar so an off week reads as expected, not as a warning sign.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a supper club.
Set up once for how tickets, buyouts, and venues each run. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Ticket salesBooked to the event date, not the day Eventbrite pays out.
- Buyout bookingsA single client's full event fee, kept apart from individual ticket sales.
- Wine and pairing add-onsBeverage sales, tracked apart from the dinner price.
- Gift certificate salesHeld as a liability until redeemed, not counted as income the day it is sold.
Money out
- Venue rentalTied to each event so the real cost per night is visible.
- Food purchasesIngredients for each dinner's prix-fixe menu.
- Wine and pairing purchasesKept apart from food so beverage margin is visible.
- Event staffingChefs and servers hired per dinner.
- Ticketing app feesWhat Eventbrite or a similar app keeps before the payout lands.
- Rental cookware and place settingsEquipment rented for a venue with no kitchen or dining set.
- Marketing and photographyMenu design, event photos, and local advertising.
What we watch for you
- Food cost percentage
Food cost against ticket and buyout revenue, the number that catches a menu that is priced too thin.
- Venue cost per event
What each night's venue actually cost against what it brought in.
- Beverage margin
What wine and pairing sales clear against their own cost.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax time holds no surprise.
Ask Gus
Things supper club 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.
I keep venue cost tied to each event, so you can check what that specific night brought in against what it cost to host there.
No, I book the full ticket value against the event date, not the day the payout landed, so the timing matches the actual dinner.
Not the way I track it. I note your event schedule against the calendar, so an off week between dinners reads as normal, not a warning sign.
The tax side
The tax side of a supper club.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing: ticketing app payouts booked to the wrong date, and event staff paid the wrong way.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Worker classification for hired chefs and serversA chef or server who works your event on your schedule with your menu is almost always an employee, not a contractor, even for a single evening.
- Form 1099-NEC for event staffAnyone genuinely operating as their own business who works your dinners, paid $2,000 or more in 2026, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- Section 179 on portable kitchen equipmentPortable cooking equipment and rental cookware you own outright can usually be written off the year you buy them, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Self-employment tax for owner-operatorsAn owner who takes profit directly rather than a W-2 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 supper clubs and private chef dinners miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Venue rental fees
- Ticketing app fees
- Rental cookware and place settings
- Wine and pairing purchases
- Event insurance
- Menu design and printing
- Local photography for marketing
- Food handler certification
- Staff uniforms
- Vehicle mileage for equipment transport
- Online ticketing software 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 supper club's year, kept every month.
Dinners land a few times a month, not 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, the 1099 list for any hired chefs or servers is readied, and you get a monthly set-aside so a busy 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 the year, and whether summer outdoor dinners changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the holidays
Before private holiday buyout bookings fill the calendar, Gus looks at rental cookware or 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 supper clubs and private chef dinners. 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 supper club owners ask first.
We rent a different venue for every dinner. Can Gus track what each one actually costs?
Yes. Venue cost is tied to each event, so you can check what a specific night's tickets brought in against what that venue actually cost to host.
Our ticketing app pays us out weeks after the event, net of its fee. Does that mess up the books?
No. Gus books the full ticket value against the event date and the app's fee as its own cost, so the timing matches the actual dinner, not the payout.
We sell a wine pairing alongside our fixed dinner price. Is that tracked separately?
It is. Wine and pairing sales are kept apart from the dinner price, so you can see your real beverage margin on its own.
A client bought out our whole event for a private birthday party. Does that count the same as regular ticket sales?
No, it is kept separate. Buyout bookings and individual ticket sales are tracked apart so you can see which type of event actually pays better.
We only run two or three dinners a month. Will the quiet weeks between events look bad?
No. Gus notes your event schedule against the calendar, so an off week between dinners reads as the normal rhythm of this kind of business, not a problem.
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