Operating A Profitable Restaurant

Experienced restaurant operators closely manage the inflows and outflows of cash through their business. Sound management of available cash is critical to the ability to pay wages, keep the lights on, stock the walk-in, and make distributions to owners. The financial document that summarizes these transactions is known as the restaurant cash flow statement. An understanding of this document is important not just for your accountant, but for owners and managers as well. Once you can interpret your cash flow statement, you’re in a position to more accurately project the future financial health of the restaurant. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/understanding-the-function-of-your-restaurants-cash-flow-statement/ Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/wJjLsvmbSeg Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/

When it comes to restaurant data, most operators record and track basic sales data, such as tickets, ticket size, tips, and nightly totals for food and beverage. They may be doing this manually, or directly through their point of sale (POS) system.   Your average restaurant then takes this basic sales data, copies it into spreadsheets, and hands it over to their accountant to calculate critical financial performance metrics. The accountant then issues periodic reports that allow the restaurant owner to retrospectively know how he did for the past period. Sound familiar? Clearly, this is a state of affairs ripe for positive disruption by next-generation technology.    Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/how-do-restaurants-use-data-analytics Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/4oXXHyf6PL4 Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc

Today, innovative restaurants are using business intelligence to drive operational efficiencies, improve profitability, and reduce managerial burdens. How do they do it?   The clearest way to understand restaurant business intelligence is to run through example metrics used by experienced operators. Note that in order to use business intelligence in your restaurant, you need to be running modern restaurant management software that collects, tracks, and reports on relevant metrics. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/turn-your-restaurant-analytics-into-profitable-business-intelligence Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/2a863iE-it0 Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

As a restaurant operator, you know that a modern point of sale (POS) solution generates tons of data. The question is, how do you use that data to materially improve restaurant operations? One of the best applications for POS data is as a tool to make more accurate restaurant sales forecasts. Data-based sales forecasts can give you a degree of precision that was previously out of reach, as well as set you up to better allocate staff shifts, improve your COGS control, and instill a culture of financial responsibility in your management team.  The above benefits are earned from having access to properly contextualized POS data in a place that you consistently check. The ideal solution is not to try to manage your restaurant directly through your POS; but rather to integrate your POS data into a comprehensive system like a restaurant management software suite. RASI offers easy data integration of leading POS systems transferring your POS data into the same unified software you utilize for pay

As a restaurant operator, it’s critical that you understand your sources of revenue, your expenses, and the balance between the two. The chart of accounts is a comprehensive method of reviewing these critical performance indicators. Having a solid grasp of your chart of accounts gives you the information to make operational decisions that are fully informed by financial data. Watch here to learn the unique aspects of a restaurant's COA! Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/what-is-a-chart-of-accounts-for-a-restaurant Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/2UD8yrnMChE Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

Think of the multitude of processes your restaurant performs on a daily or weekly basis - Payroll. Payment processing. Vendor Payments. General accounting - and those are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Now, think about how seamless all these tasks would be with a streamlined, automated accounting system that integrates directly with your point of sale (POS) system. This connection would provide a centralized source of data to eliminate manual processes and significantly reduce or outright eliminate human errors. Moreover, it would increase your restaurant’s profitability through timely and accurate reporting and provide insights into greater areas of opportunity. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/why-you-need-to-integrate-your-pos-system-and-accounting-software Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/vgMlNHUrBUc Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAcc

If you’re new to the restaurant business, you’ve probably heard about strategic vendor management but aren’t exactly sure what it entails. Well-experienced business owners in the field know it’s absolutely critical for maximizing not just ROI but also the relationships and connections that make every day in a restaurant run smoothly. What is vendor management, and which issues pose significant challenges if vendors aren’t properly managed? We've created this page to answer all your questions and provide guidance for optimal vendor management best practices. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/the-best-tips-for-strategic-vendor-management Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/WK29vCRqYyw Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

You may be asking, how does payroll work? That is, what should payroll look like for a restaurant? We’ll start with the basics. What is payroll? Payroll is the business process of regularly paying out all your wage, payroll tax, and benefit liabilities to employees. We’ll spell those out: wages are employee earnings, payroll taxes are the percent of earnings dedicated to taxes, particularly FICA (social security) and MEDFICA (medicare). Benefits are any payments you make on behalf of your employees in a manner specified by their employment contract, such as a contribution to a health savings account (HSA). So far, so good. But how should operators process payroll in the context of a restaurant? That’s up next. Here’s how to perform restaurant payroll. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/what-to-consider-when-setting-up-payroll-for-a-restaurant  Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/YrbDgdwZtbk Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://t

Opening a restaurant is a costly endeavor, and successfully running a restaurant requires strict attention to your restaurant expenses to control costs and increase efficiencies. Few restaurants can get by with paper, pencil, and a stack of excel sheets for manual data entry. Such restaurants miss out on the opportunity to reduce expenses and increase profits by gathering needed insights for operational changes. These insights stem directly from a modern accounting system that systematically labels restaurant expenses, highlights pricing and spending trends, offers comparative industry data, and empowers proactive operations management through continued education. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/how-do-you-categorize-restaurant-expenses/ Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqBqblWFzbE Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI

One of the most critical metrics to understand and track as a restaurant operator is your restaurant profit margin. Simply put, to remain in business, you need to understand your margins and everything that goes into them. This seemingly simple metric contains a fair bit of complexity under the hood. Tune in to find out the top two ways to make your restaurant more profitable! Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/how-do-small-business-restaurants-make-a-profit/ Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Or1wQFx9o Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

Whether you’re opening a new restaurant or trying to streamline your existing eatery’s operations, there’s one thing you must optimize before anything else: your restaurant operating budget. If you’re new to the restaurant business, you can have everything lined up and ready to go: the perfect menu, ideal location, and a great clientele ready to serve. Yet there’s another ingredient that’s required for realistic, sustained success – a practical, precise budget. Why? Simply put, a budget assists operators in understanding their potential profits and maintaining consistent profitability. Tune in to learn what items should be accounted for in a proper restaurant operating budget, as well as the best practices behind successful budgeting behaviors! Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/the-most-essential-items-for-any-restaurant-budget  Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6gTzuE7CYU Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twit

Modern restaurants depend on various integrated technology for an increasingly large portion of their business processes. From POS systems to digital pay cards and HRIS solutions to data management software, automation is taking a front seat in restaurants' abilities to increase efficiencies, decrease costs, and minimize overhead. While digital automation continues to spread its wings, portions of the restaurant business remain stuck in paper-based processes. A crucial part of the business that handles supplier invoices and vendor payments, known as Accounts Payable, often falls within this category. This is detrimental to the business, as it's time-consuming and hugely prone to human error. Restaurants working in these manual processes have a tremendous operational opportunity from accounts payable automation. Accounts payable automation software saves your staff time by replacing tedious manual processes with invoice scanning and automatic data entry, speeds up the approval and payment processes, and increa

Payroll is one of the most critical aspects of any business. Properly paying your team creates trust, longevity of employment, and assists in avoiding costly payroll compliance issues. During this episode of The Tip Share, RASI Director of Compliance, Brian Smith, sits down with Brent Beatty, 7shifts Senior Director of Product to discuss the current industry landscape when it comes to labor and payroll compliance, and the array of solutions that the RASI + 7shifts partnership provides to address the current climate. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/why-you-shouldnt-ignore-payroll-compliance-and-how-to-make-it-painless/ Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDQ9Rp8MjX8 Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

Since 1967, the Department of Labor's Dual Jobs Regulation has stated that an employee may be employed in both a tipped and a non-tipped occupation simultaneously. Learn about the newest updates to the Dual Jobs Regulation and the 80/20 Guidance, why the rule was changed, and the details of the regulation in our latest episode of The Tip Share. Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/the-2020-tip-final-rule-dual-jobs-80-20-guidance/ Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20qVAjH3qeE Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

Now is a great time of year for operators to look back at their prime costs and determine where they can increase efficiencies and decrease costs in 2022. Industry supply/transportation issues and labor shortages control much of the conversation these days. Operators have been inhibited by the lasting impacts of the pandemic and are looking for ways to strategically move forward. Having the proper tools in place to keep a tight control on your prime costs is essential to both operational efficiency and profitability. Furthermore, by understanding what your prime costs are as a percentage of sales, as well as strategies to control prime costs, you can look to 2022 with the direct intention to utilize prime cost controls as an additional method to increase profits. Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAonzIRMoQQ  Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/unbeatable-prime-cost-control-strategies-to-increase-your-profits-in-2022 Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.ins

The Department of Labor has modified the 2020 Tip Final Rule. During this episode of The Tip Share, the RASI Compliance team dives into federal protection for tipped employees.  Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmTVto_g-0 Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/dol-final-rule-federal-protection-for-tipped-employees/ Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-services-inc-rasi

Restaurant accounting terminology to busy restaurant owners is akin to a Doctor’s vocabulary to the average Joe. Not everyone speaks the language. However, understanding it is paramount to manage your money when it comes to your business lifeline – your accountant. How are operators supposed to know which are the most important, and where they apply? Unless you’re an accounting or finance major, you most likely know only a few, if any of these terms. As hospitality-specific accounting experts, we’ve rounded up the 9 most important terms that all restaurant operators should know. Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tHflcBzsHs Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/top-9-restaurant-accounting-terms-you-need-to-know/ Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://twitter.com/RASInc_ RASI Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RestaurantAccountingServicesInc RASI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restaurant-accounting-service

The restaurant industry is facing major impacts from COVID with issues in the supply chain. The issues begin all the way at the top; from the growers/farmers facing labor challenges. It then travels down through the manufacturers. The manufacturers are having trouble with the roller coaster opening and closing of the economy, making it difficult to forecast properly. Next, it reaches the distributors who are dealing with limited truck drivers with new routes. This domino-like effect continues to rip its way through almost every industry, and business owners are having to pivot and adapt to make sure they can satisfy their clientele. With proper and strategic planning there are ways to mitigate the impacts of the supply chain issues. During this week's episode of The Tip Share, we break down 5 simple strategies in which restaurateurs can overcome the industry's latest obstacle. Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdN789irIMM Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/top-strategie

Successfully closing out a period starts the domino effect for proactively operating a restaurant versus missed opportunities in the following periods. The purpose of the Period End Financial Close is accuracy verification to highlight where your money is going. This enables you to make quicker, more educated business decisions. To close out a period, begin with a review of the financial statements; The Profit & Loss Statement, The Balance Sheet, and The Cash Flow Statement. Within each statement, defined areas of focus should pop out to an operator as a must-watch for success. In this episode of The Tip Share, the RASI Education Team focuses on reviewing the Notes Payables account for accuracy prior to closing out the period. Watch the full Video: https://youtu.be/dYWQK8DpE_4 Read the full Blog Post: https://rasiusa.com/blog/top-restaurant-accounting-tips-closing-out-notes-payables/ Social Handles: RASI Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rasinc__/ RASI Twitter: https://tw

On September 8th, the SBA announced massive changes to the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) Program. The major changes include: Increasing the COVID-19 EIDL cap from $500,000 to $2 million A borrower can request more funding, up to $2million, even if they have already received COVID-19 EIDL The maximum amount of $2 million includes any funds that the borrower has already received Implementation of a 2-year deferred payment period (The original deferred payment period was 18 months) Without any action on the part of the borrower, the SBA will extend the deferment period of all existing COVID EIDL loans to 24 months The first 30 days after the SBA announced changes are exclusively for processing loans of $500,000 or less The SBA will begin to approve loans greater than $500,000 on October 8, 2021 The simplification of affiliation requirements to mimic those of the Restaurant Revitalization Fund Watch the full Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlohjDdFokg Read the full Blo