Bookkeeping for restaurants and cafes
Hospitality has high volumes, thin margins and lots of cash. Knowing your food and labour costs each week matters far more than a year-end figure.
- Flat £15 an hour
- No contract
- Qualified UK team
- Pay online in minutes
Bookkeeping for restaurants and cafes
Your price
4.5 hours at £15
£67.50
Set-up fee£0
ContractNone
Regulated firm
Qualified team
Qualified team
Certified advisor
ProAdvisor- FreeAgentSupported software
- 4.9 out of 5300+ Google reviews
The short answer
What does bookkeeping for restaurants and cafes involve?
Bookkeeping for restaurants and cafes means keeping daily till (Z) reports and card settlements, food, drink and consumables purchases by supplier, cash takings banked and cash paid out and the rest of your records accurate and reconciled. At £15 an hour, a typical cafe with six staff (about 250 transactions a month) needs about 7.5 hours a month, which is around £112.50.
What makes these books different.
Every sector has its own records and rules. These are the ones that matter for restaurants and cafes.
Daily takings
Till reports, card settlements and cash banked need to agree each day. Gaps are the earliest sign of theft or errors.
Tips and service charges
Since October 2024, employers must pass on all tips to staff. How tips are recorded and paid through payroll needs care.
Food cost and wage cost
Margins are managed through food cost percentage and labour as a share of sales, so purchases must be coded by category.
Mixed VAT rates
Hot food and eat-in meals are standard rated, while some cold takeaway items can be zero rated. Wrong coding is a common VAT error.
£15
an hour, flat
£112.50
a month for a typical cafe with six staff
7.5h
of bookkeeping a month, about 250 transactions a month
0
contract, stop whenever you like
Records we keep for you.
- Daily till (Z) reports and card settlements
- Food, drink and consumables purchases by supplier
- Cash takings banked and cash paid out
- Payroll and tips records
- Delivery platform statements and commission
- Rent, utilities and business rates
Rules worth knowing.
Tips
The Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act requires employers to pass on tips in full and to have a written policy on how they are shared.
Hot food VAT
Hot takeaway food is standard rated at 20%. Treatment of cold items depends on the product and whether it is eaten on the premises.
Cash records
Cash takings are income in full and must be recorded daily. HMRC expects till records to be kept.
General information, not tax advice. Rules change, so check GOV.UK or ask your accountant. Last reviewed November 2026.
A typical month.
A cafe with six staff with about 250 transactions a month, VAT registered, running payroll. Here is the time it takes and what it costs.
- Core bookkeeping (101 - 250)6h
- Limited company extras0.5h
- VAT-ready books (MTD)0.5h
- Payroll journals0.5h
Each month
£112.50
Where this sector is most common.
Using ONS business counts for 2026, hospitality is the biggest share of local businesses in these places. We serve all of them online.
- Dundee11% of local businesses, 1.7 times the UK share, about 390 firms
- Newcastle upon Tyne11% of local businesses, 1.7 times the UK share, about 1,000 firms
- Glasgow11% of local businesses, 1.7 times the UK share, about 2,200 firms
- Sunderland11% of local businesses, 1.7 times the UK share, about 635 firms
- Edinburgh11% of local businesses, 1.6 times the UK share, about 1,965 firms
- Swansea11% of local businesses, 1.6 times the UK share, about 705 firms
Clients say it better than we do.
4.9300+ Google reviews of Accotax
“He took the time to explain every step of the process and made a complex situation much easier to understand.”
Hugo Alvarez
Google review of Accotax
“They take the time to understand how our business works and what our needs are.”
Mael Leboucher
Google review of Accotax
“Very prompt in responding to questions and patient with us even when we seem to be slow.”
Mansur Liman
Google review of Accotax
“The work was completed promptly, my tax return was successfully filed.”
Sergey M
Google review of Accotax
restaurants and cafes: your questions.
Can you reconcile my till and card machine?
Yes. We match daily Z reads, card settlements and cash banked so you can see exactly where every pound came from.
How should tips be recorded?
Cash and card tips are recorded separately from sales, paid out to staff through payroll where required, and covered by your written tips policy.
Related sectors.
- Hairdressers and beautyChair rental, products, deposits and staff for salons and beauty therapists.
- Gyms and personal trainersMemberships, direct debits and class income for gyms, studios and trainers.
- Retail shopsTill reconciliation, stock and retail VAT schemes for independent shops.
- Pubs and barsGross profit, stock, machine games duty and cash for pubs and bars.
- Market traders and street foodCash, stock, pitch fees and events for market stalls and street food traders.
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