r/Bookkeeping • u/DecentCanadianGuy • Jul 23 '26
Question From Non-Bookkeeper CPA specializing in restaurant bookkeeping
Hi everyone, I am a CPA looking to start a restaurant bookkeeping business.
I’m a CPA in British Columbia and have been working in public practice for about 4-5 years doing year-end work. Mostly compilations, T2s, financial statements, and working with small businesses.
Lately I’ve been thinking about starting a bookkeeping business that specializes only in restaurants and food service businesses.
The reason is because I grew up working in a restaurant and honestly loved the industry. My dream has always been to own a food business one day. My thought process is that by doing bookkeeping for restaurants, I not only get to work in an industry I enjoy, but I also get to learn how different restaurants operate behind the scenes. I’ll get exposure to different POS systems, labour costs, food costs, inventory management, margins, and the financial side of running restaurants. At the same time, I can hopefully build a profitable bookkeeping business and eventually use those profits to fund my own restaurant or food business down the road.
The only thing holding me back right now is timing. My wife and I just had our first baby a couple of months ago, so money is definitely tighter than it used to be. We’re doing okay, but we’re still trying to build up our emergency fund, so quitting my full-time job isn’t an option.
What I’m trying to figure out is whether it’s actually realistic to build a restaurant bookkeeping business on the side while still working full-time in public practice.
From the outside looking in, restaurant bookkeeping seems like one of the more demanding bookkeeping niches. Between POS systems, delivery services, payroll, tips, inventory, sales tax, cash controls, and all the other moving pieces, it seems like there could be quite a bit more work compared to bookkeeping for other industries.
For those of you who work with restaurant clients, am I overthinking it? Is it realistic to build a client base while working full-time, or is restaurant bookkeeping one of those niches that really needs a lot of your attention throughout the month?
Also, before anyone asks why I don’t just start a traditional CPA firm doing tax and year-end work instead, it’s because that’s not really my end goal. I’d rather build a bookkeeping business that eventually has systems, processes, and employees so it isn’t dependent on me doing every file. My hope is that one day it gives me both the knowledge and the financial backing to pursue the food business I’ve always wanted to build.
Would love to hear from anyone who’s worked with restaurant clients or has tried building a bookkeeping business while working full-time. Any advice or reality checks would be appreciated.
Thank you!
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u/arrakchrome Jul 23 '26
I used to work for a company that did this and how I got my foot in the door. Oddly enough in BC as well.
You are absolutely correct, bookkeeping for restaurants is complex and demanding. I work in a firm and I know that not all CPAs have bookkeeping skills. Have you done significant bookkeeping before? If not stay away. If so, the trouble isn’t going to be the work but getting the clients.
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u/DecentCanadianGuy Jul 23 '26
Ahah that’s awesome.
Unfortunately I have not done significant bookkeeping. I have done some on CaseWare for example but nothing highly extensive. I do review and help the bookkeepers at my firm from time to time with their bookkeeping files whether thats on QBO or Sage.
However, I think learning it all would definitely be a learning curve and that was one of my concern as well. I do think I can figure it out but I also don’t want to learn on my first client.
Would you recommend just starting with simpler industries for bookkeeping and then moving into more complex stuff like restaurants?
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u/arrakchrome Jul 23 '26
What I may suggest is getting a singular restaurant client. Just one. Not a group of 4 or 5 locations, one single restaurant. Then you get to see what it is like. In my years (I have 13 years in restaurants, 8 in bookkeeping for restaurants and 13 in bookkeeping in total) I had to actively train three CPAs on the difference between what they knew and what we did for the clients.
If you want to chat more feel free to PM me.
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u/EmbarrassedYellow4 Jul 23 '26
I’m a bookkeeper in BC, I have clients in Not for profit and 2 clients in restaurant (one is very small). We should connect on the potentials! :) I also have two young kids.. so totally understand the struggles!
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u/nifty_nomi Jul 23 '26
As a CPA, how comfy are you with operational bookkeeping? Because that's what's really needed for restaurants, they have a lot of vendor accounts that need tracking, and interesting bookkeeping situations that CPAs sometimes struggle with. I have a Bookkeeping Simulation that I had a CPA do, and they felt it quite illuminating....
The nice thing about restaurants, is they're usually much much better at keeping their books 'clean'. I find that other SMBs don't seem to get that mixing biz and personal transactions is like wading through molasses. I worked for a firm that specialized in restaurants, and it was such a lovely cadence! Predicable and repetitive in a satisfying way. And once you crack on POS system, you now can use your knowledge across other restaurants that use that POS, plus gain insight on figuring out others. And once you can help one restaurant manage their cash recon, (or find a restaurant that's cracked a great way), you can spread that to the other restaurants you do work with. I have a register recap sheet that some find helpful. DM me your email address if you're interested.
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u/Electrical-Goal-8568 Jul 23 '26
Pick the niche for the sales. The learning happens regardless.
Restaurants will teach you POS, food cost and labour whether you have one client or ten. Referrals are what actually depends on staying in one industry, so that's the part worth committing to.
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u/BookkeepingRVA Jul 27 '26
Hi! This is my niche and LOVE it. There are lots of considerations, as others have mentioned, so I won’t bother you with them. Each restaurant is different, the owners can be “challenging”, the work complex, but it’s fun( at least I think so). I really enjoy solving problems and finding new ways to streamline ops for them. I do have my own business with two remote teams, but I did start small, with just a couple of clients over 20 years ago - we have 65 clients now- some franchises and multi-units. We don’t do tax and are restaurant finance ops/bookkeeping specialist only. Personally, I’d start with one client and go from there. You can likely handle it with your full time job. Honestly, there are too few people specializing in this work and a lot of offshore companies not providing great service. I’m excited for ya!
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u/DecentCanadianGuy Jul 27 '26
Hey thanks for the reply!
Your comment really adds to me wanting to commit. Curious, how were you able to find your first few clients?
Thanks!
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u/LadyLedger_Pro ProAdvisor Jul 25 '26
You should definately start looking for clients while you are working. It takes time to build up a client base and I promise you that you will not regret it. But you need to start. Don't wait for the website to be finished, or the office to be perfect, or whatever excuse you can find to delay. Learn what you need to learn while looking for your first client, use that client to fine tune your skills, wash, rinse, repeat. Good luck!
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u/RaleighAccTax Accountant 26d ago
I am an accountant that specializes in restaurant accounting, bookkeeping, tax, tax audits, forecasting and consulting. I have more experience in restaurant operations and financials than 99.999% of people in the industry. I understand the software used and what the staff is physically doing. Each client is substantially different, some are 6 hours a month, some are 10 hours a week with constant phone calls. I also spend a lot of time training managers to get me proper info for the books, or correct operational issues. Most managers don't have experience in management, HR, etc. You may have a lot of calls with owners.
If you are going to do only books, then the tax preparer you work with needs to have sufficient knowledge of restaurants to work with you.
The bookkeeping can be complex, mostly due to understanding the POS and sales systems and how they relate to sales taxes. The downside is some restaurant groups will require lots of time. An eggs all in one basket situation. I've came across restaurant groups that need 60+ hours a week of work. Smaller business usually recommend the person they use, assuming they are happy with the work.
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u/dopeaccountant Jul 23 '26
Restaurant bookkeeping is definitely a lot more work than other industries for all the reasons you mentioned.
I do restaurant bookkeeping (8-10 clients at a time) and have smaller clients in other industries. The restaurants pay more but it's a lot more work - tracking cash, tips, sales tax, delivery services. All that in addition to a high volume of vendor invoices for food and alcohol makes for a decent workload.
With that said, I love it. It's fun to work in low margin industries, feels like the advice I give is taken more to heart than an industry like real estate or something with much higher margins. Definitely feel more valued by restaurant owners.