#restaurant
Restaurant
Accounting solutions for restaurants and food businesses
Menu Engineering 101: Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, and Dogs
Menu engineering classifies every dish by two numbers — contribution margin (menu price minus food cost) and popularity (sales mix) — into four quadrants, Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, and Dogs, revealing that a high-volume 32% food-cost burger can generate far more total profit than a "leaner" 38% food-cost entree that rarely sells.
All-In Pricing in 2026: SB 478, the FTC Junk Fees Rule, and the State Compliance Patchwork
California SB 478, the FTC Junk Fees Rule, and new Minnesota, Massachusetts, and Connecticut statutes require all-in pricing across hotels, tickets, restaurants, and subscriptions in 2026. A practical compliance checklist covering pricing engines, third-party feeds, frontline scripts, and the accounting reclassification work that follows.
DOL Tip Pooling, the 80/20 Vacatur, and FLSA Tip Credit Compliance in 2026
How the Fifth Circuit's vacatur of the 80/20/30 rule, the DOL's 2024 technical amendment, and an expanding state mini-tip-credit patchwork reshape FLSA tip pooling, dual jobs analysis, and Section 3(m) compliance for restaurants, bars, hotels, and salons in 2026.
FLSA Youth Employment Rules for 2026: A Small Business Guide to Hiring 14- to 17-Year-Olds This Summer
A practical 2026 walkthrough of FLSA youth employment rules for small employers — the four age tiers, the 17 Hazardous Occupations Orders, state work permits, the $4.25 subminimum wage, Section 3(m) tip rules for teens, and the civil penalty math after the 2024 inflation adjustments.
OSHA's Proposed Heat Standard: A HIIPP Compliance Playbook for Construction, Restaurant, and Warehouse Employers
OSHA's proposed federal heat rule sets 80°F and 90°F triggers requiring water, shade, paid breaks, acclimatization, and a written HIIPP. Five state plans — California (Cal/OSHA 3395 and 3396), Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and Maryland — already enforce binding heat illness standards. Here's the compliance playbook construction, restaurant, warehouse, and delivery employers can build today under the General Duty Clause.
2026 W-2 Box 12 Code TT and Code TP: The Employer's Guide to No Tax on Tips and No Tax on Overtime Reporting
A configuration and compliance guide for payroll teams on the new 2026 W-2 Box 12 Code TT (qualified overtime premium) and Code TP (qualified tips), the Box 14b Treasury Tipped Occupation Code (TTOC), the redesigned Step 4(b) on Form W-4, and the OBBBA 2025–2028 sunset window for the No Tax on Tips and No Tax on Overtime federal income tax deductions.
Ghost Kitchen and Virtual Restaurant Bookkeeping: How Multi-Brand Delivery-Only Operators Untangle DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub Revenue Under ASC 606
How multi-brand ghost kitchens record gross revenue under ASC 606, segregate marketplace-facilitated sales tax from DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub payouts, allocate shared kitchen costs across virtual brands, and compute contribution margin per brand and platform.
Independent Donut Shop and Specialty Pastry Bakery Bookkeeping: A Field Guide to Revenue, Inventory, Payroll, and KPIs
An owner-operator's guide to independent bakery bookkeeping — six ASC 606 revenue streams, Section 263A inventory costing, W-2 vs 1099 classification, the Section 45B FICA tip credit, Section 179 equipment depreciation, multistate sales tax under Wayfair, and the prime-cost and sell-through KPIs that separate profitable bakeries from undercapitalized ones.
Indoor Golf Simulator Lounge Bookkeeping: Tracking Bay-Hour Revenue, Capitalizing Hardware, and the KPIs That Drive Profit
A working playbook for owner-operators of boutique indoor golf simulator lounges — how to recognize bay rental, membership, league, and breakage revenue under ASC 606; capitalize $24K Trackman units and $60K bay buildouts via Section 179, bonus depreciation, and QIP cost segregation; classify teaching pros correctly; and read the bay-utilization and revenue-per-bay-hour KPIs that separate profitable lounges from the rest.
Karaoke Bar and Private KTV Lounge Bookkeeping: A Practical Guide for Owner-Operators
A working guide to karaoke bar and KTV lounge bookkeeping that covers ASC 606 timing for room rental and bottle service, ASCAP/BMI/SESAC/GMR license amortization, the Section 45B FICA tip credit, Section 179 and cost segregation on the build-out, dram-shop reserve accounting, and the RevPARH and pour-cost KPIs operators actually read.
Independent Boba and Bubble Tea Shop Bookkeeping: Drink-Level COGS, Loyalty Breakage, and the KPIs That Actually Predict Survival
A working accounting backbone for an independent boba shop — recipe-card COGS down to the tapioca pearl, ASC 606 deferred revenue for loyalty and gift cards, Section 179 treatment for pearl cookers and heat sealers, the Section 45B FICA tip credit on Form 8846, FDA calorie disclosure thresholds, and the FDD Item 19 KPIs (ADS, prime cost, drinks per labor hour) that separate operators who scale from operators who close.
Independent Pizzeria Bookkeeping: Prime Cost, ASC 606 Delivery Revenue, FICA Tip Credit, and Section 179
Independent pizzerias survive only when prime cost — food plus labor — stays at or below 60% of sales. This guide covers booking DoorDash and Uber Eats revenue gross under ASC 606, claiming the FICA tip credit on Form 8846, capitalizing deck and conveyor ovens under Section 179, and building recipe cards that expose the gap between theoretical and actual food cost.