How we think about restaurants and hospitality
A restaurant closes its till every night, so the books should be built from days, not months. Thirty small reconciliations are easier to trust than one large one, and a short day stands out while staff still remember the shift.
Coquitlam's food scene spans several distinct pockets. North Road, on the Burnaby border near Lougheed station, is lined with Korean restaurants, bakeries and cafés. City Centre has family dining and quick-service spots around Coquitlam Centre and the new towers, and Austin Heights has neighbourhood restaurants along Austin Avenue. The operators differ, the books look much the same: card batches, some cash, several delivery apps, and a payroll with tips in it.
We aim for books that let you read your prime cost (food, drink and labour against sales) every month without having to piece it together yourself.
What makes the books different
- Daily sales tie to daily deposits. The POS end-of-day report is matched to the card processor's batch and to cash deposited. Variances get a note while the shift is still fresh.
- Delivery-app payouts are split into their parts. A payout from a delivery platform nets together order value, the platform's commission, promotions you funded, refunds and adjustments. We book sales at gross and fees as an expense, matched payout by payout, so your true margin on delivery orders is visible.
- Tips go through payroll on the right footing. CRA separates controlled tips, which the employer holds or allocates and which carry income tax, CPP and EI deductions, from direct tips that pass straight to staff and carry none (CRA, tips received by employees). Under BC rules an employer can't keep staff tips except through a tip pool or where the law requires, and can share in a pool only when doing similar work to the staff who earned it (BC tips and gratuities). We set up payroll to match how your house actually handles tips.
- PST depends on what's on the plate. In BC, food for human consumption is exempt from PST, while liquor carries 10% PST and soft drinks are taxable (gov.bc.ca, food and beverage service providers). Your POS categories need to keep those apart so the return is built from sales data, not estimates.
What a monthly close looks like for you
- Each day's sales report is posted, split by category, payment type, tips and tax.
- Card batches, cash deposits and delivery payouts are matched to the bank.
- Supplier invoices for food, beverage and packaging are captured and coded, with credits for returns tracked until they land.
- Payroll runs on your cycle through our payroll management service, with controlled tips included in pay and on the T4.
- By the 10th you have statements, prime cost as a percentage of sales, and a short note on anything unusual: a jump in delivery fees, a supplier price change, a cash shortfall.
GST and PST returns are filed on schedule through GST and PST filing. For the day-to-day mechanics, see daily sales, tips and delivery apps in BC.
Tools we commonly use for restaurant clients
- QuickBooks Online or Xero, connected to your POS where an integration exists, or fed by a daily summary entry where it doesn't.
- Your POS reports (Square, Lightspeed, TouchBistro or whatever you run) for sales by category and tip totals.
- Delivery-platform payout reports from Uber Eats, DoorDash and others, downloaded each period.
- Dext for supplier invoices, Plooto for paying them, and Wagepoint for payroll with tip lines.
Multi-location groups often add a fractional controller for budgets and per-site results.
Partners we work with
By type, not by name:
- CPA firms that prepare year-end work for restaurant companies
- POS resellers and integrators, when sales data needs remapping
- Commercial lease lawyers, for percentage-rent or renewal questions that touch the books
- Employment standards and HR advisors, when a tip-pool policy or schedule needs review
A good fit if
- You operate a restaurant, café or bakery in Coquitlam or the Tri-Cities, at one location or several
- Card, cash and delivery-app money land in different places and you want one daily number you can trust
- Tips run through your payroll and you want the records to line up with CRA and BC requirements