Using QuickBooks for a Restaurant's Accounting

Posted on 01/07/2025 by Niko Venev

The hospitality industry can be fast-paced, and that's especially true of restaurants, where every table turned is more money earned. It can be hard to keep up with the financial management demands of these types of businesses, but QuickBooks is up to the task; providing a powerful accounting solution that helps business owners track their financial health while keeping cash flow steady.

       

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Key Features and Uses for QuickBooks at Restaurants

Accepting Payments

QuickBooks makes it easy to accept payments by integrating with many common point-of-sale (POS) systems. Many hospitality business owners appreciate the ability to send custom invoices to guests using QuickBooks easily. Restaurant owners also often find QuickBooks's mobile features to be essential. For example, food truck operators using QuickBooks can send invoices directly from a tablet or phone. QuickBooks also makes it simple to track specific sales by date, inventory used, or line items included.

Inventory Tracking

The best QuickBooks for a restaurant or other hospitality business is a version that includes inventory tracking. This feature can help you monitor your stock of supplies and manage payments to vendors. Using this tool ensures that you always have the ingredients for your most popular menu items on hand and that basic supplies for guests never run out.

Better Payroll Processes and Bill Organization

One major advantage of using QuickBooks for hospitality industry accounting is its ability to track both incoming revenue and outgoing expenses. QuickBooks makes it simple to:

  • Monitor employee hours
  • Track tips
  • Process payroll
  • Handle payroll taxes

In a fast-moving industry with shifting schedules, this can save a lot of time. You can also connect QuickBooks to your business bank account and automate organizing receipts and bills for easy access.

App Integration

Every business relies on multiple types of software, and QuickBooks can integrate with many of them: more than 500, in fact. These include financial tools like PayPal and industry-specific apps like Airbnb and Vrbo. QuickBooks also offers its own mobile app so business owners can get real-time financial updates anytime.

Reporting and Planning

Reports are another very useful feature of QuickBooks for restaurant owners, who can use them to plan operations and make strategic decisions about the business. For example, reports can identify trends to guide menu changes, compare sales periods to spot revenue patterns, or evaluate the effectiveness of operational changes to boost profitability.

 

Which QuickBooks Should You Choose?

The right QuickBooks version depends on your business size and accounting needs, but restaurant owners often prefer QuickBooks Plus or Advanced because they support essential tasks like:

  • Tracking income and expenses
  • Managing inventory
  • Capturing receipts
  • Tracking mileage
  • Identifying tax deductions

While both Plus and Advanced are well-suited for hospitality accounting, QuickBooks also offers simpler options like Simple Start and Essentials. However, for hospitality professionals, a version with inventory and payroll tracking is usually the best fit. If you run a larger business or need multiple employees to access financial data, an advanced version is ideal, as you'll be able to use features like task automation and custom reports to save time and gain deeper financial insights.

 

Sign Up for QuickBooks Courses at Certstaffix Training

Determining the best QuickBooks for a restaurant or other hospitality business is important, but the software will be useless if you don't know how to use it effectively. That's where we come in. At Certstaffix Training, we offer QuickBooks training courses dedicated to both the online and desktop versions of the software, and our live instructors can help you learn either basic or advanced skills. We can even help you earn a QuickBooks certification, demonstrating your level of ability with this powerful software. Enroll in our courses today to learn how to use QuickBooks for hospitality accounting and restaurant financial management.

 


 

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