There is no doubt that running a successful restaurant business is no easy task. If you are looking for the best restaurant accounting software and want to go fully paperless in your restaurant’s financial operations, read our useful guide to learn about top best restaurant accounting software that will help save you time and money.
Having a business is always a challenge but it can be made greatly easier with the right tools. When it comes to accounting software, there’s quite a lot of options out there. Especially for small businesses like restaurants. If you don’t already have some kind of accounting software for your business, this article will teach you about restaurant accounting software comparison and best free restaurant accounting software.
Xero
Xero is a cloud-based small business accounting program that’s often considered as an alternative to QuickBooks Online. It was founded in 2006 in New Zealand and is used around the world. It has tools for managing invoices, bank reconciliation, purchases, expenses, inventory, and more. It can be used for different types of small businesses and isn’t specific to restaurants, so you may need to take your time setting up the software and creating restaurant-specific processes.
It can be used by new or experienced restaurant owners and those with no accounting knowledge or bookkeeping pros. It comes integrated with Gusto for payroll processing, making it easy to pay employees, and it can be integrated with banking and POS systems.
We chose Xero as our restaurant software with the best features because of the sheer number of useful tools. The program’s features are easy to use, including integration with payroll services, a mobile app, and real-time reporting. It also can be used on the go and easily integrates with over 800 apps.
Once you get set up, Xero offers:
- Payroll processing
- Vendor bill payment
- Inventory management
- Income and expense tracking
- Intuitive online accounting
- Autopilot tasks
- Bank reconciliation and invoicing
- A mobile app
- Up-to-date financial reports
- Real-time cash management
- Expense claim management
Pricing for Xero ranges from $11 to $62 per month, and you can try each one with unlimited users free for 30 days. The $11/month plan is called Early and includes 20 invoices, five bill entries, reconciles bank transactions, and captures bills and receipts.
The next step up is the Growing plan for $32 per month, which includes unlimited bank transaction reconciliations, invoices, bills, and receipts. The top-tier plan is the Established plan, which costs $62 per month and also includes multi-currency reports, expenses, and project management. For more information on specific plans and pricing, contact Xero online.
DAVO
DAVO was created in 2001 as a way to remedy pain points between the payee and the payor. It automates every step of the sales tax process and can be easily integrated with your POS. DAVO is right for owners with limited and advanced accounting knowledge, and it guarantees that your taxes will be paid on time and in full, so you don’t need to worry about any fines involved with missing deadlines.
It takes data from your POS and can automate your sales tax in as little as five minutes. It doesn’t include payroll services or some of the features available in other accounting software, so you may want to use it in addition to one of the other software options. It can be downloaded on your POS or used from the site.
DAVO offers the following:
- Enter sales on your POS, and it collects and sets aside sales tax
- Sales tax is transferred to its secured holding account
- Automatically files state sales tax so they’re on time
- Automatically pays the sales tax due from the amount that was set aside
- It uses storage encryption on all data
- Daily reporting and account access
- Cloud backups and rapid data recovery
Your first month with DAVO is free, and then it’s $39.99 per month per location. There aren’t any extra fees or long-term contracts. Live setup assistance and ongoing tech support are included. If you live in one of the states that offer on-time sales tax discounts, DAVO will pass that on to you.
We chose DAVO as our best accounting software for paying sales tax for restaurants. It’s a niche product that is designed to seamlessly calculate and pay your sales tax on time and in full while taking advantage of any applicable discounts. If you need more accounting, bookkeeping, or management services, you may consider using DAVO in addition to other accounting software for restaurants.
Restaurant365
Released in 2012, Restaurant365 is a cloud-based software solution designed specifically for restaurant owners. It offers a comprehensive platform to meet the needs of restaurants of all sizes, as well as owners ranging from beginners to experienced bookkeepers.
We chose Restaurant365 as our best overall accounting software for restaurants because of its robust features, ease of use, and full integration with other systems. It’s made specifically for the restaurant industry and has specific features beneficial to restaurant owners.
Restaurant365 is an accounting software program that combines bookkeeping with restaurant management tools like invoicing, ordering, and staff scheduling. It doesn’t offer payroll services but can be integrated with the payroll company ADP. It is also easily integrated with vendors, POS systems, and financial institutions for automated banking reconciliation.
Some features of Restaurant365 include:
- Accounts receivable and automated accounts payable
- Budgeting and sales forecasting
- Invoice capture
- Franchisee billing and payment collection
- Streamline ordering and fulfillment
- Recipe and catering management
- Inventory management
- Employee scheduling
- Manager log book with sales data and document storage
- POS, bank, vendor, and payroll integration
Pricing for Restaurant365 is broken down into tiers and starts at $249 per location per month and goes up to $459 per location per month. Both the Core Operations Plan and the Core Accounting Plan are $249 per month and are primarily focused on operating or accounting aspects of the business.
The Essential Plan costs $369 per location per month and includes accounting, scheduling, and inventory tracking features. The Professional Plan is the top-tier option and costs $459 per location per month. It includes scheduling, inventory, and accounting features, as well as labor, analytics, and custom financial reports.
If you want to see which plan best suits your needs, you can contact Restaurant365 directly via live chat, email, or phone.
QuickBooks Online
In 2001, Intuit launched QuickBooks Online as a packaged software. The program is constantly updated and improved and is ideal for restaurant owners with little to no accounting or bookkeeping experience who want to manage their own books. It is easy to use, integrated with your financial institution, and compatible with most major POS systems. However, since it’s not specific to the restaurant industry, it may take a little longer to set it up and customize it to your specific restaurant’s needs.
We chose QuickBooks Online as our runner-up because, while it isn’t designed specifically for restaurants, it offers an impressive lineup of features, including add-on payroll services. It’s also extremely easy to use for owners with no accounting or bookkeeping experience.
QuickBooks Online offers the following features:
- Miles, income, and expense tracking
- Invoice creation and accepting payments
- Maximum tax deductions
- Enhanced reports
- Receipt organization
- Sales tax tracking
- Manage bills and employees
- Inventory tracking
- Online training
- Automated workflow
- Payroll as an add-on feature
Pricing for QuickBooks Online starts at $25 per month and goes up to $180 per month with a 50% discount for the first three months. It offers plans for all types of operations, including sole proprietors, LLCs, partnerships, corporations, and nonprofits.
A Self-Employed plan includes tracking for miles, income, and expenses, capturing and organizing receipts, estimating quarterly taxes, invoicing clients, accepting payments, and running basic reports. However, QuickBooks has a variety of plans that offer different features depending on your business structure. You can contact them via phone or through their site to discuss your business needs and budget.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is another accounting software that, like QuickBooks Online, is designed to work with all industries. However, the functionality that you get for the cost makes it an especially great choice for restaurant owners who want to run a lean operation. Although not as comprehensive as R365, FreshBooks is loaded with helpful features that can help you run your restaurant more efficiently.
It’s easy to categorize and track expenses and revenue on FreshBooks, and you can store receipts in the app simply by taking a picture. Since FreshBooks categorizes the expenses, it is easy to see your restaurant’s smallest and largest areas of spending. If you connect your bank account or credit card to FreshBooks, your account will always have an up-to-date picture of your expenses in real-time.
Financial analysis and tax filing is easy with FreshBooks because the software has already categorized your expenses and revenues. Using the stored financials, you can create a balance sheet, income statement, and profit and loss statement, and run dozens of reports. You can view various revenue streams to see which menu items are most popular with your clientele.
When FreshBooks launched in 2004, their initial goal was to help businesses manage their invoices more easily. Even today, that remains a core part of their cloud-based software. You can create and send custom invoices by email, a helpful feature if you provide wholesale ingredients to other restaurants.
You don’t get shift scheduling with FreshBooks, as you do with R365, but you can track your staff’s hours worked and see how they’re spending their time.
FreshBooks Pricing
FreshBooks pricing starts at $15/month for up to five billable clients. This is less expensive than QuickBooks and significantly less expensive than R365. FreshBook’s entry-level plan should work for most restaurants since most restaurants are on the buying end, purchasing raw goods from suppliers. You can get a 10% discount off this price if you pay annually. Plus, for a limited time, FreshBooks is offering 60% off for 6 months on Lite, Plus, and Premium plans when new users skip the 30-day free trial period and opt to buy now.
ZipBooks
ZipBooks is a simple yet powerful accounting software that provides relevant tools and intelligence to take your restaurant to the next level. Sending professional invoices, automating your billing, and collecting payments effortlessly will all major credits cards, moreover, efficiently tracking your business expenses and maintaining up-to-date, color-coded records that allow you to understand what’s going on with your finances at a flick.
ZipBooks is a cloud-based software that allows restaurants to get smarter and streamline their financial operations with ease. The solution delivered by ZipBooks not only helps the management of a restaurant to take better decisions but also helps provide a detailed insight of business financial position in the market.
Touch Bistro
Touch Bistro, Inc. develops iPad point of sale solutions for restaurants, cafes, bars, food trucks, and other food and drinks venues. They have hundreds of years of experience in the restaurant industry and by using that experience, they have designed a unique POS system that helps restaurateurs make more money, deliver a great customer experience and take the guesswork out of making business decisions.
It offers the restaurants a point of sale system for billing and payments; Food Truck POS for food trucks; Food Chain POS for order taking and payments; Bars POS that enables users to manage open tabs by seat or customer name; and Coffee Shop POS for speeding taking and payments.
It was founded in 2010 with one goal in mind – to bring cutting-edge technology to the table to help restaurateurs run successful businesses.
Conclusion:
An understaffed and disorganized restaurant can lead to major problems. From food-borne illnesses being spread due to improper hand washing to delays in order preparation causing customers to leave before eating, the host of issues caused by a chaotic restaurant can impair your ability to grow revenue and manage costs. The secret to minimizing these issues lies in your software solutions. If you are struggling with accounting software for restaurants, look no further than a proper restaurant management software.