Our List of Best Restaurant Accountants 2024
One of the best things you can do for your restaurant or bar is hire a really good restaurant accountant to help you handle the financial side of things.
The best restaurant accountants act more as a financial advisor or coach to your business—lending you financial advice when you need it and helping you make the really tough financial decisions as they come up.
This is why it’s so important to work with an accountant who knows the restaurant business inside and out.
Sure, general accountants can help finalize your P&L every month and prepare your tax returns, but specialized restaurant accountants can set your financials up in a way that provides valuable insights and knowledge into the operations of your business.
For example, instead of simply reviewing a P&L each month, a specialized industry accountant can organize your data by Sales, Prime Costs, Controllable, and Non-Controllable Costs.
So, you can see things quickly at a glance, like,
- Food costs vs food sales
- Liquor costs vs liquor sales
- Beer costs vs beer sales
- N/A Beverage costs vs N/A Beverage sales
Additionally, specialized restaurant accountants can set your business up with the 13-period calendar—which is critical for reviewing sales comparability year-on-year, as the layout of the calendar lines up holidays, and ensures the same number of Saturdays and Sundays in comparable periods.
And finally, specialized industry accountants can help you save as much money as legally possible from Uncle Sam. With tax credits like The FICA Tip Credit and The R&D Tax Credit, accountants who specialize in restaurants and bars know how to leverage all of the mounting expenses in your business on your tax return so you never pay more than you owe.
So, now that we’ve stressed the importance of hiring an experienced restaurant or bar accountant for your business, where can you find one?
We’ve created a quick list to help you research and find the best financial partner for your restaurant business.
Best Restaurant Accountants List
Note: Please do your own research. This is simply a list of popular restaurant accounting firms for you to review. We do not endorse or recommend any firm on the list except for our own.
1. U-Nique Accounting
Of course we had to start with the best restaurant accounting firm on the list—U-Nique Accounting! In all seriousness, U-Nique Accounting specializes in helping restaurants, bars, and breweries get their financial house in order and has been helping clients for more than 15 years.
Known for their practical advice, our experienced accountants handle everything for restaurants under one roof—bookkeeping, tax, payroll, and CFO services. In addition to telling it like it is, we help with software integration, software setup, and organizing your financial data so it can be viewed and analyzed in ways that are meaningful to your business.
You can learn more about what we do over on our restaurant accounting page.
2. Strictly Restaurants
Strictly Restaurants is an accounting firm that has been around for over 10 years and provides restaurants with full-service accounting, including bookkeeping, tax, payroll, cash flow management, reporting, and more. They believe that the success of your restaurant business comes down to your financial reporting. Regardless of the size of your business, they provide information showing just where your business is pacing WTD, MTD and YTD.
You can learn more about the team at Strictly Restaurants here.
3. Bistro Accounting
Bistro Accounting are a team of restaurant industry experts who specialize in bookkeeping and financial reporting. Because they provide bookkeeping for restaurant clients only, they are able to provide specific real-time financial insight into revenue, cost of goods, and expense trends. You will see how your revenue, prime costs, and expenses compare against all of our other restaurants clients.
You can learn more about the team at Bistro Accounting here.
4. CPA Eats
Founded and based in Washington, DC, CPA Eats is an accounting firm that specializes in all things hospitality. Staffed by a diverse team of hospitality industry and financial experts, they provide customized accounting services for small and mid-sized culinary enterprises. Their clients range from James Beard award winners to first-time chef-owners, independent coffee shops to multi-national restaurant groups.
You can learn more about the team at CPA Eats here.
5. Krost CPAs
Krost CPAs is a general accounting firm that has been around since 1939, however, they specialize heavily in restaurants. They are committed to serving the foodservice industry by providing industry-specific services, valuable financial advice, and a comprehensive resource center for all your restaurant’s needs. Their services include a restaurant audit, consulting, financial reporting, and more.
You can learn more about the team at Krost CPAs here.
There you have it! Five well-known accounting firms that specialize in restaurant accounting.
Know of a great restaurant accounting firm that isn’t on the list? Send it through, we’d love to add it!
Until next time!
