Want ROI? Restaurant Accounting Requires Unique Solutions

3/4/2019

Integration continues to be a top challenge for restaurants. What should operators ask of technology partners to solve or alleviate this issue?

JOHN MOODY: Not all partners and integrations are created equal. There is a spectrum of integration options. Don’t be satisfied with a simple, “Yes, we can integrate,” answer. Operators should ask a few additional questions of technology partners:

Is the technology partner open and integration-friendly or closed and walled off?
How does the technology partner provide integration options? Request specific details regarding what data can be integrated and how it flows.
How are these integrations supported? Is there a specific support and release strategy to ensure that the integrations work and are maintained properly?
Talk to others using the platform you are evaluating. You can always ask for references, but the vendor is always going to connect you with customers who are ensured to give you a glowing reference. It pays to ask around and find your own references.

Restaurants are complex businesses that merge production with customer service and increasingly complicated regulations with labor. What are key differences in accounting issues that impact the unique needs of restaurants that calls for specific systems to address?

MOODY: Generic accounting doesn’t fit the bill for many restaurants. The business complexity of restaurants, being part manufacturing and part retail create a very unique challenge. Accounting properly and managing all the details of the business has historically been an arduous task involving many different systems, manual data entry, delayed reporting and limited visibility. Every sale, every cost and every labor component end up in accounting as a transaction or aggregation of transactions. Restaurant accounting software providers should help restaurants streamline processes, as well as the flow of information and provide real-time, actionable data.

Recommended questions for restaurants to ask potential partners include:

Does your accounting handle multi-location and multi-legal entity accounting?
Does your POS connect directly to your accounting system?
Does your system provide real-time restaurant financials to managers, accounting and owners?
Does your management solution offer key features needed to efficiently operate any restaurant business, e.g. scheduling, logbook, inventory, food cost, etc?

For restaurants that outsource services or have a hybrid of in-house and outsourced, what steps can be taken to avoid reporting errors?

MOODY: First and foremost, use a cloud-based, consolidated system that both in-house and outsourced resources can use. This allows for one source of truth and ensures that both in-house employees and outsourced professionals are working off the same set of numbers. Secure a system that runs in the office, home or on the road from any device. Finally, ensure you use a platform that allows your organization to assign permissions (based on job title) that can be turned on and off as needed as you go through different growth phases or busy times of the year.

Identifying ROI continues to be a top challenge for restaurant operators in 2019. How do you recommend operators align technology investments with return to get buy-in from franchisees and/or corporate decision makers?

MOODY: Operators absolutely need to consider the ROI when making new tech investments. They would be wise to include both emotional (i.e. less frustrated employees) and rational (i.e. lower food cost by .5%) return in their calculations. When you take into account both benefits and all the direct and indirect implications, most operators will find the cost of technology low compared to the benefits it produces. Clearly articulating this to decision makers and franchisees is what any operator will need to do if he/she wants to move forward.

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