To succeed in the competitive restaurant industry, you’ll need a firm grip on the finances. One of the major reasons why restaurants go out of business is badly-managed accounts. With transactions going through on a daily basis and razor-thin margins, it’s important to manage cash flow well and keep an eye on inventory, costs, and revenue. Because, accounts may not win clientele for you, but they can definitely lose it all for you.
So, it’s wise to think about restaurant accounting software before you open your restaurant. You’ll need a system that is online, accurate, easy to use, smart and flexible.
The purpose of this blog is to give the readers a comprehensive insight to the best Restaurant Accounting Software in the market. Here is the list of toppers, that have been shortlisted after detailed research:
Outline
Restaurant 365 – An Accounting Suite
If you’re looking for all in one software that handles all your worries, cloud-based, Restaurant365 (R365) is the answer. This software handles your inventory, catering, accounting, budgeting, forecasting, and scheduling, all within one cloud-based platform. You can even use R365 to budget and track data on different franchise locations or branches of your restaurant. Since R365 is specifically designed for restaurants, it can dig petty granular data from QuickBooks or other general industry software. But this requires you to link your point of sale and payroll systems with it. Its cloud-based data provides a secure and integrated experience where you don’t have to worry about trading files or being locked out of your software while your accountant is working, either
Restaurant365 Pricing
With prices starting at $159/month per location, R365 is an expensive option. For inventory management and scheduling functionality, you’ll have to upgrade to a costlier plan or pay a per-location fee. Although R365 is costly, what you gain in terms of business insight could make the investment well worth the price.
Cons
One hiccup that annoys the users is that Restaurant365 doesn’t offer any type of payroll contrary to most of their competitors which mean that you will have to use an outside company to manage your payroll. Instead, the software integrates with many of the popular payroll service companies like ADP.
Updating and including the promised features has also been called in by some user. Others find the software difficult to navigate especially if you don’t have a financial background.
Ratings
The software has an overall rating of 4.0 with not many reviews. Customers mostly appreciate the tons of features that the software provides but a few also complained about the glitches in software and unnecessary features that slow down the software.
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QuickBooks
QuickBooks Pro is a comprehensive accounting solution designed to cater to small and midsize customers. The solution offers robust functionalities of a core accounting software application, including account payable & receivable, project accounting, expense management and payroll management, all within a single integrated suite.
With the ‘Bank Account Reconciliation’ feature, users can link their bank accounts and define workflows for the accounting activities. This allows users to make automated payments and deposits from their linked bank account and also manage the employee payrolls via a single application.
QuickBooks Pro also helps to automate the billing and invoicing process and work order management from a single reconciliation window. Users can sync, link and import data from other integrated applications, such as PayPal, American Express and Square. All the transactions are automatically categorized to record monthly expenses and earnings.
Quickbooks Pro can be installed both on-premises and in the cloud. Users can also download QuickBooks mobile app available for iOS and Android devices to access information on the go.
QuickBooks Pricing
QBO pricing starts at $15/month, though you might need to go with the middle-tier $23/month option to get all the features you want your restaurant accounting software to have. Only the more expensive plans come with time tracking and bill pay. Although this is considerably less than R365’s monthly investment, don’t forget to factor in the costs for all your integrated software subscriptions before making a decision based on price.
Cons
Subscription price double after the first year of use. Thus, increasing the cost for the client. In addition, most of the customers have complained about the lack of customization, like check layout and importing excel sheets.
Ratings
The software has an overall rating of 4.22 with more than nine hundred reviews. Mostly, the reviews are positive, and customers have recommended the software.
Xero Accounting
Established in 2006, Xero is a web-based accounting system designed for small and growing businesses. Xero connects small businesses with their trusted advisors and provides business owners with instant visibility of their financial position.
As a web-based solution, Xero can be accessed from any device with an active Internet connection. With Xero’s robust accounting features, small businesses can view their cash flows, transactions and account details from any location. Bank transactions are all automatically imported and coded. Online bill pay helps keep track of spending and stay on top of bills due, improving relationships with the vendors that provide critical business materials.
With Xero, personal expenses can also be managed with mobile review and approval of each receipt. Xero offers unlimited user support and integration with a variety of systems, including ADP, Bill.com, and Vend. The solution comes with a 30-days free trial period for product testing and feature evaluation.
Xero Pricing and Features
Xero has three pricing tiers that cost between $9 to $70 per month. All plans include unlimited users, detailed reports and the ability to track income and expenses. The Standard and Premium 10 plans include payroll processing for up to five or 10 employees respectively and the ability to track profitability for multiple locations and business segments like food, bar, and merchandise.
Cons
Xero does not work well in all scenarios but there are workarounds – the bigger the business and the more complex the processes the less it suits but then if you are bigger/more complex you should arguably be using something else.
Lagging support – it can take time and you are often met with unhelpful suggestions.
Ratings
With close to two thousand reviews software enjoys an overall rating of 4.31.
ZipBooks
ZipBooks is a cloud-based accounting and payment processing solution designed for small and midsize businesses. It offers financial reporting, core accounting, budgeting, and forecasting.
ZipBooks allows users to create customized emails and invoices with logos, themes, and messages. The online accounting functionality of the software includes accounts receivable and bank reconciliation. With the help of bank integration, the system automatically pulls transactions and generates real-time summaries of company expenses.
ZipBooks offers project management tools that allow users to create tasks, assign them to team members and track performance with a real-time dashboard. The product also features invoice financing, which credits invoice amounts to business accounts within 24 hours of invoice creation, even if the payment is pending from the client’s side.
Support is available via email. ZipBooks charges users for each advance on an invoice.
ZipBooks Pricing and Features
The entry-level ZipBooks plan provides free accounting software for restaurants but is limited in terms of functionality. If you want to sync up more than one business bank account, allow multiple users, track employee schedules, or run reports, you’ll need to upgrade to the $15/month plan. That’s similarly priced to QuickBooks Online.
Cons
The slick interface comes to be a burden when reconciling transactions – if you’re not an accountant by trade, it can be easy to make a mistake and have difficulty correcting it due to the streamlined presentation.
Support for signing contracts/agreements for related invoices is not available.
Ratings
With close to two thousand reviews software enjoys an overall rating of 4.54.
TouchBistro
TouchBistro is an iPad-based point of sale (POS) solution for restaurants of all types. Specifically designed to meet the unique needs of the restaurant industry, TouchBistro comes complete with food service-specific features and advanced management capabilities.
For fine dining and traditional restaurants, the staff has the ability to bring the POS system to each table, to allow patrons to check out. The mobile functionality of the POS allows staff to bring a register directly to patrons instead of requiring them to leave their table to pay bills or place orders.
TouchBistro can manage split-checks and parties of various sizes. Receipts can be printed, if desired, or signed on screen and emailed.
Detailed sales reports within the system can help provide management with insight into which items are selling the best. To help cope with rushes, the POS can be removed from the counter, and move with your staff down the line.
TouchBistro Pricing and Features
The pricing for TouchBistro begins at $69/month for one POS terminal. If you have multiple registers, you’ll need to upgrade to the $129/month (two registers) plan or $209/month plan (up to five registers). If you need the hardware, that is sold separately. Each of the plans comes with full reporting and analytics.
Cons
Technical support has been called in by most of the customers. With one mentioning, Worst Customer Support Ever!
Rating
With more than two hundred reviews software enjoys an overall rating of 4.34
To sum it up on restaurant accounting software
Eateries and Food Service is an ever-evolving industry. Lucrative beyond possibilities, it is endlessly challenging and tricky at the same time. On one side, there’s nothing better than having customers, who like the food and aroma you deliver, feel and setting you to offer, services and comfort you provide and watching all your hard work translate into a growing bank account. But on the flip side, Restaurant is a wild horse, which needs to be tamed and controlled, else it stomps reputation at first and investment immediately after it. In short, running a restaurant is hard work. There are loads of administrative, operational, managerial and functional issues that need to be dealt, loose ends that require tying up and requirements that must be fulfilled.
Where food, feel and fare play a fair deal in making a restaurant, “A Good Restaurant”, it is only a sound accounting system that makes that Good Restaurant a “Well-Run Restaurant”. This is where the need for a flawless and agile accounting software comes in as it is the key to tracking a restaurant’s costs, revenues, profits, and financial potential. The restaurant industry has some specific business needs and choosing the right software will let you spend less time on recordkeeping and more time on what you love—taking care of your clientele.
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