Restaurant bookkeeping from bank statements starts with the deposits. Match every card batch to the sales report for the day it covers, gross up each delivery app payout for its commission, keep card tips in a liability until payroll pays them out, and code supplier payments to food and beverage cost accounts. Then reconcile and close the month.
What lands on a restaurant bank statement each month?
A restaurant bank statement carries a small number of line types that repeat at high volume: card batch deposits most days, delivery app payouts weekly or more often, cash deposits, supplier payments, payroll, rent and loan payments. Knowing them in advance tells you which lines need a source document and which can be coded by rule.
A typical month for a single-location client might look like this, with example counts:
- Card batch deposits: 25 to 31 lines, one per settlement, each net of the processor's fees or with fees taken in one debit at month end.
- Delivery app payouts: four to ten lines, one per platform per payout cycle.
- Cash deposits: anywhere from daily to twice a week, depending on how the owner runs the safe.
- Food and beverage suppliers: broadline distributors, produce, meat, bakery, beer and wine, often paid by ACH or check.
- Payroll: net pay, tax deposits and sometimes a separate line for tips paid out.
- Occupancy and debt: rent, utilities, equipment leases and loan payments.
Two lines deserve a flag on the first pass. A large deposit that is not a card batch, a delivery payout or cash is often loan money or an owner putting cash in, and neither is revenue. The guide to recording loan proceeds in client books covers the entry for the first case. The second is a processor debit that is larger than a normal fee, which usually means a chargeback or a terminal rental.
Matching restaurant card batch deposits to daily sales
A restaurant card batch is the group of card payments the point-of-sale system closes out at the end of a business day. The processor settles that batch to the bank one or two business days later. Matching pairs each deposit with the sales report for its day, so a missing or short batch shows up within the month.
The sales report to use is the point-of-sale daily summary, sometimes called the Z report or end-of-day report. It shows card sales, cash sales, tips, discounts and voids for that business day. The card total on the report, less any fees taken at settlement, should equal the deposit.
A worked week of batch matching
The table below is an example week for a restaurant open seven days. The figures are made up, and the processor in this example deducts fees from each batch.
| Business day | Card sales on report | Fees deducted | Expected deposit | Bank deposit date | Bank amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 2,140.00 | 59.92 | 2,080.08 | Wed | 2,080.08 |
| Tue | 1,980.50 | 55.45 | 1,925.05 | Thu | 1,925.05 |
| Wed | 2,310.00 | 64.68 | 2,245.32 | Fri | 2,245.32 |
| Thu | 2,655.25 | 74.35 | 2,580.90 | Mon | 5,963.70 |
| Fri | 3,480.00 | 97.44 | 3,382.56 | Mon | (in the 5,963.70) |
| Sat | 4,120.75 | 115.38 | 4,005.37 | Tue | 7,308.23 |
| Sun | 3,398.00 | 95.14 | 3,302.86 | Tue | (in the 7,308.23) |
Read the last four rows closely. The Thursday and Friday batches settled together on Monday, and the weekend batches settled together on Tuesday. That pattern is normal for many processors, because settlement follows bank business days rather than restaurant business days. The check is that 2,580.90 plus 3,382.56 equals 5,963.46, not 5,963.70. The 0.24 difference is small, but it is a real gap: a fee was calculated differently, or a tip was adjusted after the report printed. Small gaps like this are worth one look, then a note in the workpaper if the cause is a known adjustment.
Many restaurant clients take cards through a processor that also offers a payout report listing each batch. When it exists, use it instead of rebuilding the expected deposit by hand. The guide to payment processor statements in bookkeeping explains how to book a payout at gross with its fees, which is the entry every row above turns into.
Delivery app payouts on a restaurant statement
A delivery app payout is the net amount a delivery platform sends after it keeps its commission, marketing charges, promotions the restaurant funded, refunds for bad orders and any tablet or service fees. The bank statement shows only that net figure. Booking it as sales understates revenue and hides what the platform costs the restaurant.
Each platform offers a payout statement or a merchant portal export listing the orders in each payout. From that statement, the entry for one payout has these parts:
- Gross food and beverage sales through the platform, credited to a delivery sales account.
- Sales tax collected on those orders, if the platform passes it to the restaurant rather than remitting it.
- Commission and service fees, debited to a delivery commission expense account.
- Promotions and discounts the restaurant agreed to fund, debited to a marketing or discounts account.
- Refunds and adjustments for order errors, debited to a refunds account.
- The net payout, debited to the bank account. It must equal the line on the statement.
Keep a separate sales account for each platform if the owner wants to compare them. A single "delivery sales" account is fine for smaller clients, as long as the commission is visible as its own expense.
Sales tax deserves a second look. Whether the platform or the restaurant remits tax on delivery orders depends on the state and the platform. Read the payout statement to see which one it is, rather than assuming, because a restaurant that reports delivery sales tax the platform already remitted pays it twice.
How should card tips move through restaurant books?
Card tips arrive in the bank inside the card batch deposit, mixed with the sales they were added to. They are not the restaurant's revenue. They belong to the staff, so the tip amount should sit in a tips payable liability from the day of the batch until payroll or a cash payout clears it.
The daily sales report splits card sales from card tips. When you book each batch, credit sales for the food and drink total and credit tips payable for the tip total. The deposit covers both. When the payroll run pays tips through paychecks, debit tips payable. If the restaurant pays tips out in cash at the end of each shift, the cash drawer does it, and the liability should clear against the cash count, not against payroll.
At month end, the tips payable balance should be close to zero or equal to the tips from the last pay period that has not been run yet. A balance that grows month after month means tips are being paid out somewhere the books cannot see, often in cash from the safe.
Tip reporting has its own payroll rules. The IRS Topic 761 on tip withholding and reporting says employees who receive cash tips of $20 or more in a month must report them to the employer in writing by the tenth day of the following month, and the employer uses those reports to withhold taxes. That work usually sits with the payroll provider, but the books still need tips payable to tie to what payroll paid.
Coding restaurant food and beverage supplier payments
Supplier payments are where a restaurant's food cost lives, so coding them to the right account matters more here than in most industries. Split purchases at least into food, beverage (with alcohol separate if the owner tracks it) and paper and disposables. Kitchen equipment and repairs go to their own accounts, not to food.
Broadline distributors cause the most coding work. One invoice from a large distributor can include meat, dairy, cleaning chemicals, takeout containers and a new set of sheet pans. The bank line shows only the distributor's name and the total. If the owner wants a usable food cost percentage, code from the invoice, or at least split the invoice into food and non-food once a month using the distributor's statement.
A rule-based setup helps with the rest. A produce vendor that sells only produce can be coded by rule every month. AutoBankConvert keeps rules per client, so a rule that sends the bakery's ACH payment to food cost for one restaurant does not touch the books of a second restaurant client that buys from the same bakery for resale.
Contractor-style job tracking shows up in restaurants too, usually during a remodel or a second location build-out. If a client is opening a new site, the post on bookkeeping for contractors explains how to keep build-out costs grouped by job rather than mixed into operating expense.
Restaurant cash deposits that do not match the register
A restaurant cash deposit is the cash from the register and the safe, less any cash tips, cash paid-outs and the starting float kept for the next shift. A deposit that does not match the register's cash sales is the most common restaurant reconciliation problem, and it is usually a timing or paid-out issue rather than theft.
Work through these causes in order before you raise it with the owner:
- Timing: the deposit covers two or three days because the manager only went to the bank on Monday. Group the cash sales for those days and compare the total.
- Cash paid-outs: a delivery of ice or a farmers market purchase paid from the drawer. These need a receipt and a paid-out entry, coded to the right expense.
- Cash tips paid at the end of a shift: the drawer is short by the tip-out. Clear these against tips payable.
- Float changes: the manager kept more cash in the safe this week. The difference sits in a cash-on-hand account, not in sales.
What is left after those four is a true shortage or overage. Record it in a cash over and short account each month and show the owner the total. A pattern of steady shortages on one manager's shifts is the owner's call, not the bookkeeper's, but the books should make it visible.
Real estate clients have their own version of a deposit that does not match the sale behind it. The guide to real estate agent bookkeeping shows commission deposits booked net of splits.
Restaurant month-end close from the bank statement
A restaurant month-end close follows the money in the order it arrives: deposits first, then supplier payments, then payroll and tips, then the fixed costs. Closing in that order means the high-volume lines are matched before you spend time on the few lines that need judgment.
Use this list each month for a restaurant client:
- Convert the month's bank and credit card statements and confirm each passes its balance check, so no line is missing before matching starts.
- Match every card batch deposit to its daily sales report. List any day with no deposit and any deposit with no day.
- Gross up each delivery payout from its platform statement.
- Match cash deposits to cash sales, after paid-outs and tip-outs.
- Code supplier payments, splitting broadline invoices into food and non-food.
- Tie tips payable to the payroll register.
- Record processor fees taken at month end if the processor does not net them per batch.
- Reconcile the bank account and review cash over and short.
- Send the owner a short note with food cost, delivery commission and any unmatched deposits.
The first step is where conversion tooling earns its place. AutoBankConvert converts a restaurant's monthly statements in one batch, checks each against its opening and closing balance, and sends uncertain lines to a review queue with a suggested account, so the matching work starts from a complete, categorized list of deposits.