Weekly, not monthly
Most businesses can be managed on monthly accounts. Food and beverage generally cannot.
Margins are thin, inventory is perishable, and the variables that determine profitability — food cost, wastage, labour percentage — move week to week. A restaurant that discovers in month two that food cost ran at 38 per cent instead of 30 has already lost the money and cannot recover it. The same business measuring weekly would have seen it in week two and had six weeks to respond.
Add delivery aggregators taking a substantial commission on a growing share of covers, and the difference between a site that works and one that does not can be a few percentage points spread across three variables. That is not something an annual set of accounts can manage.
Who we do this for
Independent restaurants and cafés, multi-site F&B groups, cloud and delivery-only kitchens, catering businesses, and hotel and leisure food operations.
Particularly operators with more than one site, where blended results conceal which location is carrying which, and operators with significant delivery volume, where the true margin on an aggregator order is frequently unknown.
What we actually do
The sequence matters here, so we run it the same way each time:
- Establish weekly reporting on food cost, beverage cost, labour percentage and covers — the four numbers that determine whether a site works.
- Reconcile the point-of-sale system to banking and to aggregator settlements, which is where unexplained differences accumulate.
- Track wastage, staff meals and complimentary items separately rather than absorbing them into food cost.
- Account for aggregator commissions properly — gross order value as revenue, commission as a cost, not net settlement as revenue.
- Manage inventory and stock counts on perishables, which requires a different rhythm from a trading business.
- Report by site, so a struggling location is visible rather than averaged.
- Handle VAT correctly, including service charge treatment and any excise exposure on stocked beverages.
- Manage payroll and WPS, which in F&B is high-volume and high-turnover.
The four numbers, weekly
F&B management accounting is unusual in that a small number of metrics explain almost everything:
- Food cost percentage — cost of food sold over food revenue, calculated from actual stock movement rather than from purchases, which is the distinction that matters
- Beverage cost percentage — tracked separately, since it behaves completely differently and is where theft most often shows
- Labour percentage — total employment cost over revenue, including the costs people forget: accommodation, visas, end-of-service accrual
- Prime cost — food plus beverage plus labour, the single number that determines whether a site can work
- Covers and average spend — because a revenue movement means different things depending on which of these caused it
- Wastage and complimentary — tracked separately, otherwise a control problem looks like a cost problem
Calculating food cost from purchases rather than from stock movement is the most common error. In a week where the walk-in was restocked, purchases overstate consumption badly, and the number that results is noise rather than information.
Delivery aggregators
Aggregator platforms have changed F&B economics, and the accounting has generally not kept up.
The order value the customer pays is your revenue. The commission the platform takes is a cost of sale. Recording only the net settlement understates revenue, understates costs, hides the effective commission rate, and produces a VAT return based on the wrong figure — because VAT is due on the full value of the supply to the customer, not on what the platform remits.
Done properly, the reconciliation also answers the question most operators cannot answer: what is the actual contribution from a delivery order after commission, packaging, and the extra labour it requires. For a substantial number of sites, the honest answer is that delivery volume is being served at close to breakeven — which is a legitimate strategic choice, and a very different thing when made deliberately.
The failures we are called in to fix
What we see most often:
- Monthly reporting in a business where the variables move weekly.
- Food cost calculated from purchases rather than from actual stock movement.
- Aggregator settlements recorded as revenue, understating both turnover and cost and misstating VAT.
- Wastage and staff meals absorbed into food cost, so a control problem looks like a cost problem.
- Blended reporting across sites, concealing which location is losing money.
- Labour percentage excluding accommodation, visas and gratuity accrual, understating the real cost of employment.
- Point-of-sale never reconciled to banking, so differences accumulate unexamined.
- No end-of-service provision in a sector with high headcount.
The timing
Weekly for the operating metrics — food cost, beverage cost, labour, covers. Monthly for full management accounts by site. Stock counts weekly on high-value and high-theft items, monthly across the full range.
VAT returns follow the standard cycle, and corporate tax at 30 September 2026 for a December year end. But the rhythm that actually determines whether the business works is the weekly one.
Deliverables
- Weekly operating report: food cost, beverage cost, labour, prime cost, covers
- Point-of-sale reconciled to banking and aggregator settlements
- Aggregator revenue recorded gross with commission as cost
- Wastage and complimentary tracked separately
- Site-level profitability reporting
- VAT returns on the correct gross supply value
- Payroll, WPS and gratuity accrual maintained
- Corporate tax return and financial statements
Documents we will ask for
Nothing exotic, and most of it you already have:
- Point-of-sale data by site, including covers and average spend
- Aggregator settlement reports from every platform
- Purchase invoices from food and beverage suppliers
- Stock count records
- Payroll data including accommodation and visa costs
- Wastage, staff meal and complimentary records where kept
- Lease and utility costs by site
- Details of any excise-liable beverages stocked
Fees
Priced per site with a group rate for multi-site operators, since much of the work is repeated per location. Weekly reporting costs more than monthly and is what the sector actually needs.
The setup — point-of-sale integration, aggregator mapping, stock and recipe costing structure — is a one-off fixed fee, and it is what makes the weekly cycle affordable to run thereafter.
Related
Frequently Asked Questions
How should food cost percentage be calculated?
From actual stock movement — opening stock plus purchases less closing stock, over food revenue — not from purchases alone. In a week where the walk-in was restocked, purchases overstate consumption badly, and the resulting number is noise rather than information.
Is the money from a delivery aggregator our revenue?
No. The full order value the customer pays is your revenue; the platform’s commission is a cost of sale. Recording only the net settlement understates revenue and costs, hides the effective commission rate, and misstates VAT — which is due on the full value of the supply.
How often should we count stock?
Weekly on high-value and high-theft items — beverages above all — and monthly across the full range. Beverage cost tracked separately from food cost is where theft most often becomes visible.
What is prime cost?
Food plus beverage plus total labour, as a percentage of revenue. It is the single number that determines whether a site can work, because everything else — rent, utilities, overhead — is largely fixed once you have signed the lease.
Should wastage go into food cost?
Tracked separately. Absorbing wastage, staff meals and complimentary items into food cost means a control problem presents as a cost problem, and you end up renegotiating with suppliers when the issue is in the kitchen.
Do we need to worry about excise tax?
If you stock energy drinks, carbonated drinks or sweetened drinks, potentially yes — particularly if you import them directly rather than buying from a local distributor who has already accounted for it. Classification is the first question, and sweetened drinks catch out more F&B businesses than any other category.
Why weekly rather than monthly reporting?
Because the variables move weekly and the margins are thin. A site running food cost eight points over target for a month has lost the money; the same site measuring weekly sees it in week two with six weeks left to respond. Monthly accounts describe what happened; weekly numbers let you change it.
If the answer takes more than a minute, that is the problem. Weekly numbers are what let you change an outcome rather than explain it.
Check my compliance status 058 101 9570
Last reviewed 27 July 2026. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change — the e-invoicing provider deadline has already moved once. Confirm current requirements with the Federal Tax Authority before acting, or ask us to check your position.