Your bookkeeper only sees the bottom-line figures, but doesn't know what's happening in your kitchen. Many restaurant owners discover too late that their records don't match reality. By the time discrepancies surface, you've already lost weeks of potential profit adjustments.
Why figures don't match between kitchen and accounting
Your bookkeeper works with invoices and bank statements. You work with ingredients and portions. These two worlds need to align, but often they don't.
⚠️ Heads up:
If you only rely on your accounting, you won't see until the end of the month that you're not earning enough. By then it's too late to adjust.
The most important checks you need to do yourself
You don't need accounting expertise to verify that your figures are accurate. These checks are straightforward:
- Purchases vs. sales: How much did you buy? How much did you sell? These should be reasonably balanced
- Food cost per dish: Do you know what each dish actually costs in ingredients?
- Waste and loss: Is this recorded somewhere or does it disappear unnoticed?
- Inventory value: Does your bookkeeper account for what's in your cooler?
💡 Example:
Restaurant De Eetkamer buys €2,000 worth of food every week and has €6,000 in sales:
- Food cost according to accounting: €2,000 / €6,000 = 33%
- Actual food cost (including waste): 38%
- Difference: 5% of €6,000 = €300 per week
That's €15,600 per year that 'disappears' without your accounting seeing it.
How to check your purchases
Your bookkeeper sees invoices, but not what actually ends up in your kitchen. Check this:
- Delivery verification: Do you always get what you ordered? Right quality?
- Trimming loss: From 10 kg of fish, often only 6 kg of fillet remains. Does your bookkeeper account for this?
- Shelf life: What do you throw away because it's past its date?
💡 Example of trimming loss:
You buy salmon for €18 per kg, but after filleting you have 45% loss:
- Purchase price: €18/kg
- Actual price after trimming loss: €18 ÷ 0.55 = €32.73/kg
- Difference: €14.73/kg more than your bookkeeper thinks
Inventory and working capital
Many bookkeepers forget to include inventory in their calculations. What's in your cooler and storage is money you've spent but haven't earned yet.
- Count your inventory: What's the value of everything in your cooler and storage?
- Check the trend: Is your inventory value growing every month? Then you're buying too much
- Turnover rate: How many times per month do you completely replace your inventory?
⚠️ Heads up:
If your inventory value rises from €3,000 to €5,000, you've 'tied up' €2,000 in cash. Your bookkeeper sees this as an expense, but you still have it in your cooler.
Practical check: the weekly review
Something most kitchen managers discover too late is that their weekly figures can reveal discrepancies before they become monthly disasters. Do this simple check every week to see if your figures are correct:
💡 Weekly check example:
This week:
- Sales: €8,000
- Purchases: €2,400
- Food cost according to invoices: 30%
- Estimated waste: €200
- Actual food cost: (€2,400 + €200) ÷ €8,000 = 32.5%
Difference of 2.5% = €200 per week that your bookkeeper doesn't see.
Correcting your bookkeeper's approach
If you notice these differences, it's time to talk to your bookkeeper or accountant:
- Inventory valuation: Is your inventory included in the balance sheet?
- Waste registration: How do you record products you throw away?
- Seasonal adjustments: How do you handle seasonal fluctuations in purchases?
Digital help with checking
Many entrepreneurs use systems to track their operational figures. Then you can give your bookkeeper concrete numbers about your actual food cost, waste, and inventory value.
This way you work together on figures that match reality instead of just invoices and bank statements.
How do you check your figures? (step by step)
Calculate your actual food cost
Add up all your purchase invoices from this week. Divide by your sales excluding VAT. Add 10-15% for waste and trimming loss. This is your actual food cost.
Compare with your accounting
Ask your bookkeeper what your food cost is according to him. Compare with your own calculation. A difference of more than 3% means you're measuring different things.
Record waste and loss
Track for a week what you throw away and why. Add up the value. This percentage of your purchases disappears without your bookkeeper seeing it.
Check your inventory value monthly
Count the value of your inventory every month. If it rises every month, you're buying too much. If it drops too quickly, you risk shortages.
✨ Pro tip
Cross-reference your POS sales data with actual inventory depletion every 2 weeks. If you sold 50 steaks but your beef inventory dropped by 60 portions, you've got a 20% variance that needs investigation.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
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Frequently asked questions
How often should I check my figures?
Check your food cost weekly and your inventory value monthly. This way you prevent small discrepancies from becoming big problems.
What if my bookkeeper says everything is correct?
Your bookkeeper is right from an administrative perspective. But they don't see what's happening in your kitchen. Both observations can be true at the same time.
Do I need to replace my bookkeeper if the figures don't match?
Not necessarily. Often it's a matter of better communication. Give your bookkeeper concrete figures about waste and inventory, then they can account for them properly.
How do I calculate trimming loss correctly?
Weigh your product before and after processing. The difference is trimming loss. Divide your purchase price by the remaining percentage to get your actual price per kilo.
What do I do with seasonal products in my accounting?
Do you buy a lot of asparagus in season, for example? Tell your bookkeeper about seasonal purchasing patterns so they can correctly interpret your monthly figures.
Should I track every single ingredient's cost separately?
Focus on your top 80% of food costs first - usually 15-20 key ingredients. Track these religiously, then expand to smaller items once you've got the system down.
📚 Sources consulted
- EU Verordening 852/2004 — Levensmiddelenhygiëne (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 853/2004 — Hygiënevoorschriften voor levensmiddelen van dierlijke oorsprong (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 1169/2011 — Voedselinformatie aan consumenten (2011) — Official source
- NVWA — Hygiënecode voor de horeca (2024) — Official source
- NVWA — Allergenen in voedsel (2024) — Official source
- Codex Alimentarius — International Food Standards (2024) — Official source
- FSA — Safer food, better business (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- BVL — Lebensmittelhygiene (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- Warenwetbesluit Bereiding en behandeling van levensmiddelen (2024) — Official source
- WHO — Foodborne diseases estimates (2024) — Official source
Food Standards Agency (FSA) — https://www.food.gov.uk
The HACCP standards shown in this application are for informational purposes only. KitchenNmbrs does not guarantee that displayed values are current or complete. Always consult the FSA or your local authority for the latest regulations.
Written by
Jeffrey Smit
Founder & CEO of KitchenNmbrs
Jeffrey Smit built KitchenNmbrs from 8 years of hands-on experience as kitchen manager at 1NUL8 Group in Rotterdam. His mission: give every restaurant owner control over food cost.
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