No Reservations: The Honest Guide to Restaurant Success
Jul 8, 2026 · 27 min · 11 segments
Why Traditional Accounting Fails Restaurants Most accounting systems are built to satisfy the IRS. They aren't built to help restaurant owners make better business decisions. In this episode, Kasey…
Casey AntonHost
Um, many of them now come through the book, people who have heard about or read the book or listened to this podcast.
Um, some come right through profit first headquarters on whenever a restaurant kind of comes into that sphere.
So with that said, I'm probably having, you know, 12 to 20 something conversations a month with restaurant owners across the U.S., some even in Canada.
That reminds me, I have to reach out to somebody from there that I did not get back to.
And of those, let's call it 20 conversations a month that I'm having, a good 18 or 19 are are around this topic meaning they they probably already have a bookkeeper slash accountant of some kind doing the books that are doing them absolutely no favors so there is accounting yes and there's bookkeeping and then there's restaurant accounting and bookkeeping and they are very different now the mechanics are the same you know you balance debits and credits yeah all the same that's all gap accounting gap standing for generally account accepted accounting principles that's what we follow here in the us that's how we all stay on the same page when it comes to filing our taxes so yeah they all the mechanics are the same the balances you know balancing the books the same but how we structure the books for a restaurant very very very different from how you do almost any other business And so here's what we see happening all the time.
And by all the time, I mean a good 95 plus percent of the time is that a restaurant might be working with a really good accountant or bookkeeper or both.
And they're covering the compliance angle of the reason to hire an accountant or bookkeeper.
It means that, you know, they're following the letter of the law when it comes to accounting so that they can file their taxes and everybody can be above board with the IRS and state agencies.
What is missing is the design and structure of the financials so that they actually become the tools that any business owner, but most especially a restaurant owner needs in order to run a successful business.
So that's what we're going to talk about today, what to look out for, what it looks like, et cetera, et cetera.
I'm really looking at some notes that I was writing earlier, so I don't get off track.
Cause again, this is something that I spend the majority of my time talking about with business owners, um, and in podcasts and things like that.
this episode.
All
Um, many of them now come through the book, people who have heard about or read the book or listened to this podcast.
Um, some come right through profit first headquarters on whenever a restaurant kind of comes into that sphere.
So with that said, I'm probably having, you know, 12 to 20 something conversations a month with restaurant owners across the U.S., some even in Canada.
That reminds me, I have to reach out to somebody from there that I did not get back to.
And of those, let's call it 20 conversations a month that I'm having, a good 18 or 19 are are around this topic meaning they they probably already have a bookkeeper slash accountant of some kind doing the books that are doing them absolutely no favors so there is accounting yes and there's bookkeeping and then there's restaurant accounting and bookkeeping and they are very different now the mechanics are the same you know you balance debits and credits yeah all the same that's all gap accounting gap standing for generally account accepted accounting principles that's what we follow here in the us that's how we all stay on the same page when it comes to filing our taxes so yeah they all the mechanics are the same the balances you know balancing the books the same but how we structure the books for a restaurant very very very different from how you do almost any other business And so here's what we see happening all the time.
And by all the time, I mean a good 95 plus percent of the time is that a restaurant might be working with a really good accountant or bookkeeper or both.
And they're covering the compliance angle of the reason to hire an accountant or bookkeeper.
It means that, you know, they're following the letter of the law when it comes to accounting so that they can file their taxes and everybody can be above board with the IRS and state agencies.
What is missing is the design and structure of the financials so that they actually become the tools that any business owner, but most especially a restaurant owner needs in order to run a successful business.
So that's what we're going to talk about today, what to look out for, what it looks like, et cetera, et cetera.
I'm really looking at some notes that I was writing earlier, so I don't get off track.
Cause again, this is something that I spend the majority of my time talking about with business owners, um, and in podcasts and things like that.
this episode.
All
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