A restaurant bookkeeper matches each restaurant's daily POS sales to cash deposits, card batches and delivery app payouts, then enters and pays the food and beverage invoices. They prepare tip, payroll and sales tax records for the CFO and the outside CPA, so every location's numbers are clean before month-end.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, full-service restaurants · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring a Bookkeeper to keep the daily numbers clean for all of our restaurants. You'll reconcile POS sales to bank deposits and card batches, enter and pay food and beverage invoices, track gift cards and delivery app payouts, and prepare tip and payroll records for the CFO and our outside CPA.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Reconcile each restaurant's daily sales report to cash deposits, card batches and delivery app payouts.
Enter vendor invoices, match them to receiving records and credit memos, and pay on terms.
Reconcile bank and credit card accounts every month.
Track gift card sales and redemptions across locations.
Prepare sales tax returns and payroll inputs, including reported tips, for the CFO to review.
Post inventory counts and help close the books each month.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Pull each restaurant's daily sales report and flag cash overs and shorts to the GM.
Code invoices to the right category: food, beer, wine, liquor, supplies or repairs.
Chase missing invoices, credits for shorted or damaged product, and differences on vendor statements.
Answer GM questions about invoices, petty cash and deposits.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Daily sales reconciled by the next business day: [your target].
Invoice entry accuracy: [your target].
Vendor payments on time: [your target].
Unresolved deposit variances: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[2+] years of bookkeeping, ideally for restaurants, bars or another multi-location business.
Experience with [QuickBooks, Restaurant365 or your accounting system] and Excel.
Understands accounts payable, bank reconciliations and month-end close.
Catches the details: a duplicate invoice, a missing deposit, a case billed at the wrong price.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience reconciling POS reports [such as Toast or Square].
Familiar with sales tax filing and tip reporting in restaurants.
Associate degree in accounting, or bookkeeping coursework.
7. Physical Requirements
Sit at a computer for most of the day.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Central office in [city], [standard weekday hours]; [remote days if you offer them].
Busier at month-end and when sales tax is due.
Occasional restaurant visits to collect paperwork or help with inventory counts.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new bookkeeper gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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A restaurant takes money in several forms every night and buys from a long list of vendors every week. The bookkeeper matches all of it, every day, for every location.
One night's sales, four things to match
A Friday's sales show up as a cash deposit, a card batch that settles later minus fees, a delivery app payout that often lands weekly net of commissions and refunds, and gift card redemptions that bring in no new money. The bookkeeper ties each one back to that restaurant's POS report for that day and calls the GM about any gap before it gets old.
Card tips have a payday deadline
Tips guests add on a card belong to the staff. Federal law says they must reach the staff by the regular payday at the latest, even if the card company hasn't paid yet. On the tip itself, the employer may take out no more than the card company's fee, and some states protect card tips further. The bookkeeper checks that card tips in the POS match what payroll paid. Source: U.S. DOL Fact Sheet #15: Tipped employees under the FLSA.
Liquor bills have legal due dates
State law can set the payment terms for alcohol. In Texas, beer must be paid for in cash on or before delivery. Wine and spirits delivered from the 1st through the 15th are due in full by the 25th, and later deliveries by the 10th of the next month. A retailer that misses and doesn't pay within four business days lands on the state's delinquent list, which stops wholesalers from selling it wine or spirits at any of its locations. Source: Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission: Cash and credit law.
Delivery apps and sales tax
When an app takes the order and the payment, it may be the one collecting sales tax. Iowa, for one, says an ordering platform that handles the payment can be a marketplace facilitator that collects and remits the tax, and in its examples the restaurant has no duty to collect or remit on those orders. The bookkeeper keeps app sales in their own line and gets the CPA's answer for your state before leaving them off a return. Source: Iowa Department of Revenue: Food delivery services and marketplace facilitators.
Invoices come by the case
Produce, meat and dairy can arrive several times a week, and prices on proteins and produce move often. The bookkeeper matches each invoice to what the kitchen signed for, chases credits for shorted or damaged cases, and codes food, beer, wine and liquor apart so each cost line on the P&L is right.
How much restaurant bookkeepers make
The closest BLS group for restaurant bookkeepers is bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $25.27 an hour ($52,570 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $50,670 median for bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in all industries. About 11,040 of the 1,373,680 bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in that survey work for full-service restaurants.
Usually paid by the hour, so month-end and sales tax weeks bring overtime. If you'd rather pay a salary, have the job's duties checked against the overtime rules first.
Full-service restaurants
$52,570$52,570 median Middle half $38,980–$69,900 10th–90th $33,070–$74,970
All industries
$50,670$50,670 median Middle half $43,520–$61,470 10th–90th $36,000–$74,550
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Full-service restaurants
$33,070
$38,980
$52,570
$69,900
$74,970
All industries
$36,000
$43,520
$50,670
$61,470
$74,550
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Reconciles bank, card and cash accounts without needing a walkthrough
Spots a duplicate invoice or a case billed above the agreed price
Comfortable in Excel: lookups, pivot tables and matching two reports line by line
Keeps up with invoices from many vendors and several locations without falling behind
Asks GMs for missing paperwork politely and keeps asking until it arrives
Teach these on the job
Each restaurant's close-out routine and POS reports
Your chart of accounts and invoice coding rules
Delivery app payout reports and their fee lines
Your state's sales tax filing and alcohol payment rules
How your group handles petty cash and paid-outs
Expect QuickBooks or Restaurant365 for the books, a POS such as Toast or Square for sales, an invoice scanning tool, and the payout portals for DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub. Ask candidates which POS reports they've matched to a bank statement, since that skill carries over from one system to the next.
Restaurant bookkeeper interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Blanks stand where the targets go. Track a month first, then set them with the CFO to fit how fast your restaurants send in their paperwork.
Daily sales reconciled by the next business day
For each restaurant, check whether the prior day's POS sales were matched to cash, card and app deposits by the end of the next business day. Log late days with the reason.
Invoice entry accuracy
Count invoices that had to be fixed after entry: wrong restaurant, wrong category, wrong price or a duplicate. Ask chefs to flag food cost reports that look off, since a liquor invoice coded to food shows up there first.
Vendor payments on time
Check alcohol vendors first: where state law sets the terms, one late payment can cut off supply. For food and supply vendors, note each invoice paid late and the reason, like a missing receipt or a disputed credit.
Unresolved deposit variances
Open gaps between POS sales and bank deposits with no explanation yet, listed by restaurant and by age. Close each with the GM's note or a correcting entry, and flag repeat shortages to the CFO.
Career path
Floor managerSome come off the floor after years of cash-outs and nightly sales reports.
Accounts payable clerkEnters and codes the food and beverage invoices for the group.
BookkeeperOwns the daily close-out numbers across all the restaurants.
Staff accountant or assistant controllerBuilds the month-end entries and restaurant P&Ls for the CFO.
What should a restaurant bookkeeper send the GMs each week?
A short list each GM can act on: deposit gaps still open, invoices missing or waiting on a credit, petty cash receipts not turned in, and food and beverage purchases so far against the budget. Keep it to one page per restaurant. The CFO's P&L comes later; this list is for fixing problems while the week is still fresh.
How much does a restaurant bookkeeper make?
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $25.27 an hour ($52,570 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $38,980 and $69,900 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Does a restaurant bookkeeper need a certification?
BLS says certification is not usually required, though some bookkeeping clerks earn one, and most are expected to have some education after high school. For a restaurant group, hands-on experience matters more. Someone who has matched POS reports to deposits and chased vendor credits will be useful sooner than someone from an office that never handled cash.
Can one bookkeeper handle six to eight restaurants?
Often, if invoices come in by scan and the POS, bank and accounting system are connected. Paper invoices, hand-counted deposits and several bank accounts per restaurant can push the work past one person. Watch the next-day reconciliation KPI. When it slips week after week, add an accounts payable clerk before errors pile up.
How should a restaurant handle cash overs and shorts?
Log every over and short with the restaurant, the shift and the manager on duty, and flag each one to the GM before the next shift. A small gap now and then is normal; the same drawer short every Friday is a pattern for the CFO. Be careful about charging staff for it. Under federal law, a deduction can't leave a worker under minimum wage or short on overtime pay, and DOL calls making tipped staff cover a guest's walkout improper. Check your state's rules too.
How should a restaurant group handle petty cash?
Give each restaurant a fixed petty cash fund that the GM signs for. Every paid-out, such as a run to the store for limes, needs a receipt and a reason in the POS or a log. The bookkeeper reconciles each fund when it's refilled and flags restaurants that refill too often. Small cash leaks tend to show up here first.
