The Best Accounting Software Services for Restaurants in 2024

Your restaurant purchases dozens of ingredients in bulk, serves hundreds of tables daily, and takes customer orders in person, online and via the phone. That’s a lot of money moving in and out of one business across several channels. The best accounting software services organize and automate it all. In fact, several of these services include features without which the average restaurant would face significantly greater operational challenges.

To help you figure out which accounting software vendor might best suit your restaurant, we tested dozens of highly reputable platforms. We narrowed these down to the five services we felt best serve restaurants via tools including vendor billing, inventory management and sales tax features.

You’ll pay a monthly premium to use restaurant accounting software, though these prices are among the lowest you’ll find for business technology. Additionally, Zoho Books is free if your restaurant’s annual revenue is under $50,000. Otherwise, the best accounting software platforms for restaurants start at a low cost of between $10 and $15 per month. You also won’t incur setup and implementation fees for the best restaurant accounting software, though other accounting platforms may charge these.

That said, for more advanced features that could especially benefit your restaurant, you’ll likely need to buy into higher pricing plans. The same is true if you need to add more users since most platforms set maximums on how many team members can use them. Even higher tiers are priced competitively, though. For example, almost every restaurant accounting feature you need is available via Xero’s intermediate pricing tier, which costs $37 per month. Zoho Books’ $40-per-month intermediate tier is similarly powerful.

You may also need to consider the cost of credit card processing if you expect to offer customer payment options through your accounting software. Of course, the best POS systems for restaurants more seamlessly handle guest payments. That said, if your restaurant also sells merchandise or grocery supplies online, enabling online payment through your accounting software might be smart. This incurs payment processing fees that typically cost 1.5 to 3.5 percent of each transaction plus a small flat fee.

Many features that come standard with accounting software are especially beneficial for restaurants. You should look out for these, listed below, as you consider which platform would best serve your restaurant.

Bank Feeds and Reconciliation

When you’re assessing your financial picture, it’s important to see all your incoming and outgoing cash. It’s also important to make sure your bank records and internal financial records are aligned. The best accounting software for restaurants offers bank feeds for the former and reconciliation tools for the latter. Make sure the platforms you’re considering offer both — they’re fundamental to accounting software success.

Bill Pay

You should be able to pay your vendors easily and on time from within your accounting software platform. One-click payments and due-date alerts are especially helpful. These tools make it easy to pay your vendors and ensure timely payments that eliminate the potential for late fees.

Dashboard

When you log into your restaurant accounting software, you should see a clear, well-organized dashboard with data visualizations and easily accessible accounting tools. Only consider platforms you can navigate intuitively, whether you’re seeking basic data or executing more complex tasks.

Expense Tracking

The best accounting software for restaurants includes tools for snapping photos of bills, receipts and other payments to upload them as expenses. These tools should automatically capture the key data from these documents and enter it into your accounting software. This way, you get a full picture of your business costs right after you incur them.

Financial Reporting

Reports are the simplest way to determine your best-performing menu items and assess how your operational changes affect your profits. Just set a few parameters, then let your software do all the data analysis, organization and presentation. Review the well-organized information in front of you to identify key changes you can make to improve your bottom line.

Integrations

Accounting software works best when it’s connected to your other financial tools such as your POS system, credit card processor and payroll service. You can also connect accounting services to nonfinancial tools such as CRM software. This can be a great way to connect your customer loyalty program with records of your guests’ purchases. With this more accurate spend tracking, you’ll reward customers at exactly the right time.

Inventory and Stock Management

Top-notch restaurant accounting software includes tools for tracking your ingredients’ quantity and assessing when it’s time to reorder. Look for platforms that alert you when you’re almost out of stock and identify your best-selling menu items. This way, you properly time your inventory purchases and buy the ingredients likeliest to lead to higher profits.

Mileage Tracking

When your employees pay for gas out of pocket as they drive on delivery or errand runs for your restaurant, they incur tax-deductible expenses. Restaurant accounting software mileage trackers automatically determine the distances your employees have driven and calculate your expenses accordingly. They then record these expenses in your accounting software to facilitate your tax reporting and filing.

Mobile Apps

Mileage tracking is among the many features that restaurant accounting software mobile apps facilitate. Look for the ability to use other key features within a mobile app, like financial reporting and bill pay. This way, you can cover your restaurant’s needs whether you’re in the kitchen or on the go.

Sales Tax

Your restaurants sell goods directly to customers, so in most states, you’ll collect and remit sales tax on your offerings. Accounting software for restaurants often expedites recording these taxes for you. In most cases, you’ll still need to remit these taxes to the appropriate authorities yourself. But recording them is a major burden, and great accounting software takes it off your plate.

As with any smart business decision, you shouldn’t rush into choosing the right accounting software. That said, a long process doesn’t have to be a complicated one. With the below simple steps, you can easily get yourself from start to finish.

1. Determine your accounting software needs.

Ask yourself: Given your current business tools, do you just need finance management from your accounting software? Or do you need additional features such as inventory management and payroll processing? Based on your answers and what vendors do and don’t offer, you can move potential fits up and down your list.

2. Compare vendors and browse customer reviews.

Look into multiple accounting software vendors to find options that check most or all of your boxes. Vendors’ pricing pages are especially likely to be goldmines when it comes to this research. You’ll likely see several pricing tiers and the tools they include compared side by side. This makes it easy to see the value you’ll get for each dollar you spend, especially in terms of core restaurant accounting features.

These pricing tables, though, can’t tell you everything — reviews from the platforms’ actual customers complete the picture. Browse TrustPilot reviews to see the best of what customers say about these platforms. Then, head to each vendor’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) website, where negative reviews may be more common. Take these with a grain of salt — one bad review might not speak to a universal experience — but don’t overlook them entirely.

3. Pursue free trials and product demos.

All the best accounting software platforms for restaurants offer free trials lasting two to four weeks. We strongly recommend signing up for these free trials. During your trial period, you should use the software as though you’ve already paid for and fully implemented it. This is the easiest way to determine which of the platforms you test is best for your team.

The only reason not to pursue a free trial would be if you can only afford a pricing plan for which you forgo the trial. This is a big risk, though — we always recommend pursuing the trial. You’ll lose more money investing in a poor software fit than if you pay a bit more for a top-quality platform.

4. Review prices, features and usability to make your final decision.

The right choice for your restaurant lies at the intersection of reasonable prices, feature breadth and easy platform usage. You’ll likely have an intuitive sense of which platform best meets your needs on all these fronts. Follow that, and you’ll be all set.

Long gone are the days when manually recording your financial data was feasible. Here’s why accounting software is highly advantageous — or outright necessary — for restaurants.

• Minimal human error. Manual accounting is a wellspring of possible errors: when doing math, the brain has an unceasing ability to accidentally write down a number wrong. Computers, on the other hand, don’t make mistakes. Accounting errors are thus close to impossible when your restaurant uses accounting software.
• Affordable recordkeeping and tax payments. Hiring a professional accountant can be expensive. Using accounting software to automate your recordkeeping and tax payments is typically a more affordable alternative. In fact, some platforms come with live consulting from professional accountants. This makes it much less pricey to maintain records, pay taxes and pinpoint financial growth opportunities.
• Tax reporting, payment and compliance. The best accounting software for restaurants can calculate and record the taxes you owe. Some platforms can also file and pay your taxes on your behalf. Either way, you’ll have a much easier time budgeting for and complying with local, state and federal tax regulations. This is key to avoiding fines that could put your restaurant in the red.
• Combating fraud. With accounting software, you can more easily set and create internal controls. These are how you maintain high-integrity financial records free of fraud, which minimizes the prospect of theft and loss. The value this brings to your restaurant speaks for itself.
• More organized records. Your restaurant takes an overwhelming quantity of guest orders every day and orders high volumes of ingredients to facilitate your operations. That’s a lot of money moving in and out of your business, and accounting software stores and organizes all records of it. Plus, it does so more consistently and efficiently than any manual system. There’s no better way to keep your finances in order.