Who we help · Restaurants
Bookkeeping for Twin Cities restaurants and cafés.
When you’re closing the kitchen at 11pm, the last thing you want is a stack of vendor invoices and a sales-tax return split across three rates. We handle the books so you can run the floor.
The taxes a Twin Cities restaurant actually touches
More rates than a register can guess.
6.875%
Minnesota state sales tax on prepared food
+2.5%
Liquor gross-receipts tax, on top of state rate
+3% / +3%
Downtown Minneapolis restaurant & liquor taxes
Form 8027
Annual IRS tip report — tips allocated under 8%
Rates per the Minnesota Department of Revenue and IRS. Liquor and downtown Minneapolis taxes apply on top of the state rate; exact local rates depend on your address.
Tips the IRS can follow.
Customary tipping plus more than 10 staff means Form 8027 every year. We keep POS and payroll tied together so reported tips, gross receipts, and any 8% allocation line up before the form is due.
Every sale at its right rate.
Food, alcohol, and exempt grocery-style items each carry a different tax — and downtown locations carry more. We set your point-of-sale up so the right tax rings on the right item and the returns match.
Vendors reconciled, food cost real.
Sysco, Restaurant Depot, produce, liquor — we match card and ACH activity to the actual invoices across 30+ accounts, so nothing is double-paid and your cost of goods is a number you can trust.
What piles up — and what we do about it
Your worry, then our answer.
“Which tax rings on what?”
Prepared food, alcohol, and exempt grocery items are each taxed differently — and downtown Minneapolis adds 3% restaurant and 3% liquor taxes of its own.
How we handle it
We set your POS up so the right rate hits the right item, and we file each return — including the 2.5% liquor gross-receipts tax — on time.
“The IRS wants a tip report?”
If tipping is customary and you normally have more than 10 staff, you owe Form 8027 every year, with tips allocated whenever reported tips fall under 8% of sales.
How we handle it
We tie POS and payroll together so reported tips, gross receipts, and any allocation are reconciled long before the filing deadline.
“Did we pay Sysco twice?”
Thirty-plus vendor accounts — Sysco, Restaurant Depot, produce, liquor — paid by a mix of card and ACH, are where double-payments and bad food-cost numbers hide.
How we handle it
We reconcile every account to the actual invoices each month, so nothing is paid twice and your cost of goods is a number you can trust.
“Why was this month tight?”
A single revenue total can’t tell you that lunch is carrying you while late-night is bleeding.
How we handle it
We structure your P&L by daypart and category, so you can see which shifts and which menu items actually have margin.
Which package fits
Most restaurants owners we work with start with Books + Tax.
Restaurants run on margin, and the difference between making it and not making it is usually buried in 30 vendor accounts and a sales-tax return that's split across three rates. Books + Tax keeps the same person on both sides — the bookkeeping you live in monthly and the return that closes the year — so nothing gets lost in handoff.
Books + Tax
Full-year bookkeeping plus annual tax filing — one person, one bill.
Often paired with
Related services on the menu.
Bookkeeping
Clean books behind the return.
Monthly bookkeeping that ties to the business return — the same person watching both, no end-of-year surprises.
ExploreBusiness tax returns
The return that closes the year.
Schedule C, 1120-S, 1065, or 1120 — filed by the same person who kept your books all year.
ExploreTax planning
Plan in October, file in March.
Year-end planning, S-Corp election analysis, retirement strategy, and owner-pay timing — before the year closes.
ExploreWhat clients say
Five stars, 113 times.
Real clients across the Twin Cities. Real engagements, real returns filed — every review on our public Birdeye profile.
Same person, every year.
Ready to talk about your restaurants books?
Email us — we’ll reply within a day and set up a free 30-min call when it works for both of us. No pressure. We’ll figure out whether we’re a fit.