Food margin you cannot see
If GP is a feeling, wastage is a business model.
Hospitality
Hospitality numbers that keep up with a Saturday night, not a month later.
Tips, tronc, food margin, VAT and payroll that does not miss a shift pattern.
Hospitality
Restaurants & Hotels
- The tell
- Tronc · covers · food margin
- Software
- Xero · Sage · QB · FreeAgent
- Reply
- Same day before 4pm
What we usually fix
- Food margin you cannot see
- Tips and tronc
- A week that never closes
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What this sector actually gets wrong
Restaurants and hotels do not fail because the food was only quite good. They fail because cash, tips, VAT and rotas were nobody’s job. We act for independents and small groups in Lancashire and Cheshire who need books that close weekly and a payroll that understands hospitality.
Tips and tronc
The tax treatment has moved. Getting it wrong is a payroll problem and a staff problem.
A week that never closes
Z-reads, delivery apps and cash still living in three places.
You probably need this if
The restaurants, pubs and hotels who call us
- Food GP is a feeling
- Tips and tronc have not been reviewed under the current rules
- Delivery apps, EPOS and cash still live in three places
- Labour % is only visible after payday
Restaurants & Hotels
Who we act for
Independents
One site, three channels, a Saturday that has to close on Monday.
Small groups
Each door visible, then a consolidate, before the second site goes blind.
Hotels and rooms
VAT on the mix of stay, food and events.
What sits in the monthly fee.
4 lines, all included
- Weekly flash
- Sales, GP, labour %. Enough to change the specials board.
- Hospitality payroll
- Tips, tronc, NLW and student staff: filed correctly.
- VAT on the real mix
- Dine-in, takeaway, rooms, events. The rate is not always 20%.
- Year end without a crate
- Because the year was already in the software.
Then the calendar takes over.
- 01
Connect EPOS and bank
Delivery apps included. No more ‘just the Stripe payout’.
- 02
Set the flash
The three numbers the GM will actually look at.
- 03
Stay in the week
We chase missing Z-reads. You run service.
From the files
They dropped the worst channel and lifted GP two points in a quarter.
What actually happened
An independent in East Lancashire with three delivery apps
We rebuilt the sales mix, separated commission, and put labour % next to covers.
In plain English
Restaurants & Hotels accounting, written properly
Hospitality fails on cash, not on the specials board
Restaurants and hotels in Lancashire and Cheshire need books that close with the week: Z-reads, delivery commission, the real VAT mix, and a payroll that understands split shifts and the National Living Wage. We connect EPOS and the bank, then give the GM three numbers they will actually look at.
Tronc is a payroll problem and a staff problem
The tax treatment of tips has moved. Getting it wrong is how you buy two conversations you did not want. We set up or review the arrangement, file PAYE correctly, and keep dine-in, takeaway and rooms on the rates that apply, not a blanket 20%.
Restaurants & Hotels questions
Yes. We set up or review the arrangement so tips are taxed the way the current rules require.
Payroll is built around your rota, not a 9–5 template.
We keep each site visible, then consolidate. Opening a second door is how hospitality goes blind.
Both offices
One number. Whichever desk you land on.
01925 670289Or message us on WhatsApp- Warrington
- Ragan House, 674 Knutsford Road, WA4 1JHMap
info@countplus.co.uk
Monday–Friday, 9:00–17:00. Same-day response before 4pm.
Write to a human
Accounts, tax or consultancy. Pick a topic.
Countplus Accounting, since 2019
Talk to an accountant who already works with restaurants, pubs and hotels.
A monthly number in a minute, or a conversation with the person who would do the work.
Get a quote, or call the desk on 01925 670289, Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. Write before 4pm and a named person answers the same day.