As a restaurant owner, having the right tools to measure your business’s financial performance is critical to your success. Accordingly, the best restaurant accounting software can support your restaurant’s viability by tracking your inventory, expenses, and revenue, automating your accounts payable process, providing POS integration, and scheduling and paying employees.
Summary
- Restaurant365: Best for automating accounts payable.
- Xero: Best for new restaurants.
- MarginEdge: Best for food cost management.
- Food Service Ace: Best for catering and food delivery restaurants.
- QuickBooks Online: Best for restaurants with an e-commerce presence.
- Wave: Best for restaurants on a budget.
Comparison Table
| Software | Pricing | Inventory Tracking | Payroll | POS Integration |
| Restaurant365 | Starts at $435/month per location | Yes | Yes, as an add-on | Yes |
| Xero | The first 30 days are free, then plans start at $13/month | Yes | Yes, as an add-on | Yes |
| MarginEdge | $300/month per location when billed annually | Yes | No | Yes |
| Food Service Ace | The cost is dependent on services and number of locations. | Yes | No | Yes |
| QuickBooks Online | Free 30-day trial, 50% off for first three months, then plans start at $30/month | Yes, for top-tier plans | Yes, as an add-on | Yes |
| Wave | Free | No | Yes, as an add-on | Yes, although it is through a third-party service |
Best Accounting Software for Restaurants
Whether you are running a small restaurant on a budget or a franchise owner with multiple stores, we’ve rounded up some of the best restaurant accounting software to help your business succeed.
Restaurant365
Restaurant365 provides comprehensive accounting software that can meet your needs no matter the size of your business. It offers POS integration, general ledger connection, accounts payable automation, and reporting tools, helping you to forecast accurately and improve your profits.
Pros
- Saves time with automated accounts payable tools
- Ability to grow with you as you scale, as it offers accounting solutions for small businesses, restaurants with multiple locations, and franchises
- Allows you to upload invoices through your mobile device
Cons
- No monthly billing options
- Offers email, chat, and phone support but customer service representatives are not available 24/7
- Cost can add up for owners of restaurants in multiple locations
Top Features
Restaurant365’s main features include a general ledger, bank reconciliation, budgeting tools, and financial reporting. In addition, it provides invoice capture, approval, and payments.
Cost
Restaurant365’s accounting software is billed quarterly at $435 per month per location for its essential package. The professional package starts at $635 per month, and corporate restaurants can get enterprise and franchise pricing with Restaurant365’s custom pricing plan.
Why consider?
One of Restaurant365’s best features is its accounts payable automation service. With automation, you can upload invoices via your mobile device, and automatically approve customized workflows by location, vendor, category, or amount. In fact, you can do away with paper checks entirely! Furthermore, you can even earn rebates on payments. Because this software automatically tracks price fluctuations on vendor invoices, you don’t have to manually audit each invoice.
Xero
Xero offers several features that can help you to track your restaurant’s performance, including bank reconciliation and project tracking tools, as well as financial reports and analytics.
Pros
- Cost-effective plan for small restaurants
- Bank reconciliation service that makes it easy to confirm transactions
- Expense management tools enable you to submit and reimburse employee expense claims
Cons
- Adding payroll onto your plan starts at $40/month, and can get pricey depending on the size of your staff
- Xero’s cheapest plan only allows you to enter five bills and 20 invoices
- No annual payment option
Top Features
Does your restaurant order supplies from international vendors? Xero makes it simple to conduct transactions in over 160 currencies. This software enables you to reconcile bank activity, capture data with Hubdoc, track inventory, and easily accept payments online.
Cost
Xero offers a free 30-day trial. Plans range from $13-$70/month.
Why consider?
Xero is a well-rounded option to consider for your restaurant accounting software needs. It provides invoicing, bill payment, project tracking, and financial reporting tools which can all help to increase your profit margins.
MarginEdge
MarginEdge has one flat fee for all businesses: it costs $330/month per location. However, you can get a 10% discount for paying annually. MarginEdge offers a food cost management system that can help you to track your budget, analyze your daily sales and labor costs, and monitor product pricing.
Pros
- When billed annually, MarginEdge costs $10/day per location
- Unlimited invoices, billing, and customer support
- Recipe management system
Cons
- A $25/month per location API integration fee applies to users of Toast, a popular restaurant POS system
- No bookkeeping software, so you would have to integrate with another option, such as QuickBooks or Xero
- No payroll tools
Top Features
One of MarginEdge’s best features for restaurants is its recipe management feature. This feature helps you decide how much each menu item should cost, automatically updates your ingredient prices, and gives you one centralized location to store your recipes that all your restaurants can access.
Cost
MarginEdge costs $330 per month per location. However, there is a 10% discount if you pay annually.
Why consider?
MarginEdge’s recipe management tools make it easy for your staff to stay on the same page. For this reason, MarginEdge is an especially good choice if you have restaurants in multiple locations. Furthermore, MarginEdge’s kitchen display tool helps estimate plate costs and ensures all stores can access recipe changes.
Food Service Ace
Food Service Ace offers catering deposit tracking and invoices, making it a good option for restaurants that engage in frequent catering or food service events.
Pros
- 24/7 access to its help desk
- Scalable platform
- Can integrate with other accounting software
Cons
- Setup fee
- Pricing dependent on services and location
- The help desk is only open between 9 AM and 5 PM
Top Features
Food Service Ace provides automated invoicing and storage, a daily breakdown of sales based on the dining area or meal or sales type, and a general ledger.
Cost
The cost depends on the services you choose and the number of locations you have.
Why consider?
Food Service Ace simplifies purchasing food from vendors by implementing EDI software capable of reporting price changes from vendors, sending purchase orders, and letting you know about shortages or substitutions.
QuickBooks Online
Although QuickBooks Online isn’t specifically for restaurants, its simplicity and wide array of features make it a solid accounting software choice for restaurants of all types.
Pros
- Sales channels connections that can assist restaurants that have e-commerce stores
- Variety of pricing that can fit most budgets
- Can upgrade as your business scales
Cons
- No restaurant-specific features
- While QuickBooks does offer a payroll service, it can quickly add up, costing up to $160/month plus $8 per employee
- Quickbooks’ payroll service is optimized for up to 50 employees and capped at 150 employees
Top Features
Some of QuickBooks’ main features include income and expense tracking, invoicing, payments, tax deductions, financial reports, inventory tracking, and employee expenses.
Cost
QuickBooks Online offers a free 30-day trial. Plans range from $30-$100 a month, but QuickBooks does offer a 50% discount for your first three months.
Why consider?
QuickBooks Online provides a well-balanced selection of accounting tools that help you manage your finances. One of its newest features is the ability to connect sales channels, which can be helpful for restaurants that offer delivery or curbside pickup via their websites. QuickBooks Online can connect to your Amazon, Shopify, or eBay stores, which allows you to analyze income, expenses, taxes, and fees for your e-commerce stores.
Wave
Wave offers free accounting software that helps you organize your income and expenses and keep your payments and invoices all in one central location.
Pros
- Free accounting software
- Wave’s help center and chatbot are available 24/7
- Wave’s accounting reports show monthly and yearly financial trends
Cons
- Payments, payroll, and access to advisors available at additional cost
- No restaurant-specific features
- Unable to track inventory
Top Features
Wave offers unlimited income and expense tracking, partners or accountants, and bank connections.
Cost
Wave’s accounting and invoicing features are 100% free. However, payment services charge per transaction, payroll services start at $20 or $40 per month depending on your state, and personalized advisor support starts at $149/month.
Why consider?
Wave is a good choice for new restaurants or those on a budget. It provides essential accounting reports, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports that help you understand what’s working for your business and where you might want to make changes.
Our Expert Opinion
Restaurants on a budget that need simple accounting software would do best with Wave, while owners of franchises or restaurants with multiple locations should check out Restaurant365. MarginEdge is a good choice for restaurants that need to manage recipes across multiple locations, and Food Service Ace is a solid option for restaurants that engage in food delivery or catering events. Finally, Xero and QuickBooks online are effective general accounting software services that track your income and expenses.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Restaurant365, MarginEdge, and Food Service Ace are all restaurant-specific accounting software with POS integration capabilities that can help you track inventory, manage recipes, and record your income and expenses. Xero, Wave, and QuickBooks Online are general business accounting software that can help you track your cash flow with invoicing, payments, and bank reconciliation features.
Methodology
We compared highly reviewed accounting software to discover which options provided features that would benefit restaurant owners, including POS integration, payroll, and inventory tracking tools, as well as software with essential general accounting features, such as invoicing, revenue and expense tracking, and financial reporting.
