The situation
Megan opened Juniper Table on Main Street in 2018. By 2022 sales had doubled, but her books were kept by a part-time bookkeeper who closed each month about 90 days late. Payroll ran through a basic app that didn’t track tips correctly.
Megan didn’t know her food cost until the quarter was over, and she had never claimed the federal credit for the payroll taxes she paid on her staff’s tips.
What we did
We moved the books and payroll to us in two weeks, then worked through three things in order.
- Caught up and reconciled 14 months of books, then closed every month by the 10th.
- Moved payroll to Gusto with tip reporting set up correctly for every server and bartender.
- Claimed the FICA tip credit for the current year and amended the two prior years.
- Added a one-page weekly report with sales, labor and food cost as a percentage of sales.
The results
The tip credit and the amended returns brought back $41,200 in the first year. Megan now sees her prime cost every Monday and adjusted the schedule and two menu prices within the first month.
“I used to find out how a month went in the middle of the next quarter. Now I know every Monday, and the tip credit alone paid for Quantro several times over.”
