Accounting and bookkeeping for restaurants, with food and labor cost visible
Cost tracking, tip payroll, and sales tax.
- Food and labor cost tracked
- Tip payroll handled
- Sales tax on food filed
- One firm, books and tax return
- Healthcare
- Insurance
- Real Estate
- Professional Services
- Retail
Sound familiar?
On the thinnest margins in business, you cannot fly blind
Two numbers decide whether a restaurant survives: food cost and labor cost. If the books lag, both drift for weeks before anyone notices the margin is gone, and by then the month is lost. Reconciled monthly books that track food and labor cost against sales are not a luxury here, they are the early-warning system, and a general bookkeeper who closes the month late cannot give you one in time to act.
On top of the cost tracking sit two things that punish restaurants specifically. Payroll is tipped, which makes withholding, reporting, and the year-end forms far more complicated than a normal shop, and turnover keeps it moving. And sales tax on prepared food has to be filed right and on time. When the books are behind and payroll is patched together, a tip-reporting problem or a late sales tax period surfaces as a penalty, not a heads-up.
The operators who come to us want cost, tips, and sales tax handled by a firm that understands how tight and how fast a restaurant actually runs.
Our approach
Books that keep cost visible, tips and sales tax handled
At Voss, a restaurant starts with the books: reconciled monthly, tracking food cost and labor cost against sales, so a margin problem surfaces this week instead of next quarter. Across multiple locations, they are kept together so you see the group and each site rather than a blur.
On that foundation, the parts a general firm gets wrong get handled: payroll built for tipped employees, including the reporting and year-end forms, with FICA tip credit planning where it applies so you are not overpaying tax on tips your staff earned, and Mississippi sales tax on prepared food filed on our calendar. The same firm that keeps the books signs the tax return.
Food and labor cost are reconciled against sales monthly, so a margin problem surfaces this week, not next quarter.
Reporting, withholding, and year-end forms for tipped staff are handled correctly, not patched.
A flat arrangement, in writing, in an engagement letter you sign first.
The Clean Books Standard
Most firms go silent May through January, then scramble February through April. We run the opposite way — a clean file isn’t an accident, it’s a standard we hold every month.
We move your file and clean it up.
Sign one authorization and we pull your prior returns, schedules, and books from your old firm. The switch happens in the background.
- Prior-year return reviewed for missed deductions
- Every account reconciled, books brought current
- Live within 30–60 days of signing
We project your tax bill before April.
When your year calls for it, we run a full projection before year-end, so you know what you’ll owe with months to plan, not days, and weigh the tax impact of big decisions first.
- Available for Projection Meetings
- Quarterly federal & Mississippi estimates
- No scrambling for cash nobody warned you about
One firm, every filing, year-round.
Business return, personal return, payroll, sales tax, the Mississippi Department of Revenue (MS DOR), the IRS — all under one roof, all signed by a credentialed CPA. A letter shows up, we handle it.
- A credentialed CPA on the line, not a call center
- Monthly financials hit your inbox
- IRS & MS DOR letters handled by the firm
What that means for you.
Because food and labor cost are tracked against sales monthly, a drift shows up while you can still fix it.
Because the locations are kept together, you see the group and each site instead of one blended number.
Because tip reporting and year-end forms are handled correctly, the exposure that surfaces in an audit stops being yours to worry about.
Because the FICA tip credit gets applied where it fits, tax you did not have to pay on tips gets recovered.
Because sales tax on food runs on our calendar, a late period stops being a way to get penalized.
Because payroll, sales tax, books, and the tax return sit together, the numbers reconcile.
Filers who stopped hoping someone checked the work.
A few words from Pine Belt individuals and owners who moved their returns to Voss & Associates.
“I’ve been a client for 25 years. Always received prompt professional service. I would recommend this firm to anyone.”
Client for 25 years
“As a business owner, they have always met my needs and provided great service and direction. I have never once considered another firm. This one is the best!”
Business owner
“Ric and his team have been keeping our business books for several years. They have done an excellent job for us, and are always available for us and professional.”
Bookkeeping client
Before you call
What operators ask first
On the thinnest margins in business, the fair first question is whether this is even worth it. It is, and here is why: books that catch a food or labor cost problem early tend to save more in a single month than the engagement costs, because on your margins a few points of drift is the whole month. The catch is speed, the numbers have to close fast enough to act on, and that is exactly what we keep pace with.
The next is the stuff that quietly carries penalties: tipped payroll and sales tax on food. Both are handled correctly and on our calendar, and where the FICA tip credit applies, it can offset real tax on tips your staff earned.
And if you run more than one location, we keep them together so you see the group and each site clearly, instead of trying to read one blended number.
Zero pressure. Ever.
Your consultation is a real conversation with a CPA, not a sales pitch. If Voss isn’t the right fit for your business, we’ll tell you on the call and point you toward a firm that is. No contracts to trap you, no surprise invoices, and every return signed by a credentialed CPA who stands behind the work.
Month to month, stay because it works.
Your pricing discussed up front.
Received a tax letter on our work? We handle it.
The questions we hear most.
Hand your return to a CPA who'll still know it next year.
A credentialed CPA who signs the work, and answers when your decisions can’t wait for spring. Start with a no-cost Fit Conversation.