Bookkeeping
Bookkeeping for Restaurants and Cafés in Dubai
We reconcile every day's takings to the card settlements, the cash and the delivery apps, and show you food cost before the month is over.
- Daily POS sales tied to card, cash and delivery payouts
- Food cost percentage reported every month
- Delivery app commissions booked with their VAT
Who this is for
- Your POS says one thingAnd the bank says another, every single day.
- Half your orders come through delivery appsAnd their weekly payouts arrive net of everything.
- You do not know your food costUntil the accountant tells you at year-end.
- You run more than one outletAnd cannot tell which one makes money.
What is included
- Daily sales from your POS posted and reconciled
- Card settlements matched, with bank fees recorded
- Cash deposits matched to the cash the POS says was taken
- Delivery app payouts split into sales, commission and VAT
- Supplier invoices booked and food cost calculated
- Staff tips held as a liability, not recorded as sales
- Profit and loss by outlet, plus VAT-ready monthly books
Why restaurant books drift
A restaurant takes money four ways at once: card, cash, delivery apps and sometimes vouchers. Each settles on a different day, net of a different fee. If the books only look at the bank, sales are never complete.
The fix is a daily reconciliation. The POS end-of-day report is the starting point, and every payment method must be traced to where the money actually landed.
Tips deserve their own line. Money collected for staff and paid out to them should sit in a liability account until it is paid, not in sales, or your revenue and your VAT base both look bigger than they are.
A worked example: one day's takings
A café's end-of-day report shows AED 18,400 of sales including VAT.
- Card: AED 12,900. The bank settles AED 12,642 the next day, after fees of AED 258.
- Cash: AED 2,300, deposited two days later.
- Delivery app: AED 3,200. With a commission of, say, 25% (AED 800) plus AED 40 VAT, the weekly payout includes AED 2,360 for this day.
Three amounts land on three different days, none of them equal to the sales. Without a daily match, a missing card batch or a short cash deposit hides inside the month.
Food cost follows from the same books. Purchases of AED 5,600 against food sales of AED 17,524 before VAT is a food cost of about 32%. Seen weekly, a rising number is a supplier price or a wastage problem you can still fix.
The mistake we see most
Booking delivery app payouts as sales.
It hides the commission, which is often the biggest cost after food and staff, and it loses the VAT on that commission that you could have recovered. Book the gross sale, then the commission, then the payout.
How it works
- Send one weekPOS reports, bank statements and delivery app statements.
- Free reviewWe reconcile one day so you can see where the money goes.
- Fixed monthly quoteBased on outlets, payment channels and suppliers.
- Monthly close with food costEach close pack shows food cost and profit by outlet.
Bookkeeping for Restaurants and Cafés in Dubai — questions we get asked
Which POS systems can you work with?
Any system that exports an end-of-day sales report, including the POS platforms common in Dubai. Where the POS connects directly to your accounting software, we use the link.
Do delivery app commissions carry VAT?
Yes. The platform's commission is a separate supply to you with 5% VAT, which a VAT-registered restaurant can recover with the platform's tax invoice.
How should tips be recorded?
Tips collected for staff and passed on in full belong in a liability account until they are paid out, not in your sales.
Can you report profit by outlet?
Yes. Each outlet gets its own tracking, so the close pack shows sales, food cost and profit for each one.
Do you run payroll for restaurant staff?
Yes, including WPS files, through our payroll and WPS service.
Book your free compliance review
Fifteen minutes, no charge, and you leave with a written summary of where you stand whether or not you engage us.
