Restaurant accountant in London, Ontario
From the bars and patios of Richmond Row to family restaurants in Byron and roadside diners off the 401, London, Ontario kitchens run on thin margins, large payrolls and a lot of small transactions. EverStone keeps the books, payroll and tax for London restaurants remotely, at a fixed monthly fee.
Quick answer: A London, Ontario restaurant has to reconcile its POS to its deposits every day and run tips through payroll according to who controls them. It also has to watch food and beverage cost as a percentage of sales, and charge 13% HST on nearly everything on the menu. EverStone handles the books, payroll, HST and corporate return at a fixed fee agreed up front. Published fees start at $300 a month for bookkeeping and $100 for a personal return.
Food cost is the number that decides the year
A restaurant can be full every night and still lose money if food and beverage cost drift a few points. Seeing that in time means supplier invoices coded to food, beverage and liquor separately, a regular inventory count of the walk-in, the bar and dry storage, and a cost percentage calculated each period rather than once a year. When the numbers move, the question is whether it was prices, portions, waste or something walking out the back door, and the books should let you answer it. The year-end count also moves taxable income directly, so it is done carefully on the last night of the year.
Tips, payroll and who controls them
How tips are handled decides how they are taxed. Tips the employer collects and distributes — card tips paid out through payroll, or a pool the business divides — are controlled tips: they go through payroll with income tax, CPP and EI deducted, and appear on the T4. Tips a customer hands straight to a server are direct tips: they do not go through payroll, but the server still reports them as income. Ontario’s Employment Standards Act separately limits what an employer may withhold from or share out of tips. Getting the setup right once avoids a payroll audit finding years later. Tip reporting and payroll covers the detail.
POS, deposits and the daily reconciliation
Every night the POS says what was sold. The bank says what arrived: card batches a day or two later, cash when someone takes the deposit in, delivery app payouts net of their commission a week later. Reconciling those every day, not every quarter, catches a short deposit or a missed batch while anyone still remembers the shift. Delivery app sales should be recorded at the full menu price with the commission as an expense, so sales, HST and margins are all correct. A consistent cash-over-and-short account shows patterns that a single month hides.
HST on meals and what is on the menu
Restaurant meals and drinks carry 13% HST, and the HST you pay on food supplies that are taxable, equipment, rent, repairs and delivery app commissions comes back as input tax credits. Many basic groceries are zero-rated when you buy them, so there is no HST on those invoices to claim. See input tax credits for what qualifies. A café or bakery that sells some items to take away has to check how each one is treated, because the answer can change with the item and how it is sold. Your filing period depends on revenue, and a busy room can pass $1.5 million sooner than the owner expects, which moves the return to quarterly.
Leaseholds, equipment and the renovation
A restaurant fit-out is often the largest cheque the owner ever writes. Improvements to a leased space are written off over the lease term rather than all at once, kitchen equipment goes into its own capital cost allowance class, and smaller items may qualify as small tools. When you renovate or move, the unclaimed balance of the old improvements has to be dealt with. Splitting the contractor’s invoice into its parts at the time of the build is much easier than reconstructing it later.
Campus terms, patio season and cash flow
London’s restaurant year has its own shape. When Western and Fanshawe students leave in late spring, rooms near campus and downtown go quiet just as patios elsewhere fill up. Rent, loan payments and HST remittances do not follow that curve. A monthly view of cash against the fixed obligations — payroll remittances, the HST balance, rent — makes the slow months predictable rather than a surprise. It is also the first thing a lender asks to see when you want to open a second location. For wider cash planning, see cash flow management.
What EverStone handles for you
One CPA and one fixed fee. Monthly bookkeeping starts at $300 a month with the HST return included; see what it costs for the rest.
- Daily POS, deposit and delivery app reconciliation
- Food, beverage and liquor cost reported each period
- Payroll with tips handled correctly, remittances and T4s
- HST returns with every input tax credit claimed
- Leasehold and equipment schedules
- T2 corporate return and year-end statements
Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, an Abbotsford CPA firm working with small businesses and incorporated contractors across the Fraser Valley and Canada. Updated September 2026. About the firm · Book a free consult
What a restaurant has to get right
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Tips | Who controls them decides whether they run through payroll |
| Food and beverage cost | The percentage the whole operation is managed against |
| Daily reconciliation | POS, card batches, cash and delivery payouts matched every day |
| Payroll | High headcount and turnover make remittances and T4s the heaviest admin |
| Sales tax where you operate | 13% HST, a single registration and a single return |
Source: Restaurant and hospitality accounting. General information, not advice.
London accounting for restaurants and hospitality businesses FAQ
Do tips go through payroll?+
How should delivery app sales be recorded?+
How often should we count inventory?+
How are renovations written off?+
We run two locations. How should the books work?+
What if the CRA reviews our cash sales?+
Do you work with restaurants outside London?+
Can you take over books that are behind?+
What does an accountant cost for a London restaurant business?+
Do you work with businesses outside London itself?+
Related services and local guides
Nearby cities, the rest of what we do for London businesses, and the reference pages behind this one.
Running a restaurant in London, Ontario?
One CPA for daily sales, tips, food cost, HST and the corporate return. Fixed fee, fully online. Book a free consult.
Remote restaurant accounting from Abbotsford
EverStone is a sole practitioner CPA firm at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, serving London, Ontario restaurants entirely online. There is no London office and no local staff. Meetings are held by video or phone before service, POS reports and supplier invoices arrive through a secure upload link or straight from your systems, and nobody has to leave the kitchen for an appointment.
Talk to a CPA about this
One Chartered Professional Accountant, start to finish. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before any work begins, and no obligation from a first conversation.
