Running a café, coffee shop or restaurant is hard work. Apart from the usual small business compliance issues of GST, BAS, PAYG and superannuation you have to contend with food handling regulations and council permits. The hospitality industry is also characterised by irregular trading hours, erratic and seasonal trade and stiff competition. The industry is littered with casual employees who bring other issues with them and to top it off, you are on your feet all day.
Over the years, David Cooper and his team at Certum have mentored owners of numerous cafés, coffee shops and sandwich bars through the varius stages of their business life cycle, from start up right through to sale. You’ll find we offer hospitality clients a full ‘menu’ of accounting, tax and business development services and we now boast a significant base of clients who run cafes, coffee shops, sandwich bars and take away food outlets. Our experience and knowledge with clients in hospitality has seen the industry become a real niche within our accounting practice.
Thinking of Starting a Café, Coffee Shop or Restaurant
We are recognised by our clients and peers as a business start-up specialist. If you are looking to open a coffee shop, café or sandwich bar there are numerous issues to consider including site selection, tax registrations, insurances, the lease of the premises and health regulations. We can assist you in all of these areas plus provide advice on HR matters, payroll and the preparation of a business plan. On an operational level, we understand what is required for a successful opening and we can even assist you in executing the successful launch of your café, coffee shop or sandwich bar.
We’ll advise you on the most appropriate tax structure for your business and help you select the most suitable software for your business taking into account your business needs and level of accounting skill. Too many retailers make the mistake of buying sophisticated ‘double entry’ accounting programs that are beyond their needs and level of accounting skill. The result is generally financial records that are best described as a ‘computerised shoebox’. This leads to frustration and excessive accounting and bookkeeping fees. Our brief includes helping you save money and it starts with the right business structure and accounting software.
Through our affiliate partners we can also help you source funds to finance your purchase, shop fit out, equipment, franchise fee, motor vehicle or van. Menu pricing is absolutely vital to the success of your café or sandwich shop and we can help you do some price modelling so you know your break even point and understand the financial implications of price increases by your suppliers. If you run a café, coffee shop or fast food outlet we can help you compare your business performance against industry benchmarks so you know what is working in your business and what needs working on.
To help our hospitality clients we developed a range of spreadsheets and tools including a comprehensive start up expense checklist. It will help you identify every possible start up cost broken down into categories including leasehold improvements, IT, marketing, capital equipment, furniture & fittings, professional services, licenses and permits, initial stock and working capital. These figures then automatically feed into an integrated cash flow budget to help you quantify your finance requirements and they can also tuck neatly into your business plan.
Want to Grow Your Business?
We believe you want to grow your business, profits and personal wealth. For that reason we strive to help you ‘know your numbers’ and that includes understanding the 4 Ways to Grow Your Business. Once you understand the key profit drivers in your business we can talk you through profit improvement strategies. Not only that, we can quantify the profit improvement potential in your business.
Our business advisors offer cafe, sandwich shops and coffee shop owners a range of tailored business solutions including:
- Start-Up Business Advice for Cafes, Restaurant and Coffee Shops
- Advice regarding the Purchase or Sale of your Café, Restaurant or Coffee Shop
- Spreadsheets and Tools including a Start Up Expense Checklist and Pricing Calculator
- Advice and Establishment of Your Business Structure taking into account issues like Asset Protection, Tax Minimisation and Future Discount Capital Gains Tax Concessions
- Business Registrations including ABN, TFN, GST, WorkCover etc.
- Preparation of Business Plans, Cash Flow Forecasts and Profit Projections
- Accounting Software Selection and Training – Point of Sale, Bookkeeping & Payroll including Xero and Hub Doc.
- Site Location and Advice Regarding your Retail Tenancy Lease
- Preparation of Finance Applications & Bank Submissions
- Preparation and Analysis of Financial Statements
- Bookkeeping and Payroll Services
- Costing of Menu Items
- Income Tax Returns and Tax Planning Strategies
- Industry Benchmarking and KPI Management
- Personal Financial Planning & Wealth Creation Strategies
- Business & Risk Insurances including Income Protection and Life Insurance
- Vehicle, Equipment and Shop Fit Out Finance (Chattel Mortgage, Lease etc.)
- Monitoring and Controlling Labour Costs
- Advice regarding Claiming Motor Vehicle Costs
- Business Succession Planning
We are not your typical accounting firm. We pride ourselves on being business and profit builders who provide a full range of accounting, tax and business coaching services to owners of cafés, sandwich bars and coffee shops all around Australia. If you are starting out or want to give your shop more ‘bite’, call us today on (03) 52 779 600.