When I started my first cafe, I had no idea that there would be others to follow. I was just living out my dream, but that dream exploded in so many positive ways. I had a small staff of six people, and I handled the accounting, inventory, and scheduling as well as worked in the kitchen and front. The cafe became so popular that I opened up seven more within two years. I knew after my second one though that I needed to look at professional cafe accountants because handling one cafe was hard enough but handling more than that was just impossible for me.
I considered hiring a bookkeeper to just come in and handle this full time. I figured with seven cafes open, there would be plenty of work. Now there was, but I discovered with the person that I hired that they were not exactly efficient. I needed someone who was going to put my accounting needs first rather than try and fill forty hours of work time. That is when I started thinking outside the box. I realized that if this person was looking for ways to fill up 40 hours of work, then I did not need a full time bookkeeper.
I had heard about a company that does this without coming into the cafe, and that intrigued me. I understand how cloud computing works, and I realized that this would be the perfect compromise. I had an interview with this accounting company, and I liked everything they presented. I am thrilled with their accounting practices, and I am paying much less than what I was to a full time bookkeeper. I am paying for the work they do, and not a penny more. It really is the best solution for this small cafe empire that I am building now.