Accounting built around daily takings, food cost and delivery
Tills, delivery platforms and stock reconciled every day — so you know what a service actually made, while you can still do something about it.
- Daily sales reconciled
- Food cost by outlet
500+ Businesses
Supported across the UAE
Single & Multi-outlet
One kitchen or fifteen
Delivery platforms
Payouts matched back to orders
Dedicated Advisor
One person who knows your outlets
Three things that break a restaurant’s books
Not general accounting with a till bolted on. These are the places F&B businesses actually lose money and fail reviews.
Money that arrives late, and net
The customer pays today. The platform pays you next week, in one lump, for hundreds of orders, with its commission already taken out. Book what lands in the bank and your revenue is whatever the platform decided to send.
Stock that is eaten, spilled and comped
Wastage, staff meals and manager comps are real cost and leave no invoice behind them. A kitchen that is never counted has a food cost nobody can defend — and it is always worse than the guess.
A day that is never closed
Cash drawer, card settlement, delivery orders and voids have to agree by the next morning. Left for month-end, nobody can remember which service the difference came from, and it becomes a write-off.
Where AED 100 of a delivery order actually goes
A customer pays AED 100 on a delivery app. This is what is left by the time it reaches you — and what you still owe on it.
VAT to the FTA
A menu price shown to a customer must already include VAT, so the 5% is inside the AED 100, not on top of it.
Platform commission
Charged on the value of the order. It is a separate supply to you, invoiced with its own VAT — which you recover as input tax if you book it properly.
Food cost
What the dish cost to put on the plate, before anything is wasted, comped or eaten by the team.
Everything else
Kitchen and floor wages, rent, gas, power, packaging, marketing — and whatever profit is meant to be left after them.
The platform transfers you roughly AED 70. Your VAT is calculated on the full AED 100 the customer paid — not on the net amount that reached your account. Restaurants that file off the bank statement under-declare every single month.
A worked example on a 30% commission and a 28% food cost, not a quote. Commission and food cost vary by platform, brand and menu.
“A restaurant almost never closes because of the menu. It closes because of four points of food cost that nobody was counting.”
Ripple Accounting · DubaiThe three numbers a restaurant lives on
Everything else on a restaurant P&L is a consequence of these. They are percentages of sales, and they should be in front of you every week.
of net sales
What the food on the plate costs, counted properly — opening stock plus purchases minus closing stock, with wastage, comps and staff meals inside it rather than quietly outside.
of net sales
Kitchen and floor together, with accommodation, visas and end-of-service accrued rather than felt as a shock in the month somebody leaves.
food + labour, of net sales
The one number that decides whether rent, power and everything else can be paid. Past roughly two-thirds of sales, a restaurant is usually working for its suppliers and its landlord.
Typical operating ranges for UAE full-service restaurants, not rules. A quick-service brand, a café and a fine-dining room all sit in different places — what matters is knowing yours and watching it move.
The whole cycle, from the till to the filed return
Daily sales reconciliation
POS takings, card settlement, cash banked and delivery orders tied out for every service — so a difference is found the next morning, not the next quarter.
Delivery platform payouts
Each remittance matched back to the orders behind it, with commission booked as its own cost and its input VAT recovered instead of lost inside a net figure.
Food cost and wastage
Opening stock, purchases, wastage, staff meals and closing stock counted on one method — per outlet, every period, so the percentage means something.
Outlet-level P&L
Every branch read on the same basis, so you can tell a weak site from a weak month — and see which one is carrying the others.
Payroll, tips and service charge
Wages, gratuities and end-of-service handled properly. A service charge added to the bill is part of what the customer paid for the meal, so it carries VAT — a common and expensive miss.
VAT and Corporate Tax
Returns filed inside the 28-day window on the gross value of what was sold, and Corporate Tax at 9% above AED 375,000 calculated on records that stand up to a question.
Four steps, then it runs
Outlet and till review
We look at how each site records a day — POS, cash, platforms, stock — and where the record already breaks.
Set the daily close
One short routine your managers can finish before they go home, written down, so every outlet closes a day the same way.
Monthly close by outlet
Stock counted, platform payouts matched, wastage and comps posted, VAT reconciled — per site, with the documents filed against each entry.
Returns and reporting
VAT filed inside the 28-day window, and a weekly view of food cost, labour and prime cost you can act on.
Common questions from UAE restaurants
Do I pay VAT on the whole delivery order or on what the platform pays me?+
On the whole order. The sale is to the customer at the price they paid, so that is the value you account for. The platform’s commission is a separate supply to you, and it comes with its own tax invoice — you claim that VAT back as input tax. Filing off the net payout is the single most common F&B error we correct, and it under-declares every month it is done.
Are my menu prices supposed to include VAT?+
Yes. A price displayed to a consumer must be VAT-inclusive, so the 5% is already inside the number on the menu rather than added at the till. That is why AED 100 of sales is AED 95.24 of revenue and AED 4.76 of VAT, not AED 100 and AED 5.
Is the service charge on the bill subject to VAT?+
If it is added to the bill it forms part of the consideration for the meal, so yes — it is taxed with everything else. It also needs its own trail through payroll if it is distributed to staff. A municipality fee, where one applies, is a different thing again: it is not VAT and it is not yours, and it belongs on its own line rather than buried in sales.
My food cost is a different number every month. Is that normal?+
Movement is normal; a number that jumps three or four points and back is not. It is nearly always uncounted closing stock, wastage and staff meals that were never posted, or purchases sitting in the wrong period. A real count on a fixed date, with one written method, usually settles it inside two months.
When does a restaurant have to register for VAT?+
Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies pass AED 375,000 in the previous twelve months, and voluntary from AED 187,500. For a busy single outlet that threshold arrives faster than owners expect — it is turnover, not profit.
Talk to someone who has seen your books before
Thirty minutes, a look at how your tills, platforms and stock are recorded, and an honest view of what is missing.
- Free first consultation
- No obligation
- Response within 24 hours