However, it doesn’t cater to varying business needs with multiple plan tiers. FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting program and the best overall payroll software. Here are 8 top software options selected for payroll and account management assistance in the restaurant business.
Local mandates may include requirements about predictable pay, regular scheduling, or employee breaks. Calculating your restaurant payroll depends on accurate data about employee hours worked and schedules. Processing payroll is a complicated but essential task for restaurant owners, operators, and managers. Calculating, distributing, and managing restaurant payroll for your employees is complex, and any errors and non-compliance with government mandates can result in costly fines or taxes for your business. A good place to start is with the first tier, Simple, at $40 a month. Simple comes with access to full-service payroll in one state, along with health benefits administration, accounting, time tracking, and employee self-service.
Paycor is easy-to-use and robust payroll software that will save restaurant managers that all-important thing called time. Gusto is a very modern payroll solution that makes your employees and managers lives easier. Gusto offers an array of key features to help you pay your restaurant staff, including unlimited and automated pay runs that boost the value through the roof.
Monthly Fee Calculator: Do You Want To Compare Costs?
A mobile-optimized approach lets new workers fill out information, acknowledge required documents, and complete all the necessary paperwork without ever touching a piece of paper. Employee turnover in restaurants is higher than most other industries—a whopping 75%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One way to reduce churn is to keep your employees engaged and satisfied.
If the company is small, a CPA or other professional firm might cost anywhere from $2,500-$5,000 depending on complexity (losses, employees working in more than one state, etc). For a larger company such as a restaurant with 10+ employees there may be an additional charge for taxes like unemployment insurance and workers’ comp if applicable. First, you must determine the hours worked by each employee from your time clock or timesheets. 7shifts users can use our 7punches time clocking system to easily integrate their time clock, schedule, and payroll, making tracking the numbers of hours worked easier.
Employers can choose to pay the credit card tips in cash or pay them with the next scheduled payroll. Out of our top 8 providers, we found FreshBooks is the best restaurant payroll software. Is the software designed to be easy to use, or will you need some finance knowledge? Other useful features include minimum wage alerts, automatic salary adjustments, and assurance that you meet minimum wage requirements. Overall, it’s considered a flexible and comprehensive payroll software program that’s affordable and easy to use.
Step 5: The final payroll payout
In fact, even experienced restaurant owners often struggle with restaurant payroll management. We chose Square Payroll as the best overall payroll software for restaurants because of its status as a product of Square’s business software suite. We love that restaurants using Square Payroll can seamlessly handle tip import, time tracking, and wage compliance within the same ecosystem. Gusto may have next-day direct deposits, but this is available only in its higher tiers. For fast processing timelines that don’t require plan upgrades, we recommend QuickBooks Payroll, as its starter Simple plan comes with next-day direct deposits (same-day for premium plans).
- Restaurant payroll software can be a lifesaver with tools that streamline processes and cut down on unnecessary stress.
- Some steps may differ slightly based on the type of restaurant you run and where it operates.
- It’s common for hackers to target small businesses because they know it’s unlikely you have top-notch security standards in place.
- Gusto can automatically file your state and federal taxes when the time comes—and sends you automated reminders if tax laws in your state happen to change.
- This means that most paychecks may fluctuate slightly from pay period to pay period.
When searching for a restaurant payroll service, you want to be sure that you’re choosing a company that can help you stay compliant with all of the restaurant-specific tax complexities. Running a restaurant, hotel or catering business is hard work and requires long hours. Add the day-to-day tasks of managing shift changes, multiple locations and job types, tips and legal requirements — and there just aren’t enough hours in the day. We can help you find time again with easy-to-use solutions, so you can focus on what matters most — your business. Thanks to tip calculation and payroll taxes, running payroll probably won’t ever be a breeze at your restaurant.
Processing restaurant payroll is not just a matter of how employees are paid, but also when they are paid, which involves setting up a payment schedule. The way to calculate gross pay and labor costs for a restaurant is relatively simple. To calculate labor cost percentage, divide your labor cost by gross sales and then multiply the result by 100. Form 940 is a payroll report submitted annually that indicates federal unemployment tax (FUTA) paid during the year.
Why We Chose Square Payroll For Restaurant Payroll
Some software may fulfill a few HR functions, like notifying government agencies of new hires. Others also include tools for training new employees, as well as advertising and hiring new talent. In most states and federally, employers pay unemployment taxes themselves but split the payment of Social Security and Medicare taxes with employees. Created common workforce standards, such as minimum wage, overtime pay, hours worked, and youth labor requirements.
Even its most basic plan includes health benefits and workers comp support, which we think justifies the $6 charge per employee. SurePayroll’s $19.99 plan is a self-service plan, meaning SurePayroll calculates payroll taxes, but you’re responsible for remitting the taxes to the federal government and filing end-of-year paperwork. If you want automatic payroll tax filing, you’ll need the full-service plan, which starts at $29.99 a month plus $5 per payee. Paychex is for those that need both simple processing and high-level HR support.
We will never gate an article or ask our readers to pay for our content. With Restaurant365, each tier is specifically crafted around a general goal, as outlined above. For instance, if your restaurant is at a place where it needs to streamline efficiency, the Core Accounting tier can help you make that goal a reality by enabling you to bring together back-office systems. If you’re a smaller restaurant just starting out, Toast might not be for you. Check to see what your state, city, or municipality requires and be sure to adhere to any and all laws to ensure compliant scheduling. Patriot Payroll is currently available for $30 per month, plus a $4 per-employee charge.
FreshBooks is relatively easy to set up and takes only a few minutes to start. Its award-winning customer support comprises a team of highly knowledgeable staff dedicated to resolving your queries. Every day, we help people discover products and services that can help their business bloom.
Gusto vs. QuickBooks Payroll
Wave doesn’t have some fancier features, like running a FICA tip credit report to look for additional savings or the ability to pay employee wages using a card. Reporting tools are also available, as is the ability to export payroll data. Additionally, OnPay has several tools aimed specifically at restaurateurs such as minimum wage tip makeup and overtime calculations.
And in case you only have up to 10 employees and prefer to file tax forms yourself (or have an in-house HR staff who can handle this), SurePayroll has a low-cost “No Tax Filing” option. While Homebase Payroll is generally easy to use, it isn’t as simple to set up as most of the payroll software in this guide. It also only offers its two-day direct deposits to qualified companies. If you don’t qualify, your direct deposit processing timeline will be four days.
However, if there are audits or missed tax returns that need investigation you should be prepared to hold on to the documents for at least 7 years or more. For a full list of payroll and POS software companies that integrate with 7shifts, check out our integrated partners page. For salaried positions, like managers, gross pay will be the same every pay period, determined by their annual rate. Your payroll duties as an employer will look different depending on where your restaurant is located.
Process payroll easier with Clover
Request a demo today to learn more about how we can help make running restaurant payroll as easy as taking someone’s reservation. First, did the employee perform multiple roles that have different pay rates? If so, rates, amounts, hours worked, etc. for all the Payroll for restaurants employee’s roles need to be included when calculating gross pay. Depending on the state, most restaurants will store payroll records for three years, unless there are certain circumstances involved, such as misreported income or failing to file tax returns.
Employees will be able to view their pay stubs, time off balances, year-end tax forms, and more. In some cases, these self-service portals can even provide access to schedules and help facilitate time-off requests. However, what they’ll be able to see varies across different payroll software, so keep that in mind. Another significant advantage of ADP Run is its built-in tax compliance feature. It uses an AI-powered error detection method to identify and flag tax errors before submission. The tax compliance tool also has an excellent feature for managing and tracking overtime hours, overtime scheduling, and overtime pay.