4 Accounting Challenges and Solutions for Restaurants Using Delivery Apps

Jack, a restaurant owner, has been running his cozy eatery for years, blending delicious food with excellent service.

He loves serving his customers and knows that expanding online can take his restaurant business to the next level.

Jack sees all the advantages of partnering with third-party delivery services like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub to increase his restaurant’s visibility, bring in more orders, generate new revenue streams, and reach customers beyond his regular crowd.

Excited by the possibilities, he jumped in. But soon, reality hit him like a grease fire in the kitchen, while online expansion brought new opportunities, it also brought a host of financial chaos. Instead of focusing on his food and customer experience, Jack found himself drowning in numbers. And here are the four areas that he struggled to cope up initially but gradually found ways to overcome these challenges.

 

 

Tracking Sales & Fees

Third-party delivery services deduct fees such as commissions, delivery charges, and marketing costs.

Jack could only see the final amount after all these deductions, making it hard to determine his actual sales before fees were taken out.

He had no clear breakdown of how much commission was deducted per dish or his true earnings per order. The reports from delivery apps were complex, and with his daily restaurant operations, he had no time to decode them.

The solution? A structured process that gives access to reports directly from the delivery platforms and categorizes fees clearly.

With the right accounting partner, Jack could get complex reports from delivery services simplified into clear, understandable insights. He could see exactly how much was deducted from each dish in commission and delivery fees, allowing him to adjust pricing accordingly.

Managing Refunds and Chargebacks

Refunds and chargebacks often occur when customers are dissatisfied with their orders due to incorrect deliveries, bad quality, or long wait times. In such cases, third-party delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Grubhub issue refunds to customers and deduct the refunded amount from the restaurant’s earnings. However, these deductions are often made without clear breakdown, leaving you unaware of why your revenue is lower than expected.

For Jack, this created a major accounting challenge. He received a lower payout than expected but had no clue why certain amounts were deducted.

With the help of an accounting partner, Jack finally gained clarity as they helped him retrieve and analyze reports from delivery platforms, categorizing refunds and chargebacks separately from regular sales to ensure accurate revenue adjustments.

Additionally, the accounting partner provided Jack with detailed reports. These reports helped Jack identify patterns, such as frequent refund reasons, enabling him to address recurring issues, whether they were operational flaws, kitchen errors, or delivery service-related concerns.

Complex Payment Reconciliation

For Jack, tracking payments became a nightmare. His restaurant accepted cash, credit cards, and mobile payments, but third-party delivery services added a new layer of complexity.

Unlike in-house transactions, where payments were immediate and transparent, delivery app payouts arrived in batches, already reduced by commissions, delivery fees, and marketing costs. The timing of these payments rarely aligned with his daily sales.

Some weeks, deposits from delivery platforms seemed lower than expected, but without proper reconciliation, Jack couldn’t tell if he was being underpaid, overcharged, or simply missing transactions.

With an accounting partner, Jack gained complete control over his payments. Experts reconciled cash, credit cards, mobile payments, and third-party app deposits against his sales records, instantly flagging discrepancies. By aligning his POS system with accounting software, they ensured every transaction matched his bank statements, making payment tracking seamless and transparent.

Sales Tax

For Jack, handling sales tax became a challenge. While DoorDash and Uber Eats automatically paid the sales tax, Grubhub left it to Jack to manage and pay. This created confusion, as Jack had to track which orders had already paid tax and which didn’t, risking overpayment or fines.

With the help of an accounting partner, Jack was able to separate third-party sales from in-house sales in his records. This made it easy to track which orders required him to pay tax and ensured that he wasn’t double-taxed. The solution helped Jack stay compliant and avoid costly mistakes.

Turning Chaos into Clarity

What seemed like a golden opportunity for Jack quickly turned into a financial maze. Instead of celebrating increased sales, he found himself buried under complex reports, unclear deductions, and unpredictable cash flow. But rather than letting these challenges take over, he took charge.

By partnering with an outsourced accounting firm, Jack gained clarity through structured reports and transparent reconciliation. This allowed him to regain control over his finances and focus on what mattered most, serving great food and delivering an exceptional dining experience.