Key takeaways
What this article covers, in order:
- Why the till and the bank never agree
- The daily takings sheet
- Card takings: match the settlement, not the sale
- Cash takings: bank the total, keep the trail
- Delivery app payouts
- Your month-end routine
In a café or restaurant, the till is where your sales start and the bank is where they end, and almost every bookkeeping headache lives in the gap between the two. The fix is a daily takings sheet, card settlements matched to the right day, and cash banked as a total you can trace back to the till. Here's how to set up bookkeeping for cafes and restaurants so it survives a busy Saturday.
Why the till and the bank never agree
Marco runs a 30-cover café in Sheffield. His till's end-of-day report (the Z-read) says Thursday took £1,286.40. Nothing called £1,286.40 ever appears on his bank statement.
That's normal. Thursday's takings split three ways:
- Card payments, settled by the card provider a day or two later, sometimes net of fees.
- Cash, sitting in the safe until someone goes to the bank.
- Delivery app orders, paid out weekly by the platform, net of commission.
So one day of sales turns into several bank lines on different dates, and each bank line contains bits of several days. If you try to reconcile by eyeballing the statement, you'll lose. You need to work from the till outwards.
The daily takings sheet
This is the backbone. One row per trading day, filled in at close, before anyone goes home. A spreadsheet or a paper book both work, as long as it's done every day.
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Date | e.g. Thu 24 Sep 2026 |
| Z-read total | Total sales from the till's end-of-day report |
| Card total | Card payments per the till |
| Cash per till | Cash sales per the till |
| Cash counted | What's actually in the drawer, minus the float |
| Over / short | Counted minus per till |
| Paid outs | Cash taken from the till for purchases, with receipts |
| Signed by | Whoever cashed up |
Keep the float out of it. If you start each day with £100.00 in the drawer, count it out first and put it aside. Takings are what's left.
Card takings: match the settlement, not the sale
Card providers settle in different ways. Some pay the gross amount and charge fees monthly. Others pay each day's takings net of that day's fees. Look at your provider's settlement report to see which you have.
Say Marco's provider pays net, two working days later. Thursday's card total was £1,054.90 and the fee works out at £15.82. On the Monday he sees £1,039.08 arrive.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Card sales per Z-read, Thu 24 Sep 2026 | 1,054.90 |
| Less: card processing fee | (15.82) |
| Settlement received Mon 28 Sep 2026 | 1,039.08 |
The bookkeeping:
- Record sales of £1,054.90 on 24 Sep 2026.
- Record the £15.82 as a card fees expense.
- Match the £1,039.08 bank receipt against both.
If you record £1,039.08 as sales, you've understated turnover and hidden a real cost. Same mistake online sellers make with payouts, and just as easy to avoid.
A handy trick is a "card takings clearing" account. Sales go in daily, settlements come out when they land. At month end its balance should equal the card sales not yet settled, usually the last day or two of the month. If it's anything else, you've got a missing settlement or a refund to chase.
Cash takings: bank the total, keep the trail
Cash is where small businesses get into trouble, because it's easy to spend from the till and forget. Bank cash as a whole, and make sure every pound between till and bank is accounted for.
Here's Marco's cash for the week of Mon 21 Sep 2026 to Sun 27 Sep 2026, banked on Mon 28 Sep 2026.
| Day | Cash per till (£) |
|---|---|
| Mon 21 Sep 2026 | 198.20 |
| Tue 22 Sep 2026 | 176.40 |
| Wed 23 Sep 2026 | 210.00 |
| Thu 24 Sep 2026 | 231.50 |
| Fri 25 Sep 2026 | 312.75 |
| Sat 26 Sep 2026 | 405.10 |
| Sun 27 Sep 2026 | 288.05 |
| Week total | 1,822.00 |
During the week, someone took £14.60 out of the till for milk (receipt kept) and Thursday's count came up £1.70 short. So:
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Cash sales per till | 1,822.00 |
| Less: paid out for milk | (14.60) |
| Less: Thursday shortage | (1.70) |
| Cash banked | 1,805.70 |
The £1,805.70 deposit on the statement now ties back to seven days of takings sheets. Sales are £1,822.00, milk is £14.60 of purchases, and the £1.70 goes to a cash over/short account. Small shortages happen. Repeated ones on the same person's shift are worth a quiet look.
If you don't bank cash weekly, a "cash on hand" account in your books does the same job as the card clearing account: takings in, banking and paid outs out, balance equals what's in the safe.
Delivery app payouts
Delivery platforms typically pay weekly, after deducting commission and sometimes promotions you've opted into. Treat them exactly like card settlements:
- Record the gross order value as sales for the days the orders happened.
- Record commission and any marketing charges as expenses.
- Match the net payout in the bank.
Download each platform's weekly statement. Without it, you can't split the payout properly.
Your month-end routine
- [ ] Every trading day has a completed takings sheet
- [ ] Card clearing balance equals unsettled card sales at month end
- [ ] Every cash banking traced to its takings sheets
- [ ] Delivery app payouts split into sales and commission
- [ ] Paid outs from the till have receipts and are categorised
- [ ] Over/short total reviewed
- [ ] Bank account reconciled to the statement
- [ ] Supplier bills checked against what was paid
How HelloBooks helps
Connect your business bank through Open Banking (most UK banks and cards work), or import a CSV statement, and every settlement and cash deposit lands in a review list where you confirm the category. The reconcile screen lines the statement up against your ledger, suggests a match for each line with a confidence score and the reason it chose it, and leaves you only the exceptions. Get one wrong and you can unmatch in one click.
At month end you get a reconciliation report with the opening balance, cleared items, outstanding items and closing balance, exportable as PDF or CSV. Once you've signed a month off you can lock it, and any reopening is logged, which is handy when several people touch the books. Pro (£14.99 a month) adds AI auto-categorisation, unlimited users with roles, and bills with approvals for your suppliers. See HelloBooks for restaurants and our cash flow tools.
FAQs
Should I record sales from the till report or from the bank?
From the till report. The bank shows settlements and banked cash, which mix several days and are often net of fees. Sales belong on the day the customer paid.
What do I do with tips?
Keep tips separate from sales on the takings sheet so they don't inflate turnover. How tips are paid out to staff has payroll and tax angles, so agree the treatment with your accountant.
Is it fine to pay suppliers in cash from the till?
It's common, but every paid out needs a receipt and a line on the takings sheet. Otherwise your cash banked won't match takings and nobody will know why.
How big a cash shortage should worry me?
A few pounds here and there is normal human error. A pattern, such as the same shift short every week, needs looking at. The takings sheet makes that pattern visible.
Do I need a separate account for the card terminal?
No. What matters is that you can trace each settlement back to its trading days, and the settlement report lets you do that.
Do the sheet every night, and month end becomes a ticking exercise instead of a detective story.
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