A Wilmington cafe runs on small tickets and tight margins, and the books only work when daily numbers tie out before the week ends. Sales tax, payroll, vendor bills, and food costs all start with one habit, which is reconciling the POS every day.

Pull a Z-report from Square, Toast, or Clover at close and compare gross sales, taxable sales, sales tax collected, tips, comps, and tendered amounts to what hit the bank the next morning. Card batches usually settle next-day net of processor fees, while cash should reconcile to the till. When these match daily, the rest of the books fall into place. When they don’t, you end up chasing ghost transactions weeks later.

Sales tax payable belongs in its own liability account, not mixed into revenue. North Carolina charges 4.75% state plus 2.25% New Hanover County on prepared food, and Wilmington adds a 1% prepared food and beverage tax on top of that. Track what you collect daily and remit on the schedule the state assigns you. Treating sales tax as cash flow is the fastest way to a notice from the Department of Revenue.

Tips and payroll are where coastal cafes often get tripped up. Cash tips, credit card tips, tip pools, and tip-outs to back-of-house all need clean records. Reported tips flow to W-2s, employer payroll taxes apply, and the FICA tip credit can recover real money at year-end if the tracking is there. Run payroll through software that integrates with your POS so reported tips don’t have to be re-entered.

Vendor bills should be entered as bills, not paid straight out of the bank feed. Sysco, US Foods, the bakery you buy croissants from, the coffee roaster, the linen service, the trash hauler. Entering bills lets you see what’s due, catch double charges, and time payments around slower weeks. It also keeps food cost numbers accurate because the purchase posts when the invoice arrives, not when the check clears. This is one of the areas where dedicated bookkeeping for cafes and bars earns its keep.

Food cost is the metric that decides whether the cafe makes money. Track cost of goods sold weekly against sales and aim for the percentage you built into your menu pricing. A 30% food cost target means a $5 latte should run about $1.50 in milk, beans, cup, lid, and syrup. When the actual number drifts, look at portion control, waste, or vendor pricing before it eats a month of profit.

Seasonal cash planning matters more in Wilmington than in cities with steady year-round traffic. Crowds at Wrightsville Beach and downtown events drive revenue from May through September, then things soften through winter. Build a thirteen-week cash forecast that shows what you expect to collect and spend each week. Set aside a portion of summer deposits in a separate account to cover quieter weeks in January and February. Plan equipment purchases and renovations for the shoulder season when cash flow can absorb them.

These pieces work together. Clean POS reconciliation feeds accurate sales tax, payroll, and food cost numbers, which feed a cash forecast you can actually trust. If any of this is slipping, that’s usually where outside bookkeeping, tax, and consulting services pay back the cost quickly.