--- title: Is It Time for a CFO? 5 Signs for Restaurant Owners description: Is it time for a CFO? 5 signs your restaurant needs a CFO-level read, the break-even math to run first, and what to do if a full-time hire is too much. image: https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/bar%20issi%20restaurant.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/is-it-time-for-a-cfo#main-content) [![FIXE Logo](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FIXE-2@2x.png?width=333&height=200&name=FIXE-2@2x.png)Homepage](https://www.getmyfixe.com/) - [How FIXE Works](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/) - [Restaurant Types](https://www.getmyfixe.com/restaurant-types/) - [Pricing](https://www.getmyfixe.com/pricing/) - [FAQs](https://www.getmyfixe.com/faqs/) - [Communal Table](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table) [Book a demo](https://www.getmyfixe.com/book-a-demo/) - [How FIXE Works](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/) - [Restaurant Types](https://www.getmyfixe.com/restaurant-types/) - [Pricing](https://www.getmyfixe.com/pricing/) - [FAQs](https://www.getmyfixe.com/faqs/) - [Communal Table](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table) [Book a demo](https://www.getmyfixe.com/book-a-demo/) ![Green and gold restaurant bar and dining room](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/bar%20issi%20restaurant.jpg?width=1200&height=675&name=bar%20issi%20restaurant.jpg) Financials FIXE Best Practices # Is It Time for a CFO? 5 Signs It's Time to Bring in the Big Guns at Your Restaurant ![Ryan](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/FIXE-mark-midnight-icon.svg) Ryan October 10, 2026 **Short answer:** It's time for a CFO-level read on your numbers when your P&L shows up and nobody walks you through it, your profit and your bank balance tell different stories, prime cost is creeping, you're about to make a big call, or you don't know your break-even number. A lot of independent owners don't need a full-time CFO for that. They need a CFO-level review every month. *By the FIXE team. October 2026.* ## Key takeaways - A bookkeeper tells you what happened. A CPA handles your taxes. A CFO tells you what to do next. - Five signs it's time: nobody explains your P&L, profit and cash don't match, prime cost is creeping, a big call is coming, and you don't know your break-even. - Break-even is the first number a CFO would ask you for. You can run it in five minutes. - A lot of owners need a CFO-level read every month more than a full-time hire. ## What does a restaurant CFO actually do? A CFO reads your numbers forward. Your bookkeeper closes the month and tells you what happened. Your CPA files your taxes. A CFO looks at the same P&L and tells you why it moved, what it means for next month and what to change. In a restaurant, that usually means prime cost, labor, cash and the big decisions: a second location, a price change, a loan. Big restaurant groups have someone in that seat. A lot of independent owners don't, so they read the P&L alone, if they read it at all. ## 5 signs it's time to bring in the big guns ### 1. Your P&L shows up and nobody walks you through it. You get a report every month. You can see sales and costs. What you don't get is someone saying, "Here's what moved, here's why, and here's what to do about it." If the P&L lands in your inbox and stays there, that's the first sign. ### 2. Your profit and your bank balance tell different stories. The P&L says you made money. The bank account disagrees. Or the reverse: cash went up in a month that wasn't good. In the sample restaurant below, cash rose $17,100 in September while operating profit fell to $4,440, because the owners put in $25,000. A CFO-level read catches that. A bank balance doesn't. ### 3. Prime cost is creeping and you can't say which piece moved. Prime cost is food cost, beverage cost and payroll as a share of net revenue. When it jumps from 58.6% to 65.1% in a month, the question is which piece moved and by how much. In the sample, it was mostly labor, then beverage, and part of the beverage jump looked like timing on a wine order. ### 4. You're about to make a big call. A second location. A price increase. A new loan or a revenue-based advance. A remodel. These are the calls that are hard to undo, and they all come off your numbers. If you're about to make one, you want someone who's read a lot of restaurant P&Ls looking at yours first. ### 5. You don't know your break-even number. If you can't say what you need to sell each month, or each week, to cover your costs, you're guessing. It's the first number a CFO would ask for, and you can run it yourself. ## How do you figure your restaurant's break-even? Split your costs into two groups. Variable costs move with sales: food, beverage, card fees, and supplies and online orders. Fixed costs stay put for the month: payroll, rent, general and admin, utilities and marketing. Payroll moves some with covers, but for a simple monthly view, count it as fixed. Here's the math on Ember & Rye (sample), a one-location neighborhood bistro that opened in April 2024, using its September 2026 Financial Review, prepared by FIXE in October 2026. | The number | Ember & Rye (sample), September 2026 | | --- | --- | | Net revenue | $175,440 | | Variable costs | $62,700, or 35.7% of net revenue | | What each sales dollar keeps | About 64 cents | | Fixed costs | $108,300 | | Break-even net revenue | About $168,500 | | Cushion above break-even | About $6,900 | *Sample restaurant and numbers, made up for illustration.* **Try this math:** break-even sales = fixed costs / (1 - variable costs / net revenue). **Example:** $108,300 / (1 - $62,700 / $175,440) = about $168,500. For a weekly number, divide by the weeks in the month. For a 30-day month like September, that's about $39,300 a week. Ember & Rye (sample) cleared break-even by about $6,900 in September. That's less than a fifth of one week's sales. One slow week and the month goes underwater. That's the kind of thing a CFO-level review puts in front of you before it happens, not after. ## Do you need a full-time CFO? Not always. A full-time CFO makes sense for larger groups with complex financing, a lot of locations or a sale on the horizon. A lot of independent owners need something else: a CFO-level read on their numbers every month, built on books they can trust, with a plan they can hand to their managers. | Option | What you get | Best for | | --- | --- | --- | | Bookkeeper | Closed books and a monthly P&L. What happened. | Every restaurant | | CPA | Taxes, filings and year-end. | Every restaurant | | Full-time CFO | A senior finance leader on your team. | Larger groups with complex financing or a lot of locations | | Monthly CFO-level review | What moved, why, and a 30-day plan with targets, every month. | Owners who want the big guns without the full-time hire | ## What does a FIXE Expert Review look like? It's a short deck, built for your restaurant every month on books FIXE closes. It covers operating profit, sales, prime cost, food, beverage, labor, discounts, cash flow and financing, and ends with a 30-day action plan with a number to hit for each priority. Dan Margolis, FIXE's Director of Finance, and our restaurant team build it. Dan rose from busser to Director of Operations and later CFO of a major Los Angeles restaurant group, so he reads a P&L the way an operator does. [Meet Dan](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/meet-dan-margolis). FIXE only does restaurants, and 600+ restaurant locations trust us with their books. For FIXE customers, the Expert Review is an extra add-on. [See a sample FIXE Expert Review](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/expert-review?src=blog-er-03). ## Frequently asked questions ### When should a restaurant bring in a CFO? When the numbers start driving big decisions you can't make on gut: a second location, new financing, a price change, or a P&L nobody explains. A lot of independent owners start with a monthly CFO-level review before a full-time hire. ### What's the difference between a bookkeeper, a CPA and a CFO? A bookkeeper records your transactions and closes the month. A CPA handles taxes and filings. A CFO reads the numbers forward and tells you what to do next. ### How do I calculate break-even for my restaurant? Divide your fixed costs by one minus your variable costs as a share of net revenue. In the sample, $108,300 / (1 - $62,700 / $175,440) is about $168,500 a month. ### What is prime cost, and why does a CFO watch it? Prime cost is food cost, beverage cost and payroll as a share of net revenue. It's the biggest group of costs you control month to month. In the sample, the target is 60%. ### Is a FIXE Expert Review the same as a CFO? It's a CFO-level review of your numbers every month, built on books FIXE closes. It doesn't replace your CPA, and it's an extra add-on for FIXE customers. ## Ready to bring in the big guns? A FIXE Expert Review is one of the extras FIXE customers get. Already a FIXE customer? Ask your account manager to add it. New to FIXE? [See a sample review](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/expert-review?src=blog-er-03), then ask about it on your first call. ## More on Costs, Inventory and Cash Flow This post is part of our [Costs, Inventory and Cash Flow](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/restaurant-costs-and-cash-flow) guide. Keep reading: - [You Shouldn't Have to Read Your P&L Alone: Why Restaurant Owners Need a Second Set of Eyes](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/you-shouldnt-read-your-pl-alone) - [Meet Dan Margolis: From Busser to the Numbers Behind Your Restaurant](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/meet-dan-margolis) - [7 Things a Monthly Expert Review Catches That Your P&L Won't Tell You](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/what-a-monthly-expert-review-catches) ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fhub.getmyfixe.com%2Fcommunal-table%2Fis-it-time-for-a-cfo](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fhub.getmyfixe.com%2Fcommunal-table%2Fis-it-time-for-a-cfo) ## Keep reading ### [![Table spread of pizza, pasta and shared plates](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Beethoven%20Market%20FOOD.jpg?width=5940&height=3960&name=Beethoven%20Market%20FOOD.jpg) Financial Reporting Financials FIXE 7 Things a Monthly Expert Review Catches That Your P&L Won't Tell You](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/what-a-monthly-expert-review-catches) ### [![Warm restaurant dining room with wood beams and set tables](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/beethoven%20market%20RESTAURANT.jpg?width=1600&height=1061&name=beethoven%20market%20RESTAURANT.jpg) Financials FIXE Best Practices Meet Dan Margolis: From Busser to the Numbers Behind Your Restaurant](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/meet-dan-margolis) [![FIXE-2@2x-1](https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/FIXE-2@2x-1.png?width=150&height=90&name=FIXE-2@2x-1.png "FIXE-2@2x-1")](https://www.getmyfixe.com/) - SOLUTIONS - [How FIXE Works](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/) - [Fresh Financial Reports](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/#reports) - [A/P Automation](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/#automation) - [3rd Party App Intelligence](https://www.getmyfixe.com/how-fixe-works/#3rd-party-intelligence) - RESOURCES - [Restaurant Types](https://www.getmyfixe.com/restaurant-types/) - [Pricing](https://www.getmyfixe.com/pricing/) - [Book a demo](https://www.getmyfixe.com/book-a-demo/) - [Glossary](https://www.getmyfixe.com/fixe-restaurant-bookkeeping-glossary/) - COMPANY - [FAQs](https://www.getmyfixe.com/faqs/) - [Communal Table](https://www.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/) - [Sign in](https://www.fixebookkeeping.com/) - [Contact us](https://www.getmyfixe.com/contact-us/) © 2026 FIXE. All rights reserved.   [Privacy policy](https://www.getmyfixe.com/privacy-policy/) --- ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Ryan", "url" : "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/author/ryan" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-10T04:23:34.360Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-10T04:23:34.000Z", "headline" : "Is It Time for a CFO? 5 Signs for Restaurant Owners", "image" : [ "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/bar%20issi%20restaurant.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/communal-table/is-it-time-for-a-cfo", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://hub.getmyfixe.com/hubfs/FIXE-2@2x.png" }, "name" : "Fixe Inc." } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "FAQPage", "mainEntity" : [ { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "When the numbers start driving big decisions you can't make on gut: a second location, new financing, a price change, or a P&L nobody explains. A lot of independent owners start with a monthly CFO-level review before a full-time hire." }, "name" : "When should a restaurant bring in a CFO?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "A bookkeeper records your transactions and closes the month. A CPA handles taxes and filings. A CFO reads the numbers forward and tells you what to do next." }, "name" : "What's the difference between a bookkeeper, a CPA and a CFO?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Divide your fixed costs by one minus your variable costs as a share of net revenue. In the sample, $108,300 / (1 - $62,700 / $175,440) is about $168,500 a month." }, "name" : "How do I calculate break-even for my restaurant?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Prime cost is food cost, beverage cost and payroll as a share of net revenue. It's the biggest group of costs you control month to month. In the sample, the target is 60%." }, "name" : "What is prime cost, and why does a CFO watch it?" }, { "@type" : "Question", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "It's a CFO-level review of your numbers every month, built on books FIXE closes. It doesn't replace your CPA, and it's an extra add-on for FIXE customers." }, "name" : "Is a FIXE Expert Review the same as a CFO?" } ] } ```