# How do you keep month-end data entry disciplined in Chef Cost Lab (or similar tools)?

As an executive chef using Chef Cost Lab, I like seeing food cost %, labor %, and prime cost vs targets in one Performance Summary, plus Menu Engineering that shows which dishes to push or fix. The downside is that data entry is still manual at month-end, even if the routine only takes about 5 minutes once you have sales, invoices, inventory, and waste gathered. It’s helped me understand where food cost and BOH expenses are going and what to act on, compared to tracking in Excel without clear meaning. How do you stay consistent with the manual inputs and make sure the numbers are accurate each month?

##### Post Metadata
- Posted at: 8 days ago
- Author title: Executive Chef | Founder of Chef Cost Lab
- Net upvotes: 1


## Comments
### Comment 1

Answering my own question — here's my month-end routine as an executive chef:
1.
Lightspeed: discounts, QSA, waste, and sales. Discounts, QSA and waste go into Waste; sales into Food Sales and Total Sales.
2.
BevSpot: invoices for purchases, plus inventory counts.
3.
ADP: monthly labor, total hrs and total money.
4.
Yearly plan budgets: I load my monthly budgets from the yearly plan, so the Performance Summary compares actuals vs budget — that's where the insights come from.
5.
Gather everything before opening the app. Then enter in one sitting — about 5 minutes.
6.
Read the Performance Summary first. Actuals vs budget tell you where to look.
7.
Accuracy check: reconcile purchases against the bank statement. If they don't match, an invoice is missing.
Fixed day every month, non-negotiable — like inventory day. The discipline isn't the app, it's the calendar block.

##### Comment Metadata
- Posted at: 8 days ago
- Author title: Executive Chef | Founder of Chef Cost Lab




## Related Product
[Chef Cost Lab](https://www.g2.com/products/chef-cost-lab/reviews)

## Related Category
[Restaurant Business Intelligence & Analytics](https://www.g2.com/categories/restaurant-business-intelligence-analytics)

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