Accountant

OptiPeople Resources•Chicago, IL

20d•Hybrid

About The Position

Our client is a Chicago based restaurant group. The group operates multiple acclaimed restaurants that have earned national recognition. Their concepts are built on honest cooking, genuine hospitality, and a commitment to doing things the right way. They believe great experiences start with great people, and invest in the team's growth, development, and well-being. They are hiring an Accountant to own the books for their restaurants, end to end. This is a hands-on role. You will run payroll, manage payables, close the months, and build the reporting that tells ownership how each restaurant is really performing. You will report directly to ownership, and your work will inform decisions across the group, including the additional locations currently in development. If you have done restaurant accounting and you like being the person who knows exactly where the money went, keep reading.

Requirements

5+ years of accounting experience, with restaurant or multi-unit hospitality experience strongly preferred.
Hands-on payroll processing experience.
Working knowledge of GAAP and accrual-based accounting.
Bachelor's degree in Accounting or Finance, or equivalent experience that proves you can do the work.
Strong Excel skills.
Able to explain financial results to chefs and operators in plain language.
Able to communicate and understand the predominant language(s) of the company's operating area.
Proficiency with Paylocity (payroll, HRIS, and timekeeping) required, or the ability to get there quickly.

Nice To Haves

Paylocity and Toast experience is a real plus.
Experience with the Toast POS system.
Comfortable being the accounting department. You will have support, but you will not have a team to delegate to.
Able to sit and work at a computer for extended periods, with occasional travel between locations.
Job costing or construction-in-progress experience, ideally on restaurant buildouts.
Experience opening a new restaurant location.
Familiarity with restaurant POS, reservations, inventory, or reporting platforms.

Responsibilities

Handle the full accounting cycle for multiple restaurant entities: journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, and month-end close.
Produce location-level P&Ls that track sales, cost of goods, labor, and inventory trends, and be ready to explain what changed and why.
Assemble the monthly financial package for ownership and restaurant leadership.
Catch discrepancies early, before they compound into problems at close.
Process payroll for all locations through Paylocity, including tipped employees, overtime, and multi-entity setup.
Make sure time entry data flows correctly from timekeeping into payroll, and fix issues at the source when it does not.
Reconcile payroll to the general ledger so labor costs are accurate on every P&L.
Stay current on Chicago, Cook County, and Illinois wage and hour requirements that affect pay.
Own accounts payable end to end: vendor invoices, expenses, coding, approvals, and payment runs.
Manage day-to-day relationships with purveyors and service providers.
Work with chefs and General Managers to run down food, beverage, and supply cost discrepancies.
Keep documentation clean enough to hand to an auditor without flinching.
Track construction and buildout costs for new restaurant locations currently in development.
Report budget versus actual on each project so ownership always knows where spend stands.
Set up the accounting for each new location so it is ready to operate from day one.
Build reporting that gives ownership a current, honest picture of each restaurant: sales, labor, costs, and cash.
Answer the question “how are we doing?” with real numbers, not a promise to get back to them.
Participate in budgeting and forecasting conversations with ownership.
Prepare and file sales tax across state, county, and city jurisdictions.
Support year-end tax preparation and respond to requests from the outside CPA.
Maintain internal controls consistent with GAAP and company policy.