FRACTIONAL CFO • RESTAURANT ACCOUNTANT • TEXAS
A restaurant accountant who thinks like a CFO, not just a bookkeeper.
Bald Ginger is a fractional CFO and outsourced controller firm based in Austin, working with restaurant, bar, and hospitality operators across Texas who've outgrown "just keep the books clean." We help you actually use your numbers — to open a second location, fix a margin problem, or walk into a bank with a straight face.
Built for operators who need a finance partner, not a finance department
WHO THIS IS FOR
Your books are in decent shape, but nobody's telling you what the numbers actually mean.
You need help walking into a bank or investor conversation with real, defensible numbers.
You want the judgment of a CFO without the salary of one
You're considering a second location, a buildout, or a new revenue stream and want a second opinion before you commit.
You've got a bookkeeper already, but not one who is thinking about cash flow, financing, or where the business is headed next
WHAT’S INCLUDED
What a fractional CFO engagement with Bald Ginger actually includes
Budgeting and forecasting built around your actual operation, not a generic template
Cash flow planning, so you know what's coming before it hits your account
KPI reporting focused on what actually moves the needle — prime cost, labor, and margin, not vanity metrics
Strategic guidance on new locations, menu changes, revenue streams, or business models — a second set of eyes before you commit capital
Banking, lending, and financing support, backed by real local banking relationships
Investor- and lender-ready reporting when you're raising money or opening a new location
A tax-ready partnership — clean, organized books handed off to strong tax accounting partners, no scramble every April
Direct access to Ed, backed by two senior CPAs — not a monthly call with someone reading off a template
What working with Bald Ginger costs
PRICING
We don't price bookkeeping and CFO-level guidance as two separate products, because we don't treat them as two separate jobs. Every client gets one relationship and one monthly fee — prime cost tracking, KPI reporting, and the CFO-level thinking that goes with it (should you open a second location, is this lease worth signing, how do you walk into this bank conversation) are built in from the start, not billed as an upsell once you "graduate" into needing it.
That's a deliberate choice, not an accident. We've seen how the "start with bookkeeping, add CFO services later" model plays out elsewhere, and it usually just creates two relationships instead of one — a bookkeeper who doesn't have the full picture, and a CFO engagement that starts from scratch instead of building on months or years of already knowing the business.
What actually sets the fee is the shape of your business — number of locations, transaction volume, how much you want off your plate — not which tier of service you're buying. We'll talk through what's actually happening in your business first, then build a fee that's fair to both sides, with no surprise invoices for the strategic conversations along the way.
HOW BOOKKEEPING AND CFO-LEVEL WORK FIT TOGETHER
CFO work and bookkeeping aren't the same job — but they’re never done separately here.
Real CFO-level advice comes from knowing a business inside and out, and that only happens by being the one closing the books each month — not reviewing someone else's after the fact. That's why the two go together:
| What closing the books looks like | What that makes possible |
|---|---|
| Daily reconciliation, payroll, monthly close | Real answers, not guesses, on financing, growth, and margin questions |
| Seeing every transaction as it happens | Catching a problem in week one, not in a quarterly review |
| Answers "where did the money go?" | Answers "what should we do next?" — from someone who already knows why |
Every Bald Ginger client gets both from day one — not because we're upselling CFO services on top of bookkeeping, but because we can't do the second well without doing the first ourselves. See our restaurant bookkeeping page for what the books side of that looks like in practice.
WHO WE WORK WITH
Real Texas operators making real decisions
We work with restaurants, bars, and hospitality groups across Austin and Texas who are past the "just get the books done" stage — opening second and third locations, refinancing, bringing on investors, or trying to figure out why a profitable-looking restaurant never seems to have cash. If it involves a P&L, a bank, and a decision with real money on the line, we've probably been in that room before.
Fractional CFO questions, answered directly
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A bookkeeper records transactions and keeps your books current. An accountant (often at tax time) makes sure everything is filed correctly. A fractional CFO uses your numbers to help you make decisions — budgeting, forecasting, financing, and growth planning. Bald Ginger does all three under one roof, so nothing gets lost in the handoff between them.
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You don't need to add one on separately — CFO-level thinking is already part of what you get, because it comes from the same team already closing your books. Plenty of single-location owners mostly need clean books and solid monthly reporting, and that's exactly what they get day to day. But when a real decision shows up — a lease renewal, a loan, a margin problem you can't pin down — you're talking to someone who already knows your numbers, not starting over with someone new. See our restaurant bookkeeping page for what that day-to-day work looks like.
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Yes. Ed maintains real local banking relationships and has helped clients secure financing and the right banking arrangements, along with relationships in commercial real estate to support growth or relocation.
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Yes — this is often where fractional CFO work matters most, when consolidated reporting and cash flow across locations gets hard to see clearly from inside the business.
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We don't charge for it separately — CFO-level guidance is included in what we do for every client, because it comes out of the same work as the books themselves. What actually sets your fee is the shape of your business (locations, volume, how much you want off your plate), not whether you're buying CFO services on top of bookkeeping. See the pricing section above for how we think about it.
Let’s look at your numbers.
Text, call, or email Ed — he actually answers. Set up a no-pressure call and we'll tell you honestly whether we're a fit, and roughly what it'll cost.
Ed Hattrup · 512.517.2478 · ed@baldginger.com