i am getting ready to use quickbooks and im already stuck on the very first question. what type of business is a restaurant? is it considered a service? or does it sell products or services and products???? i know this must be a simple question but i do sell food . is this considered a product?.--Answer1:The primary business of a retail business is to sell products. A restaurant is a food service industry. Quickbooks will probably have a help menu to help you answer your question..--Answer2:Lets look at it this way. Manufacturing business converts raw materials into a product. Now this may sound like your business, but ask yourself this, did you farm it? Since the answer is no (didnt convert corn seed into corn fields, didnt convert chickens into poultry meat), then we can move onto the next business. Merchandisers are businesses that buy pre-fabricated products from a supplier and sell that exact same product at a mark-up to the consumer. You dont sell raw chicken breasts to your consumers, so we can knock merchandising business right out of there. The last is a service business. You are providing a product yes, but with that product you are also offering the intangible "product" of cooking procedures, table service, and a nice table to eat at. Since the primary source of your income comes from the ability to cook and serve delicious food, then you are offering an intangible product, hence you are a service business.