How to choose a restaurant POS in India: a simple checklist
A POS touches every bill, every order and every rupee. These are the questions worth asking before you choose, in plain words.
1. What happens when the internet goes down?
Internet often drops in the middle of the lunch rush. Ask: can I still bill, send the KOT to the kitchen and take payment? Some billing programs keep working offline. Some stop. Ask to see it work with the internet switched off.
2. Does it fit how you serve?
- Dine-in tables, takeaway and delivery
- Quick service, where the guest pays first and the kitchen gets the order after
- Bar or cafe prices that change by the hour
- Splitting a bill, merging tables and moving an order to another table
Check that your way of serving is there, not only the way shown in the demo.
3. How does the kitchen get the order?
A KOT can print on a kitchen printer, show on a kitchen screen, or both. Ask if drinks can go to the bar printer and food to the kitchen printer. Ask what the cook sees when a guest asks for no onion.
4. Are the GST bills right?
The bill should show CGST and SGST, or IGST, as separate lines, and the bill numbers should run in order. Ask your CA what your bill must show. The software should be able to show it.
5. Which printers and devices work?
- Your thermal printer, 58 mm or 80 mm
- Connection by network, USB or Bluetooth
- A Windows computer, an Android phone or tablet
- A waiter taking orders on a phone
Do not buy new hardware before you ask.
6. Who can see and change what?
Waiters, cashiers, managers and the kitchen should not all have the same power. A discount above a limit should need a manager’s PIN. You should be able to see who did what.
7. Whose data is it, and where is it?
Ask where your bills are saved, whether the database is encrypted, and how backup and restore work. Ask what happens to your data if you stop paying.
8. What will support be like?
Ask which languages they speak, which days and hours they answer, and whether they can help on a call or a screen share. A reply you can get is worth more than a long feature list.
9. See it with your own menu
Ask for a demo with your own items and prices. A demo with sample items hides a lot.
How RestroPod answers these
- Bills and stock are saved on your own computer first, so billing carries on offline. The license is checked online at least once every 5 days
- Tables, takeaway, delivery, bill-first quick service, special prices for chosen hours, split bills, table merges and a manager PIN for big discounts
- KOT to a kitchen printer or the kitchen screen, each menu category to its own printer, and a token board for guests
- GST bills with CGST and SGST or IGST
- Thermal printers, 58 mm and 80 mm, over the network, by USB or by Bluetooth. Runs on Windows and Android
- Roles: admin, manager, cashier, waiter and kitchen, and an audit log of who did what
- An encrypted database on your computer, with automatic backups and backup and restore
- Support in Hindi and English, every day, by call, WhatsApp and screen share. Contact us for a demo
Questions
Should a restaurant POS work offline?
It should, if your internet is not perfect. Billing and the KOT must not stop when the internet stops. RestroPod saves every bill on your computer first.
Which devices can I use?
RestroPod runs on Windows 10 and above and on Android 8 and above. Other devices join over the same Wi-Fi, in a role such as waiter or cashier.
Can a waiter take orders on a phone?
Yes. A phone joins over the same Wi-Fi as the main POS, in the waiter role. A manager approves each device first.
How can I see RestroPod before I buy?
Contact us for a demo. We can show it on a call or a screen share, or at your shop in Indore.