Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for restaurants.
A checklist built from how restaurants work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Recipe cards read against sales
- Store indents and kitchen issues
- Purchases and supplier bills
- Delivery-platform reconciliation
- Wastage and spoilage log
- Complimentary bills, voids and day close
- Day-end figures for the accountant
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners
- For captains and stewards
- For the kitchen
- For the cashier
- For store and purchase staff
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Sales by dish, section and daypart
- Dine-in, parcel and delivery platform shares
- Kitchen ticket times by station
- Store issue read against dishes sold
- Table occupancy and covers by session
- Collections by cash, card, wallet and platform
- Discounts, cancellations and wastage
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- SMS
- Card and mobile wallet payments
- Thermal kitchen and bill printers
- Delivery platform order feeds
- Accounting export, scoped at set-up
- Biometric attendance device
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- Is this a restaurant POS?
- Will the kitchen get a printed KOT or a screen?
- What happens if the internet goes down during dinner service?
- Can delivery platform orders come in by themselves?
- Does it count vegetables and provisions?
- Do you keep a customer record, a QR menu or loyalty points?
- What about tax on the bill?
- Can we get the numbers into our accounting software?
- Do we own the order and customer records?
- Is this worth it for a small eatery?
- How soon can the floor and kitchen work from it?
- What should a restaurant prepare before work begins?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Food cost is a guess
- Platform payouts do not add up
- Stock goes missing between store and kitchen
- Complimentary bills and voids go unquestioned
- Supplier bills pile up unchecked
Prefer to talk it through? See the restaurants page.