Billing for your restaurant or dhaba, from the first plate to the last
A thali, an extra roti and the office tiffin that pays at month end, all on one phone.
The empty lunch hour, the seasonal shack and the plate with ten bowls
A lunch hour that stays empty, and a cost that does not
Non-mall restaurants in Delhi-NCR saw an estimated 25% drop in business in summer 2024, with few reservations, falling footfall and near-empty lunch hours. The rent, the cook and the gas do not drop with the footfall. An owner who sees the slump only when the month's figure is added learns about it three weeks late. A cook who is paid for the month does not wait for the lunch crowd to return.
A year that is really a season, and a season that has a deadline
Under Goa's Beach Shack Policy the tourism season runs from September to May, and shack licences can be cancelled if shacks are not erected by October 15. For such a place the year is a season: build, open, sell hard, close. The cook, the stock and the bills are set up from nothing each time, and the last season's notebook is in a bag somewhere. The one who keeps the books in October is not always the one who kept them in May.
A cart, a shack and a dhaba, and the same food at three counters
The same plate of food is sold from a cart on a pavement, a shack on a beach and a dhaba on a highway, and each counter has its own hours, its own rush and its own way of taking money. An owner who runs two of them has two notebooks, and the first time the cash does not match he does not know which one to blame. A cart closes when the rain comes, and a shack closes with the season.
What an eating place sees once the day is written as it goes
The catch of the day is billed by the kilo, with the QR code on the same phone
A fish or prawn dish priced by the weight of the day's catch is an item counted in kilos, so the weight you put on the scale gives the amount. At a beach shack or a cart the same phone is the bill pad and the QR code, and a tourist can have the copy on WhatsApp. A new boy at the counter learns the menu from the list on the phone, not from the owner's shouting.
The rent and the cook's wages do not wait for the lunch to fill
The rent, the cook's wages and the gas bill come due whether the tables fill or not. So the number a restaurant owner watches is not the month's total but today's, and the phone gives it at any hour. A fast bad day can be answered while there is still an evening to change. A slow bad week cannot.
The shop pays for rice and gas every week, and the office pays at month end
An office that sends for its lunch every day pays at the month's end, but the rice, the oil and the gas are bought every week out of the shop's own pocket. The shop carries the gap between the two. Seeing how many boxes each office takes in a week tells you which offices are worth that wait, and which regular tables take more than they bring.
Questions a thali house and a dhaba owner ask
My dhaba sells tea and snacks all day and full meals at noon. Can I see which side sold more?
Yes. Tea, snacks and meals are items, and each has its own line in the day's sales. Open any day and see how many of each went out.
I run a shack on the beach and a cart in town. Can I read each one's day apart?
Yes. Put each in your account as its own shop. Each shop has its own bills and its own day's sales, and you open both from one phone, whichever you are at, or both side by side.
I run a cart or a shack, not a restaurant with tables. Is the phone enough?
Yes. The bill, the QR code and the day's sales all work from the phone, at a cart, a shack or a dhaba counter.
Lunch has been slow all week. Can I look at this Tuesday's lunch against the last Tuesday's?
Yes. Every day's sales are kept, so you can open the two days one after another and see where they differ.
My shack is open from September to May and closed in the monsoon. Do I start again each season?
Your list of dishes, with their rates, stays on the phone. You change what changed, and start billing the first evening of the season.
A lobster shack in Port Blair and a cart in Daman
Seafood in the Andaman Islands is exceptionally fresh, and grilled lobster is offered at many beachside shacks and upscale restaurants in Port Blair.
In Daman, the Sylvian Didi initiative empowers women street vendors by training them in preparing nutritious food and ergonomic, aesthetically designed carts.