What a restaurant POS has to handle here
Most POS software is designed for markets where the internet is steady and nearly everyone pays by card. Pakistani restaurants work differently. Orders arrive at the table, at the counter, by phone and through delivery apps. Customers pay in cash, by card, or through JazzCash and EasyPaisa. Power and internet fail at the worst moment.
So judge a POS on a busy Friday night, not on a clean demo. The sections below go through what it has to do.
Dine-in, takeaway and delivery on one system
Each order type behaves differently. A dine-in order belongs to a table, and the bill is often split or moved to another table. Takeaway is quick and paid at once. Delivery needs an address, a phone number, a delivery charge and usually a rider.
If the POS treats all three as the same thing, staff end up typing notes into a comment box. Your reports then cannot tell you how much of your sales is delivery. Ask to see all three order types entered, then check that the reports separate them.
If you also take orders through delivery apps, ask how those orders reach the POS. Many restaurants key them in by hand. At low volume that is fine. At higher volume, ask whether a direct connection is possible and what it would involve.
Kitchen printing or display
An order only helps if the kitchen reads it correctly. The POS should send each item to the right station: grill, fryer, tandoor, cold counter, drinks. Some kitchens want printed tickets. Others prefer a screen. Many keep both, because paper still works when a screen fails.
Look at how changes are handled. A cancelled item or a note such as no onion must reach the kitchen as clearly as the original order. Also ask what happens when a ticket printer runs out of paper or is switched off. Does anyone notice, or does the order simply never arrive?
Cash, card, JazzCash and EasyPaisa
The POS should record every payment method separately and allow split payments, for example part cash and part card. At closing, the cash in the drawer should match what the system expects. Card and wallet totals should match your bank and wallet statements.
There are two levels here, and you should decide which one you need:
- Recording the payment type. The cashier takes payment through a card machine or a wallet and selects the method in the POS. This is simple and enough for many restaurants.
- Direct integration. The POS talks to the payment provider and confirms the payment itself. This is a bigger piece of work and has to be scoped separately.
Be wary of any supplier who says "we support JazzCash" without saying which of the two they mean.
When the internet drops
This question separates a usable POS from a frustrating one. If the system only works online, a dropped connection stops the counter.
Ask exactly what still works offline: taking orders, printing kitchen tickets, printing bills, taking payment. Then ask what happens when the connection returns, and how the branch's sales reach head office.
Do not accept a general answer. Ask to see it. Unplug the router during the demo.
Multi-branch reporting
With one branch, you can watch the counter yourself. With three, you cannot. You need sales by branch, by day, by order type, by item and by payment method, in one place, without phoning managers.
Check two further things. First, access: a branch manager should see their own branch, and you should see all of them. Second, exceptions: voids, discounts and cancelled orders should be easy to find, because that is where problems hide.
Staff shifts, cash control and daily closing
Most losses in a restaurant happen at the till. A POS helps when:
- every cashier logs in with their own account;
- each shift opens with a recorded float and closes with a cash count;
- voids and discounts need a manager's approval and leave a record.
Daily closing should be one routine. Close the shift, count the cash, compare it with the system, lock the day. If closing takes an hour of spreadsheet work, the POS is not doing its job.
Menu changes
Menus change constantly. Prices rise, items sell out, a Ramadan deal runs for a month. You should be able to change a price, hide a sold-out item or add a deal without calling a developer. With several branches, ask whether a change can go to all branches at once or to one branch only.
RestroTrack: what it is and how we install it
RestroTrack is TechNova's ready-made restaurant platform. It is one of sixteen industry platforms we maintain. We install it for you, brand it with your name and look, and adapt it to the way your restaurants run.
In practice, you start from a working system rather than a blank page. We go through your branches, menu, order types, kitchen stations, payment methods and the reports you want. We set those up and change whatever does not fit. If your discount approval rules are unusual, or your accountant needs a specific report, that is adaptation work and we scope it with you.
The benefit over fully custom software is that the base already exists, so you should reach a working system sooner. The benefit over a generic POS app is that it can be changed to fit your business instead of the other way round.
For wider POS work, including custom builds, see POS systems. You can also read about work we have done in our case studies.
When RestroTrack is not the right choice
We would rather say this now than later.
If you run one small cafe with a single counter and a short menu, a basic POS app on a tablet may be all you need. It will be simpler to learn and quicker to start.
If you need a deep link to an accounting system or a delivery aggregator, tell us early. We can say what is realistic before you commit to anything.
If you are a large chain with an ERP already running, the POS matters less than how it connects to that system. That is a custom integration question, not a product question.
Checklist before you choose any POS
Use this with every supplier, including us.
- Can it handle dine-in, takeaway and delivery, and report them separately?
- Does each item go to the right kitchen station, by printer or screen?
- Are cancellations and changes clearly shown to the kitchen?
- Can it record cash, card, JazzCash and EasyPaisa, and split a bill?
- Is it clear whether wallet payments are only recorded or actually integrated?
- Can you demonstrate what works with the internet off, and how data syncs afterwards?
- Can you see all branches in one report, with branch-level access for managers?
- Does every cashier have a login, with shift open and close and a cash count?
- Do voids and discounts need approval and leave a record?
- Can you change prices, hide items and add deals yourself, for one branch or all?
- Is daily closing a single routine rather than a spreadsheet job?
- Who supports the system after launch, and how do you reach them?
Talking to TechNova
On a first call we ask about your branches, your order types, how you take payment and what goes wrong today. We tell you whether RestroTrack fits, needs adapting, or whether something simpler would serve you better. Contact us to book the call.