Bar - Restaurant App

Hi guys… I need to plan (and eventually develop) a module for Restaurants-bars.

I tried a search in this forum but no soft related stuff came up (only restaurants to meet XDC attendants) .

My problem is I know very little of the business logic.

Can anyone give a rough idea in abstract terms of what are the main things I should consider ? I have to start light and try to get a small operative version asap, to show to the client.

Has anyone ever done anything that can show/share ?

Any ideas, tips, guides would help a lot.
R.

Are you doing this as “your own idea”?
or as a contract?
either way it is usually a good thing to be well versed on the business first, or have a detailed written spec to work from

Hey Dave,

It’s my own idea, but I know for a fact that it’s needed in the context of my hotel management app. and will probably be able to sell it sooner or later, as part of the package.

I know how important is to have the requisites well defined, and understand how the business works.
This is exactly the kind of advice I am looking for :slight_smile:

Speak to a few bar/restaurant owners, get their ideas on what software they might want, offer them beta access and a reduced price, and you might have your first customers already.

A great deal of such apps today encompass a desktop app, and a tablet one, to take orders and track them.

@Markus W : That is a good idea… I will probably try that.

@Michel B : Yep, that’s true… and I had thought about that… but it will come in a second stage, I guess. I need to have a very basic schema to show in a couple of weeks.

I would disagree with starting with a basic app - you might have cheaper competitors within weeks.

Your app needs to be polished and feature-rich enough to corner the market and make it difficult to replicate.

roman needs [quote]to show in a couple of weeks.[/quote]
he could do a basic MVP and then add features on demand
MVP

In Latin America the mentality of the middle-term businessman works differently. prefers something to start with … cheap … and then add features. I think that’s why apps pay as you go can make good money in this market

Take example on Mac Donalds restaurants point of sales. That is the very bare minimum.

Then team up with someone who does.

Or you will build an app that looks like a restaurant app but has fundamental issues that will take forever to fix (if you ever manage)

For example you might hard code a VAT rate, or not appreciate that rates vary (at least in the UK) between hot and cold food, eat-in, take out, dairy content…
Split bills, payment split between cash and card, discounts, ‘happy hour’, tips, per-user sales totals…

You could spend months writing something no-one wants.

A lot of bars and restaurants now use touchscreen systems. Typically these show a map of the bar/resturant layout so waiters just touch the table concerned and enter the order details. A lot also have printers in the kitchen to print out what’s wanted. Many also have built-in stock control that updates stock records as orders are processed. They also have credit card readers and printers to issue bills. Here in Spain, some systems included dual accounting so that payments in cash weren’t recorded for tax purposes, but the tax authorities got wise to this and clamped down on the practice.