Restaurant billing and management software, custom built
Restaurant software takes the order, sends the KOT to the right kitchen station, produces a correct bill, and deducts ingredients from stock by recipe. Most single outlets should use a ready-made restaurant POS. WavX builds custom restaurant systems for multi-outlet groups, cloud kitchens and brands that want their own online ordering. The WavX cost model puts them at roughly ₹3.2 lakh to ₹10.9 lakh.
Ready-made POS or custom system
India has many ready-made restaurant POS products, and for one outlet with a normal menu they are the right answer: table billing, KOT, GST and a basic stock count for a monthly fee. The restaurant management software guide covers what they include. A custom system earns its cost when the operation has outgrown that shape.
| Your situation | Better choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One outlet, dine-in and takeaway, standard menu | Ready-made restaurant POS | Works this week; the monthly fee is small next to a build |
| Several outlets and a central kitchen supplying them | Custom | Indents, transfers and recipe stock across outlets in one system |
| Cloud kitchen with several brands from one kitchen | Custom, or a POS built for cloud kitchens | One KOT queue and one stock, many menus and brands |
| Most orders come through aggregators and commission hurts | Your own online ordering, alongside the aggregators | Repeat customers can order direct; how to build a restaurant ordering system covers the trade-offs |
| Food court, club or institution with prepaid cards or member accounts | Custom | Wallets, member billing and settlements to stall owners |
| Only the reports are missing | Export from your current POS | Cheaper to build a dashboard than replace the counter |
What happens to one order
Restaurant software is built around the life of an order. Getting this flow right matters more than any feature list.
- Order taken at the counter, by a captain on a phone or tablet at the table, by the guest through a QR menu, or from an online channel.
- KOT generated and split by kitchen station. Each station prints or displays only its own items, with table number, covers and special instructions.
- Additions and cancellations create a new KOT marked as such, so the kitchen never cooks from a changed paper slip. Cancelling an item after a KOT is restricted to a supervisor and logged.
- Bill printed with taxes, discounts and any optional service charge the guest agrees to, then split by guest or item if asked.
- Payment settled by cash, UPI, card or a mix, and the table freed.
- Stock deducted by recipe: one portion of dal makhani reduces dal, butter, cream and spices by the recipe quantities.
- Day end totals cash, UPI and card against the sales report, and lists cancelled KOTs and discounts by staff member.
Step 3 and the day-end list in step 7 are where most leakage in restaurants is found, which is why they are built in from the first version.
Modules WavX builds
WavX builds restaurant software as a web application in React and Node.js with PostgreSQL, with captain and kitchen screens that run on tablets and phones.
| Module | What it does | Decide before the build |
|---|---|---|
| Menu | Items, variants, add-ons, combos, prices by outlet and channel, station mapping | Whether prices differ for dine-in, takeaway and delivery |
| Table and order management | Floor plan, table status, captain ordering, merge and transfer tables | Whether captains use phones or tablets |
| KOT and kitchen | Station-wise KOT printing or a kitchen display screen; prep time | Printer or screen at each station |
| Billing | Taxes, discounts with approval, optional service charge, split bills, reprint log | Who can give which discount |
| Payments | Cash, UPI, card, split payment, settlement report | Whether the card or UPI terminal reports back automatically |
| Online ordering | Your own website or app for delivery and pickup, with online payment | Delivery by your own riders or a delivery partner |
| Aggregator orders | Orders from delivery platforms onto the POS, where an integration is available | Which platforms you sell on |
| Recipe and stock | Recipes per dish, ingredient stock, purchase entry, wastage, variance | How precise recipes need to be on day one |
| Central kitchen | Indents from outlets, production, transfers | Whether outlets cook from raw or receive semi-prepared items |
| Customers and loyalty | Phone-number lookup, order history, points or offers | Whether loyalty is worth running at all |
| Reports | Sales by item, hour, outlet and channel; food cost; cancellations; staff | The reports the owner reads every morning |
For the hardware side (receipt printers, cash drawers and how a browser-based system reaches a printer), the custom POS software page has the detail. Kitchen printers in particular are best on the local network rather than USB, so that several tablets can send KOTs to one printer.
Rules the bill has to follow
The bill is a legal document as well as a receipt. The points below are what the software must support; how they apply to your outlets is your accountant's call.
| Rule | What the software does |
|---|---|
| GST invoice contents. Rule 46 of the CGST Rules sets what a tax invoice carries, including a consecutive serial number of at most sixteen characters, unique for the financial year. | Each outlet, and each billing counter within it, numbers bills from its own series. |
| GST rate and input tax credit. The rate on restaurant service, and whether input tax credit is available, depends on how and where the restaurant operates, and has been changed by notification before. | Rates are settings with an effective date, set by your accountant, not written into the code. |
| FSSAI number. FSSAI's licensing guidance requires food businesses to show their 14-digit FSSAI licence or registration number on cash receipts, invoices and bills. | The number is stored per outlet and printed on every bill. |
| Service charge. The Central Consumer Protection Authority's guidelines of 4 July 2022 say a restaurant must not add a service charge automatically or by default, or collect it under another name, and the Delhi High Court upheld the guidelines on 28 March 2025. | Service charge, if used at all, is off by default and added only when the guest agrees, and is shown separately. |
Your own online ordering
Many restaurants want their own ordering channel to reduce what they pay aggregators. It can work for repeat customers who already know the brand. It does not bring new customers by itself, and running delivery, payments and customer support yourself has its own costs. The ordering system guide works through what it takes. For a Hinglish breakdown of billing software costs specific to restaurants, see restaurant billing software banwane ka kharcha.
Planning range
These figures come from the WavX cost model behind the software cost estimator. The range is the subtotal less 15% to the subtotal plus 25%. It is a planning range, not a quote.
| Scenario | Cost model inputs | Subtotal | Planning range | Timeline band |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One outlet: billing, KOT, tables, day end | Internal tool base ₹2,00,000; roles ₹60,000; real-time ₹70,000; exports and reporting ₹50,000 | ₹3,80,000 | ₹3,23,000 to ₹4,75,000 | 4–8 weeks |
| Several outlets with recipe stock and your own online ordering | Custom web application base ₹4,50,000; roles ₹60,000; payments ₹90,000; admin panel ₹90,000; real-time ₹70,000; third-party integrations ₹60,000; exports and reporting ₹50,000 | ₹8,70,000 | ₹7,39,500 to ₹10,87,500 | 8–14 weeks |
Assumptions: small scale (multiplier 1.0), standard interface design, hardware bought separately, ordering on the web rather than a separate store-listed app. A customer app for the App Store and Play Store is a companion mobile app at ₹2,00,000 in the model, added to the subtotal before the spread. Yearly maintenance is 15–25% of the build cost, as set out in the maintenance cost guide.
How the build runs
- Service observation. WavX watches a lunch and a dinner service, collects the menu, recipes, sample bills and KOTs, and lists every discount and cancellation rule.
- Menu and stations. The menu is loaded and each item mapped to its kitchen station.
- Order, KOT and bill first. Built and tested with the captains and kitchen before anything else.
- Hardware test. On your printers and tablets, during a real service.
- Stock and recipes. Added once billing is stable, starting with the high-cost ingredients.
- Online ordering and other outlets. Rolled out one channel and one outlet at a time.
The source code and the data belong to you at the end.
When not to build
- You run one outlet. A ready-made restaurant POS is cheaper and ready now.
- You are opening your first restaurant. Run a season on a ready-made product; the gaps you find become the specification.
- The real goal is more orders. Software does not bring customers. Marketing and the menu do.
Restaurant software is one of the systems WavX builds for restaurants, hotels and hospitality businesses, under custom software and business systems.
Frequently asked questions
How much does custom restaurant software cost?
The WavX cost model gives a planning range of about ₹3.2 lakh to ₹4.8 lakh for one outlet's billing, KOT and table management, and about ₹7.4 lakh to ₹10.9 lakh for several outlets with recipe stock and your own online ordering. These are planning ranges, not quotes. Printers, tablets and payment terminals are bought separately.
Should a single restaurant build its own software?
Usually not. Ready-made restaurant POS products handle table billing, KOT, GST and basic stock for a monthly fee, and are ready this week. Custom is worth it for groups with several outlets and a central kitchen, for cloud kitchens running several brands, or for a brand that wants ordering under its own name.
Will KOTs print at the right kitchen station?
Yes. Each menu item is mapped to a station, and the KOT for an order is split so the tandoor, the Chinese counter and the bar each print only their items. Kitchen printers are usually on the local network. We test your exact printer models before quoting.
Can it take orders from Swiggy and Zomato?
That depends on what integration each aggregator offers your outlet, which we confirm with you before planning. Where a direct integration is available, aggregator orders arrive on the POS like any other order and print a KOT. Where it is not, staff accept them on the aggregator's own device.
Can the bill include a service charge?
The software can show an optional service charge that the guest chooses to pay. It should not add one by default. India's consumer protection authority issued guidelines in 2022 saying a restaurant must not add a service charge automatically, and the Delhi High Court upheld them in 2025.
Sources
- PIB: Mandatory levy of service charge by restaurants violates consumer law: CCPA (CCPA guidelines of 4 July 2022; Delhi High Court judgment of 28 March 2025) · read 2 October 2026
- FSSAI: FAQs on licensing and registration (FoSCoS), December 2021 · read 2 October 2026
- CBIC: Rule 46 of the CGST Rules, 2017 (tax invoice) · read 2 October 2026
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