Restaurants in India are growing beyond a single counter. Owners in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities are adding outlets, taking orders through more channels, and dealing with rising raw material costs and a constant shortage of trained staff. In this setting, the software running the business matters as much as the kitchen. A billing counter that records only sales, or a purchase register that records only spending, shows just one side of the business.

Software Plus is one of the technology providers (ISVs) working on this gap. Udaya Kumar C, founder of Software Plus, showcased Dineplus, one of the company’s point-of-sale systems, at his stall and shared his views on what restaurant owners need from their technology.

Partial data cannot run a restaurant

Asked about the biggest challenge facing restaurant owners, Uday points to how data is handled. According to him, most Tier 1 and Tier 2 restaurants manage either sales alone or purchases alone. “Partial data cannot solve any business need or their full-fledged business flow,” he says.

His advice is to move to a complete system. “We need to have an end-to-end system which will help them get all the relevant data in their system,” he says.

Process first, then expansion

For Uday, growth begins with a well-defined process. “For running a business, the process is very important,” he says. That process starts with finance and procurement. “By having raw material procurement, we will have control over what we are putting our effort into and all the expenses. That is very important,” he adds.

Once the process is in place, adding outlets becomes easier. “When we have a very good process, we can manage multiple outlets, and we can expand our business as much as we need,” he says. Dineplus, he says, supports this process from start to finish.

From captured data to better decisions

Uday says data-driven decisions follow naturally once the basics are right. “Once the process is set and all the primary data is getting captured, we are good to have the business properly data-driven,” he says.

Lower costs, more peace of mind

The same foundation, he says, helps with profitability. With the process and data in place, “it is very easy to control the other costs and losses.” The result is a calmer owner who also earns more. “The owner will have peace of mind, and they can earn more profit out of it,” he says.

Giving time back to the customer

On customer retention, Uday starts with staffing. “In our day-to-day life here, the main challenge is manpower,” he says. When processes run properly, the team and the owner have more time for guests. “By doing so, we will spend more time with the customer, and we can give a very good experience,” he says.

He sees that experience as the route to repeat business. “Happy customers always return to your shop. You will get more customer retention. That is our main aim,” Uday says, adding that Dineplus helps restaurants achieve it.

For IT partners who serve restaurant customers, the message is that a point of sale system works best when it sits inside a complete process covering finance, procurement, sales and customer service.