Restaurant group apps that unify POS, scheduling, and ordering
Ops dashboards, scheduling, direct ordering, inventory — built for multi-location restaurant groups outgrowing point solutions. Senior engineer on subscription. $3,499/mo.
Who this is for
Multi-location restaurant group owner or ops director where POS, inventory, scheduling, and ordering live in separate systems with no unified view.
The pain today
- POS, inventory, scheduling, and ordering are all different systems
- No unified view of what is happening across locations
- Staff scheduling is on paper or basic tools that do not integrate
- Direct ordering lives with aggregators eating margin
- Vendor stack costs $2,000+/month with significant duplication
The outcome you get
- Custom restaurant app on subscription at $3,499/mo
- Ops dashboard, scheduling tool, or direct-ordering flow in 8 to 12 weeks
- POS integration (Toast, Square, Revel)
- Multi-location support from day one
- Staff-facing tools tested on restaurant-grade devices
Where restaurant ops bleed margin
Three places. POS data fragmented across locations means group-level visibility lags by days. Staff scheduling in basic tools (or paper) creates labour cost variance nobody tracks. Direct ordering through aggregators loses 20 to 30 percent to commissions. Each is a margin issue compounding weekly. A focused custom app layer on top of existing POS fixes the visibility. A scheduling tool fixes labour cost. A direct ordering layer fixes aggregator margin. Together, a restaurant group doing $10M annual revenue can recover 2 to 5 percent in margin through better ops tools.
Common apps I build
Multi-location ops dashboards (sales, labour cost, food cost, guest count across locations, real-time). Staff scheduling (forecasted demand, staff availability, labour cost projection). Direct ordering (customer-facing flow with POS integration, loyalty layer). Inventory management (across locations, vendor integration, order suggestions). Catering and events (quote, approve, invoice, delivery). Each is 4 to 8 weeks of focused work within the subscription.
POS integrations (Toast, Square)
Toast is the common default for mid-size restaurant groups — strong API, broad feature set. Square for smaller or simpler operations. Revel, Lightspeed Restaurant, NCR Aloha for enterprise. Each has integration paths. For Toast-based groups, direct API integration gives real-time visibility. For older POS like NCR Aloha, middleware or structured file integration. Typical initial POS integration: 4 to 6 weeks. Ongoing sync extensions (new data points, new reports) are smaller additions.
Pricing and engagement model
Standard $3,499/mo. Pro $4,500/mo. For groups with 10+ locations or complex integration needs, Pro during initial build. 14-day money-back guarantee. Cancel anytime. 100 percent code ownership under Work Made for Hire. Hosting is typically modest for restaurant groups — $100 to $500/mo — because most workload is internal ops tools rather than high-concurrency customer-facing traffic.
Case: LAK Embalagens — catalog and digital-showroom pattern applied to menus
LAK Embalagens is a B2B manufacturer, not a restaurant group, but the structural lesson transfers. I rebuilt their site with a catalog-first information architecture: clear categories, fast filtering, deep product pages with specs. Bounce dropped 45 percent, impressions 3x'd, rankings landed top three. For restaurant groups, the catalog approach applies to menus (appetisers, mains, desserts as categories, each dish with detail) and to multi-location ops (each location as a branded surface within the group structure). Same discipline.
When a restaurant-tech vendor is enough
For groups under 10 locations, vendors like 7shifts (scheduling), MarginEdge (inventory), and Toast (POS + online ordering + loyalty) cover most needs. Custom work pays back when the vendor stack creates friction, duplicates data across systems, or blocks a specific growth initiative. My target restaurant clients are groups at 5+ locations where custom engineering materially affects ops efficiency or margin. For smaller groups, optimise the vendor stack first before proposing custom.
Recent proof
A comparable engagement, delivered and documented.
Turned a B2B manufacturer into a digital showroom
Designed and developed a high-performance institutional website to showcase packaging solutions and generate qualified leads.
Frequently asked questions
The questions prospects ask before they book.
- Can you integrate with Toast or Square?
- Yes. Toast has a strong API — direct integration delivers real-time sales, menu, and order data. Square for Restaurants similar. For groups on older POS (NCR Aloha, Positouch), middleware or structured file integration. Initial POS integration 4 to 6 weeks; ongoing sync additions smaller. For groups running multiple POS brands across locations, we handle the integration heterogeneity inside the custom app — single internal interface regardless of underlying POS.
- How do you handle scheduling?
- Forecast-based scheduling combining sales history (from POS), weather, events, and staff availability. Manager creates schedule, staff swap or request changes through the app, labour cost projected in advance. Integration with payroll (Gusto, ADP) for hours worked. For groups with 10+ locations, labour cost visibility across the group is often the highest-value feature. Typical build: 4 to 6 weeks.
- Can we build direct ordering?
- Yes. Direct ordering with POS integration keeps margin in the business (no aggregator commission). Menu pulls from POS; orders write back. For groups with delivery, integration with DoorDash Drive or Uber Direct for on-demand third-party delivery. Loyalty layer (points, rewards) built on top. Pair with a strong marketing site (Websites service) to pull customers off aggregators. Typical build: 6 to 8 weeks for solid direct ordering.
- What about catering and events?
- Catering workflow (quote → confirm → invoice → delivery) handled in a dedicated flow. Pricing engine handles complex catering pricing (per-person, minimums, distance surcharges). Integration with calendar and POS. For groups with serious catering business ($500k+ annually), this becomes high-ROI custom work. Typical build: 4 to 6 weeks for a solid catering flow.
- How do you handle multi-location reporting?
- Consolidated dashboards pull data from all locations' POS, scheduling, and inventory in near-real-time. Drill-down to per-location detail. Comparison views across locations. Typical metrics: sales, labour cost, food cost, guest count, ticket time. For group executives, one-screen visibility replaces the Monday morning spreadsheet compilation that currently takes staff hours. Core feature in most restaurant-group engagements.
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